ALISHA MCCLOUD student taught in Ireland • She and her family have visited all 50 states • Mother of two teenaged sons • Was a camp counselor at an Air Force base in Japan • 0Central Latin Club faculty sponsor
Alisha McCloud's love of the Latin language began with her first Latin language class at the University of Iowa.
"My very first day of Latin class my freshman year, I walked out thinking, 'That was awesome and I want more, ' " McCloud said.
She got more, going on to earn undergraduate degrees in Latin and Spanish and a master's in Latin from the University of Georgia. It wasn't until later in college, when she had taken up tutoring, that she began to consider teaching as a career - a career that brought her to Hinsdale Central High School more than 24 years ago. She started as a full-time Spanish teacher, but hoped for an opportunity to teach Latin.
This year McCloud is teaching Latin 2, Latin 2 honors, Latin literature and Latin literature honors to sophomores, juniors and seniors at Central. Even after two and a half decades, McCloud said she still enjoys being in the classroom.
"Teaching Latin is incredibly rewarding," said McCloud, who recently earned the Farrand Baker Latin Teacher of the Year Award from the Illinois Classical Conference. A member of the professional organization since her career began, McCloud called the award "a tremendous honor."
McCloud said her position as a Latin teacher allows her to introduce students to much more than words and sentence structure.
"I get to introduce them to this entire world," she said, including the history of the ancient language, its influences on other languages and its role throughout history.
Central students who study Latin don't practice speaking the language. Rather, they learn to read it, understand it and apply it to other areas of learning.
The study of Latin helps students to develop a stronger grasp of the English language, as well as the languages that descended from Latin, including Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, French and Italian.
The ancient language of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the region as the empire grew, McCloud said. Today, the language can still be found in religion, law and many sciences.
One student who is currently in medical school recently wrote to McCloud to tell her how much his study of Latin was helping in his classes. Another former student is currently pursuing a PhD in classics at Princeton University.
Students of Latin better understand the structure of language and learn about events of the ancient world that still impact lives and culture today, McCloud said.
For McCloud, Latin provided all of this, plus a rewarding career. She also had the chance to visit several different countries as a student studying abroad.
Latin is offered at all four grade levels at Hinsdale Central. While Latin is offered in a number of Illinois high schools, it's not common across the country. McCloud said she would like to see it become a more standard part of the high school curriculum.
"There are so many ways that students become stronger thinkers and problem-solvers," McCloud said.
- story by Sandy Illian Bosch, photo by Jim Slonoff
