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Over the summer, Pacifica rising seniors and 4th-year Latin students, Evan Hong and Parker Phillips, took part in the prestigious Summer Latin Academy (Academia Aestiva) hosted at the Getty Villa in Malibu. The week-long program gathered Latin students from all over the country for a deep dive into Roman culture and exclusive access to the Villa’s antiquities collection.

The Academy’s theme this year—Good and Bad Roman Emperors—was inspired by the Villa's special exhibition of a life-sized gold bust of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, the last of the so-called "Five Good Emperors” as well as a marble bust of his son Commodus—famous for ending the "good" series in a bad way. The week at the Villa ended with a trip to the Getty Center to view (and try to read) Medieval Latin texts from the Manuscripts Department about power, justice, and tyranny in the Middle Ages.

Evan and Parker enjoyed their experience at the Academy immensely and shared some of their most memorable moments including:   

• Receiving classroom instruction primarily in spoken Latin
• Learning under the direction of local teachers affiliated with the North American Institute for Living Latin Studies (SALVI) in collaboration with Getty Villa educators and curators
• Interpreting abbreviations on Roman coins and designing personal coins based on a fictitious emperor
• Exploring the store rooms of the Getty and holding artifacts in hand
• Creating Roman perfume with olive oil and ground spices
• Touring the Getty Center and conversing with manuscript experts 

We are ecstatic to hear about the summer experiences of our students like Evan and Parker and encourage all Tritons to take joy in learning both inside and outside of the classroom.