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"Carpe Diem" means seize the day.
Moriah Holmes has been teaching for 17 years and 10 of them have been at Norwood High School. She recently won Teacher of the Year for her outstanding role in the Norwood community. In the past year, the school has received a devastating blow: Latin is being removed, and Holmes will not return as the teacher. Her students and fellow teachers are dismayed and confused. The Norwood School Committee, almost unanimously, voted on the cuts to the Latin program, with member Joan Giblin voting against them.
There was a meeting on March 5, 2025, to try to keep Latin as a language. Several parents and NHS students spoke to support their class and teacher. Despite their efforts, Latin was not reinstated as a future class to take.
A lot of people in the Norwood community believe that other things should’ve been cut before key components in children’s education were taken away.
Joan Giblin, speaking at the school committee meeting, wondered why other programs were not being considered for cuts.
“As we’re talking about cutting core academic functions, I’m wondering why we’re not looking at cutting extracurriculars instead,” Giblin said.
Latin students are upset, not only because they’re faced with a hard choice to make about future class scheduling, but also because their beloved Latin teacher has to leave.
Latin was a language available to interested students at NHS, but it will no longer be offered. Many people consider it to be an incredibly useful subject to take because it is the root for many English words, can help students face challenges in other subjects, and sets students up for success.
“I like that it’s a language that’s more useful to science and stuff, like root words for things like the word pyro for fire. It’s a good base to make up words that mean something specific,” freshman Jay Kelly said.
Latin 1 students had the opportunity to take Latin 2 online or switch to another language offered. Latin 2 and 3 students were not given the same opportunity, and some feel that is unjust.
“Magistra Holmes is an amazing teacher, and I’m really sorry to see her go. I feel like it’s a huge injustice to the upperclassmen who are trying to get the seal of biliteracy and now are unable to because they had the opportunity robbed from them. Now, just through talking with so many people about it, I feel like it’s just a huge injustice cause those trying to get four years are not able to,” freshman Ridley Lomino commented.
Freshmen are also upset because they feel like their education is being taken from them.
“I am sad about it going because it is my first year doing Latin and I like learning about the history surrounding the language and things like ancient Greek life, things like that are pretty interesting to me so it’s kinda sad to see that that won’t be part of the curriculum anymore and we all have to do it online,” freshman Riana El Awad said.
Many have speculated that online Latin might be a flop, as online Latin takes away students’ ability to engage with their teacher and classmates and ask for help on certain assignments.
“It’s just nice to have a classroom community, and when you’re missing that [in online Latin], it just takes away from the experience,” said Holmes.
“I feel like there should be other things that should be removed because Latin’s a special language and there are many things that we can do with this language that needs to be protected,” freshman Sambhav Niraula commented
“I’m gonna take Spanish because Latin’s really, really hard, and without a teacher teaching it to me, I just think it wouldn’t go great, especially being online the whole year,” freshman Ben Neimesto said.
Many students have to rearrange their schedules since they are not able to take Latin for the four full years.
“I’m really sad about it. I was gonna plan my four years doing Latin, but now I had to rework my whole schedule. [Mrs. Holmes is] a very upbeat and helpful teacher when it comes to the Latin language,” Janaii Lamar, a Freshman, remarked.
Holmes has left nothing but a positive impression on her students.
“[Mrs. Holmes is] very passionate about what she teaches, and there aren’t many teachers like that, so the fact that she’s very passionate about teaching kids about Latin makes it sad that she’s leaving,” Riana El Awad said.
“[Mrs. Holmes is] a nice teacher, and always cracks jokes even if they’re not funny at all. It’s sad to see her leave. She left a good legacy on NHS,” noted Sambhav Niraula.
“I’m sad. I definitely liked this year overall. It was probably my favorite year for a language class. Latin is extremely hard, and [Mrs. Holmes] taught it to my class and me in a way that makes it easy to understand and helps me perform well on assessments that I might not normally have done well on for another teacher. She’s a great teacher, she connects with us, she’s funny, and lets us take the occasional funny break from class while also keeping us on track with what we’re learning. She makes the whole class fun in a way which makes it easier to understand,” Ben Neimesto commented.
“[She’s] one of the few teachers I felt genuinely sought to teach me and my peers,” said freshman Lexie Powers.
Some students are continuing their education in Latin for the next year, but it will be the last year they will be able to do so.
“I’m sticking with Latin. I think the community is good, so I think I’ll get help from the people there if I need to. I have a lot of friends in it, it’s fun, [Mrs. Holmes] gives me opportunities to do my work which is great, and I get a lot of help. She’s enjoyable, she makes class fun, and she gives me many opportunities,” Braedyn Allan, a freshman, said.
Many students, however, have made the choice to study new languages after this year.
“I’m really gonna miss Latin. Like, I really enjoy going to that class 4 times a week, and now I have to go back to French. [Mrs. Holmes is] such a bright person. She really brings a light to my day, and her room is just a fun environment,” freshman Jackie Varney said.
A personal note:
Dear Mrs. Holmes,
We are going to miss you so much. You brought a lot of happiness to our lives, and we looked forward to seeing you every day. You taught me so much, and I’m going to miss you so much. Getting to learn from you was a gift. Tibi Gratias.