"Quite simply, I make a language that is considered 'dead' come 'alive,'" said William Callahan, who taught Latin to eighth- and ninth-graders at Centennial Junior High School in Casper. Mr. Callahan headed one of the largest junior high school Latin programs in the nation, and his students, class after class, were recognized for their outstanding performance on annual Latin examinations. Two of Mr. Callahan's students were ranked first and second by the National Junior Classical League. Determined to hold his students to a high standard of excellence, Mr. Callahan was in constant pursuit of ways to "ignite a passion for the relevancy of the past to the present." His students performed in Latin plays for the student body, deliver orations and travel to Denver on treasure hunts to locate examples of classically inspired architecture and decorative motifs.
