How Latin has helped me

Joe Giles                                           How Latin has helped me 

During my time in Latin, I have learned a lot. Most of it helps me in the classroom of course, but a little part of it has helped me understand other parts of my life. 

1. Olympics: During the Parish Olympics I was assigned to chariot races and rotation three, four, and five. Once we got there, the station was a mess. Through my entire career in Latin I have always been familiar with chariot races and how they are set up. The cones were messed up so I fixed them in a way that the chariot would be like. This was better for me and the students participating so it was more realistic.  

2. Odyssey English: During 7th grade I was assigned a project based on a certain greek god. I researched the god hermes and found out a lot of information about him. After I presented, I learned about many other gods in the greek world. The project was very interesting and I will never forget it. Later this year we were assigned to read a book in English called the Odyssey. After learning about greek gods this helped me understand the characters more and understand the book.

3. Marines: My dad had recently pulled my grandfathers medals from the garage. My grandfather was in Vietnam and was in the Marines. One of them caught my eye. One of the medals had the word fidelity. During Latin II in ninth grade, I learned the word fidelis. This word means loyal. Latin helped me understand my grandfathers history more and I am very grateful for that. 

4. Sports Autograph: During 8th grade, my uncle gave me old autographs of famous cowboy players. I collect sports memorabilia and so did he as a kid. After looking at some of the autographs I saw that one of the pictures had a sentence on it. The writing said superbowl xii. During Latin in middle school we have always learned roman numerals so knowing it was Superbowl 12 helped me understand it more and do more research on that Superbowl. The Cowboys won that year against the Broncos. 

5. Sports Conferences: I have always enjoyed the sport of basketball. The sport is one of my passions and I love the game so much. I recently started to really get into college basketball because of Texas Tech. I have personally met Chris Beard (the coach) and gone to a camp for Texas Tech. Texas Tech conference is the big xii. After learning Roman numerals in middle school, I learned this was 12 Latin helped me understand the conference and now I know more about each team. 

Though this list is not broad or large, this list is very important to me. I have learned a lot

from a small amount of Latin. My learning has opened up a way for me to connect and learn more about what I love and why Latin can be very useful if you pay attention. Latin is all around us and if you look closely, you see it everyday.