“Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
— Ralph Waldo EmersonThere is a particular kind of test that reveals not what a student has memorized, but what a student has become — not a test of readiness, but of endurance, precision, and intellectual character sustained across five demanding rounds of competition. This is the kind of test Emerson Latin’s high school varsity team faced this year in a national Latin and classical humanities tournament. It is the kind of test they passed.
Emerson Latin has advanced to the National Super-Regional Round, joining twenty-four schools drawn from a field of 156 boarding, classical, private, and public institutions across the United States. That places the team in the top 20% of the nation — and in a category of its own.
The Only Team in South Korea
Of the 156 competing institutions, nearly all are established American programs with decades of varsity Latin tradition behind them. Emerson Latin enters as one of only two international teams in the entire field, and as the only institution representing South Korea. Our students sat down to compete, round by round, against programs whose resources, history, and institutional depth are among the most formidable in classical education in the United States. They competed as equals.
Five Rounds
The tournament unfolded across five rounds, each building in difficulty and demand. The team competed through all five with consistency and discipline. In the fifth round — the most challenging of the series — Emerson Latin recorded the highest single-round score in the program’s history.
The Seven
Behind every result of this kind are students who chose, day after day, to do the quiet work that excellence requires.
- Captain Jio Kim
- Joonwoo Back
- Jihan Sean Lee
- Jiyun Lim
- Victoria Gyuyeon Park
- Haram Jackson Park
- Jonghyun Seo
What Comes Next
In the Super-Regional Round, Emerson Latin will compete alongside programs whose academic reputations are among the most distinguished in America — among them Phillips Exeter Academy, University High School in Irvine, and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. The competition will be formidable. So will the preparation.
Emerson Latin has no varsity Latin tradition to draw on — because until now, no such thing existed here. The seven students who competed this year built it from nothing, in a country where varsity Latin competition is not a customary part of academic life, against schools for whom it is. The trail, as Emerson wrote, is now marked. We are very proud of all seven.