Council Rock high school students are taking their love of Latin on the road.

The students, members of the Latin Club at Council Rock High School-North in Newtown Township, visit district elementary schools to share their appreciation of the language with the younger kids.

“Forty percent of the English language comes from Latin,” said Ashley Oudenne, a CR North junior who is related to students in Kristin Gudusky’s sixth-grade class at Newtown Elementary School on a recent afternoon.

Ashley, 17, led a small group of students through a recognition exercise using examples like “aqua marine” and “canine” to teach the kids how words are derived from Latin.

While some of the kids learned the language, others took a pictorial tour of Ancient Rome with their high school tour guides and the rest of the class listened as CR North students related stories from Greek mythology.
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The high school kids said they also often include togawrapping demonstrations in their presentations to give the kids a feel for ancient lifestyles.

“Latin is so beneficial to learn. It helps all over the place,” Ashley said.

The visit is a good complement to the sixth-graders’ yearlong study of world cultures, Gudusky said.

“This is a perfect way to integrate what they’ve already learned. And it’s nice hearing it from [the high school students] instead of me all the time,” the teacher said.

Sixth-grader Andy Sabol said he understands the benefit of learning Latin.

“We might be able to use it in our future life,” said Andy, 11. “If you know more languages, you can work with more people.”