Sunday, May 14, 2006

Amy High Latin Foundation

I attended a fundraiser for the Amy High Latin Foundation on Saturday, May 13. I decent event, all in all. One of the highlights was a demonstration by the Legio XX:

It seems there is a living history event called Roman Days 2006 coming up in Maryland the weekend of June 3-4, 2006. I just might have to check it out!

But back to the subject of my post... Amy High was a dynamic teacher who taught Latin on all levels, her last assignment was teaching third-graders in Fairfax County, VA. You may have seen an article on her in Time magazine back in December of 2000. You may also remember her as Iulia Pauli, the roving reporter in the Forum Romanum video series produced by the National Latin Exam. Tragically, Amy died a few years ago. She loved traveling to Rome and studying oral Latin under Reginald Foster, the Latin cleric to the Pope. As her legacy, her husband and several very close friends established the Amy High Latin Foundation to support aspiring and experienced Latin teachers who have a desire to travel to the Eternal City and study. To date, the foundation has awarded more than $30,000 in scholarships.

If you are a Latin teacher (or will soon become one) and have any interest in traveling to Rome to brush up on your oral Latin skills, this is a valuable source of inspiration and funding.

Finally, the Foundation is always looking for donations. If you have extra funds in need of a worthy cause, this is one of the "biggies" for the study of oral Latin.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mark, thanks for the words on Legio XX. We're a living history group of Roman history enthusiasts that has events around the DC area, and include civilians as well as soldiers (our caupona Asellinae is a good example). The June 3-4 Roman Days event is our largest, and includes Celts, gladiators, and other impressions from the time. We encourage students, and have been thinking of moving the date to better accomodate high schools. We welcome feedback:
email Romandays@gmail.com

Richard Campbell

Anonymous said...

Yes please come to Roman Days and encourage your students to as well. There were be some Latin speakers among the living history participants. It's a great way to see all those things that you've been reading about in your translations "up close and personal".

Deb - Legio XX

Antoninus Pius said...

Good to see the glorious Legio XX!

Anonymous said...

Mark, thanks for the write-up. We really need more people to apply for the scholarship (www.amyhigh.org) We award up to $5000 for a minimum of three weeks study of Latin in Rome with Father Reginald Foster. The money is for airfare, accommodation, food and a little shopping (a past time that was dear to Amy's heart). The scholarships is open to teachers (and prospective teachers) at all levels. Amy was particularly keen on teaching Latin at the Elementary School level. We will also be having our annual fundraiser in May 2007 in Alexandria, Virginia. There is free food, great music, entertainment and we are hoping that Richard Cambell and his Legion will be there in force. All are welcome.

Best wishes
Tim Gale (Amy's husband)