Latin Teacher Receives National Recognition

East Latin teacher Athanasia Worley received a surprise with her Advanced Placement (AP) Authorization on Wed, Jan 23. She was informed by the College Board that her class exceeded the expectations of colleges and universities for her subject.After the highest Latin AP test was cut from the College Board’s program, all Latin teachers were required to renew their AP Authorization. When Dr. Worley went through this authorization, the College Board found that her class taught more than AP curriculum required, making it more than worthy of its AP distinction.

Although Dr. Worley was glad to receive the recognition, she doesn’t credit this above-average curriculum just to herself. Since the Latin department has received less funding and had teachers cut in past years, curriculum for different classes has been combined to keep the classes available.

Latin 3 students have class with Latin 1 students and learn their own curriculum in the hall. Most importantly, AP and IB Latin students take the same class together. However, the AP curriculum and the IB curriculum are almost completely different, without any overlaps of reading material. Therefore Dr. Worley teaches both the AP and IB curriculum to her students.

“It was really nice to get the recognition,” Dr. Worley said. “But the only reason I received that was because I have to teach both AP and IB to my students to make sure that they get the proper education.”

Dr. Worley sent the email of recognition to principal Karl Krawitz, explaining that this was another good reason to continue the Latin program at East. Dr. Krawitz, impressed by the recognition and Dr. Worley’s attentiveness, sent the following email to the East staff:

East Latin teacher Athanasia Worley was honored by the College Board for her curriculum exceeding AP standards as determined by college and university faculty. The honor and distinction is rare and allows her to have the AP designation placed on all student transcripts.

“That was honestly the best honor, for me, having Dr. Krawitz do that for me,” Dr. Worley said. “I had people congratulating me for just doing my job. That felt really nice.”