Cheryl Lowe is a Louisville native whose books and essays on Latin instruction have garnered a national reputation for excellence within the classical education renaissance. Yet, her own education was grounded initially in math and science. She holds a B.S. in Chemistry with honors from the University of Louisville, with minors in mathematics and history, and a Masters in Biology from Western Kentucky University. With teaching certification in chemistry, biology, math, and history, she taught chemistry and geometry at Eastern High School for four years before starting a family.
The arrival of her two sons shifted Cheryl’s interests to elementary education. She began to absorb a vast body of literature on the history of education, a practice which continues to this day. Aware of the troubled state of reading instruction, she taught both boys to read before starting school. But a strong foundation was not enough to weather the faulty classroom practices and badly-written materials the boys encountered in their highly-touted public and private elementary schools. She ultimately homeschooled them for two middle school years, making academic “course corrections” which enabled both to become National Merit Scholars at St. Xavier High School.
Cheryl’s research into the history of education alerted her to the critical role Latin grammar can play in forming the intellect, so she incorporated Latin into her sons’ homeschooling. She taught herself at the same time, always managing to stay a few paces ahead, and that self-education continued after her sons had returned to the classroom. Recognizing that a local revival of Latin was unlikely within institutional settings, Cheryl offered her knowledge to the growing community of home educators, teaching Latin one day a week in a leased room at a Highlands church to Grades 3 and up. Affirmed by the striking results, especially in children who started early, she began to compile her teaching materials into a course that could enable families and schools to begin Latin programs at an optimal early age. That course became Latina Christiana, and Cheryl’s publishing company, Memoria Press, has now shipped over 100,000 copies worldwide. In recent years, Memoria Press has added products and authors, becoming one of the premier sources of classical materials in the United States. All Memoria Press authors develop and teach their courses in Highlands Latin classrooms.
In 2000, families who had attended that one-room Latin school urged Cheryl to expand the curriculum. With the help of Leigh Lowe, who undertook the task of learning Latin and teaching the elementary students, Cheryl began to concentrate on teaching advanced Latin and developing additional courses. With the aid of many new teachers, Cheryl’s vision for a classical Christian school that serves the needs of Highlands Latin’s founding families and the wider community has become a reality. The entire faculty has profound respect for Cheryl’s unerring instincts for educating the mind and character, and her ongoing training and leadership is the “secret” of our success.