Latin Scholar

After excelling at local and state Latin competitions last school year, Rafael Ludovice '27 traveled to Ohio this summer to try his hand against elite Latin scholars from across the country.

He crushed it.

In July at the National Junior Classical League convention at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, attended by nearly 900 students from 40 states, Ludovice distinguished himself vs. the top Latin students in America, across a wide range of disciplines. His results:

* Open Certamen Intermediate: 1st
* Latin Oratory - Level II: 1st
* Latin Vocabulary 2+ II: 3rd
* Latin Grammar - Level II: 4th
* Reading Comprehension - Level II: 4th
* Sight Latin - Level II Gold: 4th

Ranking near the top in six categories, and at the very top – first place – in two categories, identifies Ludovice as one of the top Latin scholars in the nation.

It culminated an extraordinary year of competitive results for Ludovice, as well as some of his classmates. A quartet of Latin scholars from Jesuit's Junior Classical League club qualified this spring for the State Latin Forum held during the final weekend in March in Orlando.

There, Gavin McMillon '26, Henry Bravo '26, former Jesuit student Cesar Calero, and Ludovice competed with distinction against 800 of the best and brightest in Florida. Bravo placed 7th in Latin Grammar and 4th in Derivatives, Calero placed 5th in Classical Art, and Ludovice placed 2nd in Latin Grammar and 1st in Latin Vocabulary, setting the stage for his outstanding results on the national stage.

Ludovice has excelled across academic disciplines at Jesuit. Each of his first four semesters of high school, he has ranked at our near the top of his class in Class Achievement, which recognizes the top two students in every class section. The highest-achieving student in each class every semester receives First Honors, and the second-highest receives Second Honors.

During the spring 2025 semester, Ludovice earned five First Honors and two Second Honors. He earned First Honors in Sacred Scripture, Algebra 2/Trigonometry Honors, Latin 2 Honors, AP World History, and English 2 Honors, and Second Honors in AP European History and Chemistry Honors. The only sophomore to earn more First Honors this spring was Juan Amador '27, who earned First Honors in all seven of his classes.