Oak Hill Academy Students Earn Top Honors in the National Latin Exam

Latin is perceived by some to be a “dead language”, but not for many of the finest schools in the world, including Oak Hill Academy in Lincroft. There is evidence that students who take Latin do better than their classmates in the areas of reading comprehension, vocabulary, critical thinking, and problem solving. This is precisely why Oak Hill students have taken Latin since the school’s inception in 1981.

Approximately 100,000 students from all 50 states and 21 foreign countries recently participated in the 2022 National Latin Exam.  Receiving highest honors and Gold medals and Summa Cum Laude certificates (answering 36-40 correct) for the eighth grade class was Dylan Stefko (Tinton Falls). Tylor Yang (Marlboro), Maya Bhasin (Morganville), Kate Schweikert (Atlantic Highlands), and Vincent Li (Lincroft) received Silver medals and Maxima Cum Laude certificates for scoring 33-35 correct out of 40.  In addition, Annabel Sparano (Spring Lake) and Felix Chiu (Lincroft) received magna cum laude certificates (30-32 correct); and Kat Zaiden (Atlantic Highlands) received a cum laude certificates (28-29). 

Our New Jersey Private school seventh grade students, Mateo Jurgens (Rumson) and Henry Griffith (Colts Neck) (38-40) each earned a Gold Medal and Summa Cum Laude certificates as our highest honors on the Introduction to Latin Exam!

Classmates Daniel Altshuller (Morganville), Nika Berg (Manalapan), Luli Mitchell (Red Bank) and Aanya Patel (Tinton Falls) earned themselves Silver medals and Maxima Cum Laude certificates for scoring 35-37 correct out of 40. Joining these impressive scores with Magna Cum Laude certificates (33-34) were Eva Fennell (Middletown), Audrey Wei (Marlboro), Maya Baszak (Freehold) and Hannah Pollak (Wall) along with their peers Dimitrios Giannakopoulos (Colts Neck), Owen Henderson (Atlantic Highlands) Buddy Levy (West Long Branch) and Luke Greco (Tinton Falls) all achieved certificates in the Cum Laude level (31-32) correct.

The National Latin Exam is offered under the joint sponsorship of the American Classical League and the National Junior Classical League.  The ACL/NJCL National Latin Exam has been approved by the National Association of Secondary School Principals and placed on the Advisory List of National Contests and Activities.

Oak Hill Academy has participated in the exam and has consistently won awards for the last thirty one years.  Much of the credit goes to Oak Hill Academy’s Latin teachers, Mrs. Ginger Koar and Mrs. Lisa Coakley, who prepared their students so well.