Welcome, Latin scholars and visitors!
West is home to the reigning New Jersey Latin II knowledge bowl (certamen) state champions. Of our fifteen students who earned gold medals on last year's National Latin Exam, three had perfect scores. On last year's state-wide tests - on derivatives, sight reading, grammar, vocabulary, history, and mythology - we earned five third-place scores, eight second-place scores, and nine first-place scores at the NJJCL State Convention. No doubt, this has been another exciting year to explore the language, life, and literature of ancient Rome.
Why Latin? It was useful for Shakespeare, Galileo, Churchill, and many of our own country's most influential men and women. Its students - of all the world language groups - have had the highest average scores on the verbal section of the SATs. Our average score on the International Baccalaureate Latin Exam is a 6 (on a 7 point scale). Last year's average AP Latin score at West was a 5 (on a 5 point scale). Some even say it's fun. For more information, you may contact the teacher at virpacalis@aol.com.