Almost 40 Birmingham-area elementary and middle school students are at Samford University for two weeks for LatinSummer, the largest and oldest program of its type in the nation. The program, focused on ancient Rome and the Latin language, is presented by Ascanius: The Youth Classics Institute in cooperation with Samford’s Department of Classics.
LatinSummer has been offered throughout the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast but this is the first time it has come to Alabama.
The two-week LatinSummer program started July 16 and runs through July 27th from 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. each weekday. Students will have classes in mythology, various aspects of Roman culture and the Latin language. LatinSummer students also will take part in a wide range of hands-on activities such as carving inscriptions, building models, playing language games and creating Roman clothing.
LatinSummer Birmingham is led by a team of college and high school students as well as certified teachers, including Nick Atchison of the University of Alabama, Katie Phillips of Furman University, Natalie Pugh of Oak Mountain High School and Samford alumna and program director Lisa Yeager of ACCESS Distance Learning in Birmingham.