What advice would you give to a Latin scholarship or financial aid recipient at Latin?

“You and your education, your growth, your development, your future are yours to own. You're here, be here,” said James McLelland ’17, Latin Scholar Scholarship recipient.

James, who came to Latin in Grade 10, knows that the school defined who he is today. “It made an immense impact on my character and my integrity. I think about ‘Honor Above All’ in everything I do. It's not just a phrase; it's a lifestyle and something of which I am proud.”

Though invaluable, his time at Latin was not easy. Latin would not have been possible for his family without his scholarship which covered the majority of tuition. The idea of private school never even entered the realm of possibility until a friend at church, who was a Latin faculty member, encouraged him to apply. “Once I was there, I felt different, but we just didn’t talk about how much your parents wrote the check for. I wanted to be in Speech and Debate, but it cost $500–700 a weekend to go to tournaments. I was able to get additional financial aid to help cover some of those weekends, but on others, my parents just made it work.”

“I'm not ashamed of my story. It's a needed story,” he believes. “The hardest thing about Latin was fitting in. Part of that stigma is coming in after years of people being together and sliding in to 10th grade. Part of it is that I knew I was different from many of my classmates. Faculty and staff do a great job of recognizing those barriers, but it's still hard.” 

James wants to help change that script for future Latin students. In addition to working as much as 40-hours a week, he was very involved on campus in chorus, theater, orchestra, speech and debate, and Model UN. And he served on the service council. “I look at where I am now,” he explains as a Program Manager with Veritas Prime. “And I attribute my success to my time at Latin.”

Today, James is paying forward much of what he learned at Latin dedicating time to Habitat for Humanity, the Mint Museum, and Charlotte Latin via the Alumni Governing Board (AGB), which recently endowed the Learning to Fly Scholarship. “It's the fabric of who I am,” he said. “I told Mr. Baldecchi when he spoke to the AGB recently, I am happy to step in and support this work in any way I can. It’s so important.”