The National Latin Honor Society recognizes secondary school students who have demonstrated sustained excellence in Latin study. The criteria are specific: an A− average or better in Latin coursework, exemplary attendance, integrity in academic work, and Gold Medals or top honors in at least two international competitions in Latin or classical humanities. This is not a recognition for Latin study in the general sense but for Latin study prosecuted at a high level, maintained over time, and tested in competition against students from other institutions. Three Emerson Latin students have been inducted for the 2025 academic year: Charles Cho, Gene Yang, and Susie Yang.
The span of these three inductions is itself worth noting. Charles Cho is in ninth grade. Gene Yang is in twelfth. Susie Yang is a freshman at Columbia University, inducted in the year she begins her undergraduate studies — a recognition that reaches her at the threshold of a new chapter, grounded in a Latin formation that the Society has now formally acknowledged. The three of them represent, in miniature, the full arc of what a classical education in Latin can look like: a student just entering the upper years of secondary study, a student completing them, and a student carrying what she learned into university.
The competition record that underpins these inductions is set down elsewhere in this commendations archive, in the years since each student’s name first appeared. The NLHS induction is the Society’s own accounting of what that record amounts to. We are glad to record it here as well. Congratulations to Charles, Gene, and Susie.