Spring Ole Miss Graduate Coaches Surprise Winner of State’s High School Latin Exam


The poverty-stricken Mississippi Delta community of Hollandale might seem like an unlikely place to find a rising Latin program, but it is home to this year’s winner of the Magnolia State’s high school Latin examination.

Led by Mississippi Teacher Corps participant Austin Walker, an English teacher who graduates Saturday with a master’s in curriculum and instruction from the University of Mississippi, students at Simmons High School studied Latin this academic year for the first time in school history. The work paid off as Alexis Hicks, a 15-year-old sophomore, outscored students from established programs to take first place on the statewide high school Latin exam.