By Adriana King

Photo credit: Nikki Carroll.

At the beginning of the 2025 school year, Dr. Nikki Carroll stepped into her 15th year of teaching after accepting the position of new Upper School Latin teacher at Collegiate. When she was in eighth grade, after the first day of her Latin class in Spotsylvania County, Carroll confidently decided that becoming a Latin teacher would be her future career. Having little interest in the language at the time, Carroll initially began taking Latin classes to be with her friends. Yet she could have never anticipated how significantly that one class would impact her future. 

Throughout Carroll’s Latin experiences, she has had a few different mentors and events that have played a significant role in her journey. Mark Keith, recognized for his Latin teaching and producing future Latin teachers, was Carroll’s junior and senior year high school Latin teacher at Riverbend High School in Fredericksburg. Keith, who recently retired, was known not only for his amazing teaching but also for his admirable characteristics. He made sure to stay in touch with Carroll, and he shared her excitement for the language. Secondly, Dr. Dan McCaffrey, a Randolph-Macon College professor, formed Carroll into the teacher she is today. Through learning from him as a student and working alongside him as a colleague, Carroll has been greatly impacted by his caring nature for the people around him and his growing passion for Latin. 

A group of Collegiate Latin scholars attended the 2024 VJCL Convention. A toga is required for dinner. Photo credit: Nikki Carroll.

Additionally, Carroll has attended the Virginia Junior Classical League Latin Convention since she was 12. According to the official VJCL website, the Convention typically consists of “Roman banquets, costume contests, dance, general assemblies, seminar speakers, campaigning and election of VJCL officers, academic contests, artwork and crafts competitions, oral contests of English and Latin oratory, dramatic interpretation of Latin, and storytelling.” Growing up, she loved the convention because she felt like it was a place where people can feel fully comfortable being themselves and, in her words, “nerding out” over Latin. Throughout the consistent years of her attendance, she has created strong friendships and relationships with various teachers, officers, and students. Carroll has even experienced the National Latin Convention, where she had the opportunity to serve as an officer throughout the convention week. In that position, Carroll assisted organizing and planning events while also facilitating and connecting with the students. Through these events, Carroll has noticed and appreciated the “special” and “beautiful” community that Latin programs create.

Carroll attended Randolph-Macon College for their Latin Education Program. There, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Latin and Classics with a double minor in education and art history. After earning her degree at 22, she immediately started teaching at Atlee High School and Chickahominy Middle School in Hanover County. Three years later, she was given the opportunity to establish the Latin program at Chesterfield’s Swift Creek Middle School. Carroll became a Latin teacher at Trinity Episcopal School shortly after, beginning her exploration of independent schools, and continuing to work there for the following nine years. 

Although Carroll loved her time at Trinity, she claimed that she has always wanted to work at Collegiate: “Collegiate is the standard of excellence, and I wanted to be a part of that.” Throughout her nine years at Trinity, she would often check to see if any Latin teacher position opened up. Prior to taking the position at Collegiate, Carroll earned her Master’s degree in Education with a concentration in Latin from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and her Doctorate in Educational policy, planning, and leadership with a concentration in K-12th Administration from the College of William and Mary.

After her first day of visiting Collegiate for her interview, Carroll was confident that she needed to be here. When interviewing with the World Language Department, she recalled that while “sitting in the room with them, it felt like I belonged.” For many years prior, Tyler Boyd was the only Latin teacher in the Upper School, creating strong relationships with students by teaching all four grades and showing his genuine care for each student as a person. Now, Boyd and Carroll get to share their passion for Latin together. 

Throughout 15 years of teaching Latin, Carroll has developed a fondness for the Language. For Carroll, the most significant facet of teaching is the students. As a Latin teacher, there are often only a few teachers in her discipline at each school, resulting in the likelihood that she will teach students for consecutive years. As a result, Carroll is able to build strong, intentional relationships with her students: “To know the routine, what works and doesn’t work, and already creating a foundation with those students, it allows us to pick up where we left off, even if time has passed.” Carroll believes that the students are what makes the language so special. 

Aside from the students, Carroll believes that teaching Latin “isn’t so much about actually learning about Latin, it’s more about learning about yourself through learning Latin.” Latin is a special language filled with detailed and passionate stories that allow readers and students to learn and relate the stories back to our own lives. Throughout Carroll’s time spent learning Latin, one of the most important lessons that she learned relates back to being “empathetic to others.” She emphasizes the importance of relating the stories we read back to our lives: “It is interesting to look at those issues and how they apply to our own lives and relationships with other people.” By doing so, she seeks alternative perspectives and attempts to grasp different experiences from the stories in hopes of learning more about our world and how we, as humans, care for others. 

Here at Collegiate, Carroll fills her Honors Latin IV and AP Latin classes with enthusiasm and passion. As one of her students in AP Latin, I have witnessed her love for not only the subject but for each of her students as well. She leads with understanding and intention, encouraging each student to be themselves and enter into class with confidence. Carroll implements new and exciting games into each class period, providing the students with a reward while also continuing to learn. Carroll’s balance of fun and learning inspires the students to try their best in a creative, and comfortable environment. Each day, there is a level of authenticity, excitement, and support that Carroll brings into the classroom, and the Latin department is lucky to have her on staff.