More than 100,000 students sat the 2024 National Latin Exam, drawn from all fifty states and Washington, D.C., as well as twenty-six countries — among them Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, and South Korea. The field has grown since previous years, and the list of countries now includes nations not represented in earlier editions of this record. That Latin is being studied with sufficient seriousness in China and Japan to produce students competing internationally is a fact worth pausing on. The examination covers Latin grammar, reading comprehension, and aspects of Roman history and culture, offered at six levels. One Emerson Latin student achieved a Perfect Paper. Thirteen earned Gold Medals. The full record is set down below.
- Jonghyun Seo
- Jaye Cho
- Jungwook Hong
- Dael Hur
- Gio Hyung
- Chris Jeong
- Minchae Kang
- Hunjae Lee
- Jihan Lee
- Seungwoo Lee
- Victoria Park
- Jonghyun Seo
- Jehyeong Suh
- Riley Yoo
- Sofia Caram
- Charles Cho
- Eric Choi
- Yunyoung Keh
- Dana Kim
- Yumin Kim
- Jihyeon Baek
- Ethan Chung
- Alex Jung
- Olivia Lee
- Seojun Lim
- Chase Caram
- Jerome Kwon
- Brian Lim
A Perfect Paper on the National Latin Exam is the rarest individual distinction the examination awards. The NLE tests grammar, reading comprehension, and cultural knowledge across a field of more than 100,000 students; to answer every question correctly at one’s level is to have left no gap that the examiners could find. Jonghyun Seo achieved this, and appears also among the six Emerson Latin students named World Champions in the 2024 NLVE — two of the most demanding Latin examinations in the same year, the highest individual distinction on each. We note it without elaboration.
Twenty-seven students placed in all, from Perfect Paper through Honorable Mention, across every tier the examination offers. Victoria Park, Jehyeong Suh, Hunjae Lee, and others continue a pattern of appearing in this record year after year, in different tiers as the language deepens. The field is now twenty-six countries wide. The result is what it has been.