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A Brief
History of Latin (and Greek) Teaching in Warren Co., Illinois Latin (and Greek) have
been taught in Warren Co. from early in the history of the region. The
town of Monmouth was founded in 1831. Monmouth College opened its doors
in 1853 to train ministers, teachers, lawyers and other professionals
for the region. For this reason Latin (and Greek) were part of the
college’s curriculum from its founding. Indeed, until the 1930’s the
study of either Latin or Greek was a graduation requirement. Unlike many
other small liberal arts colleges, including Knox College and other ACM
schools, Monmouth College has continued to offer both languages without
interruption until the present day. For further information about
Classics at Monmouth College, see this
History of Classics. Both Monmouth High School
and Warren High School also offered Latin for their college-bound
students. While Warren eventually abandoned the teaching of Latin at
some point (probably in the 60’s or 70’s), the Latin program at Monmouth
High School continued to exist. Here is a list of Latin
teachers gathered from Monmouth High School yearbooks, followed by some
commentary: 1968-1969
Judith Tucker taught Latin 1,2,3 and sponsored club 1969-1970
Pat Odendahl taught Latin 1 & 2 and sponsored club 1970-1973
Margarite Hill sponsored a Latin Club. She taught English. No
indication of Latin
classes being taught. 1973-1975
Mrs. Cathy Jackson taught Latin 1975-1976
Teresa Gorenz taught Latin 1976-1978 ?? 1978-1988
Pat Odendahl 1988-1989
Jill Cali 1989-1991 Susan Yaremko 1991-1993
Virginia Hellenga 1993-1994
Jeff Schilling 1994-1995
Vicki Wine 1995- 2003
Jackie Urban 2003-2018 Brian Tibbets In the 1980’s the Latin
teacher was Pat Odendahl. When she retired in 1988, Jill Cali, recently
graduated from the University of Illinoism was hired. She only lasted a
year and was followed by Susan Yaremko. When she left in 1992, Virginia
Hellenga replaced her. Hellenga was the Latin teacher until 1993.
Her students participated in both the Illinois Latin Tournament
and in the National Latin Exam, in which some received national
recognition. She was succeeded by Jeff
Schilling, a recent graduate from the University of Illinois who prided
himself in scaring students from the study of Latin. Needless to say,
when he left there was some danger at this point that the program would
be cancelled due to low enrollments.
Members of the community, including Tom Sienkewicz from Monmouth
College, attended school board meetings to speak in support of the
program and, eventually, the district agreed to hire Jackie Urban to
teach Latin part-time. However, she was scheduled to spend the fall
semester of 1994 with her
husband in the Czech Republic, so, in the interim, Vicki Wine taught in
her place. Jackie was the Latin
teacher from 1995 until 2003. Although she was only part time, she often
took her students to Junior Classical League conventions in the state
and to cultural events in Chicago and elsewhere. But enrollments were
decreasing and in the fall of 1999 such a small number of students had
enrolled for Latin I that the Monmouth School Board was contemplating a
phase-out of the high school Latin program, immediate elimination of
Latin I and placement of those already enrolled for the fall in another
language. Chris Ayers and other
members of the community worked to rouse community support for the Latin
program. A variety of Latin
promotional materials were sent to School Board members. Meetings with
the superintendent and high school principal, and the School Board led
to a reprieve for Latin:
instead of canceling Latin I for the fall, the school board agreed to
allow Latin to be offered to a class of six (instead of the official
minimum of ten) and put the program on probation, with the understanding
that Latin would be eliminated if ten students did not enroll in Latin 1
for the following school year (2000-2001). A small group of
determined citizens, led by Chris Ayers and Tom Sienkewicz, then held
informal meetings to brainstorm about ways to increase enrollment and to
increase public appreciation of the program. They decided upon holding
an annual Classics Bee, modeled on the successful Spelling and Geography
Bees already held in the District. They were able to persuade all the
5-8 grade teachers in the district, as well as the teachers at the local
parochial school, to administer a machine-gradable 40 question multiple
choice test designed both to suggest to students taking the test that
they already knew a lot about Latin and to identify the high achievers
at each grade. All of these high achievers were then invited to
participate in a Classics Bee to which the public, especially family
members were invited. All participants were given certifications of
accomplishment and winners of the Bee were given prizes of books and US
savings bonds. This Bee was remarkably successful in encouraging student
to take Latin in high school and is still part of the Monmouth-Roseville
Latin program today. In 2002 Chris Ayers
received a
Special
Service Award from the Classical Association of the Middle
West and South for her efforts on behalf of the Latin program at
Monmouth High School. Brian Tibbets began teaching at Monmouth in 2003. Under his leadership the program thrived and grew and in 2008 he received the Farrand Baker Illinois Latin Teacher of the Year from the Illinois Classical Conference. In 2015 he received the Kraft Award for Excellence in High School Teaching from the Classical Association of the Middle West and South. A number of Monmouth
College students training to be high school Latin teachers have
benefitted from the existence of the high school program, where they
were able to observe and even student teach. Tibbets was also the
supervisor for a student teacher who is now the only high school Latin
teacher in the state of Iowa. Several points emerge
from this history: The community has long supported the teaching of
Latin in the local high school. High School students have benefitted
greatly from the study of Latin. The existence of the Latin program at
the high school is important to a thriving Latin teacher training
program at Monmouth College. Most importantly, however, the Latin
program in Monmouth-Roseville High School will only continue to exist
with the vocal support of parents, students, and members of the
community who do not take the program for granted and who continually
express their support to officials at the school and on the school
board. |