Ethan Reames ’25 earned the sixth highest score in the North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition (NACLO), securing him one of eight spots at the 22nd International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) in Taipei, Taiwan in July of 2025.

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The competition gives high school students the opportunity to solve linguistic problems through which they learn about the diversity and consistency of language while exercising logical reasoning.

Reames is co-leader of the Upper School Linguistics Club at Gilman, which was formed last year. Each week, they work on puzzles or other related activities. At one meeting, a student in the club taught the others the Korean alphabet. “The goal of the club is to get better at understanding language,” he said. “In practice, we are just having fun.”

Reames’ interest in the subject began one summer in a course he took through Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) program held at Dublin City University in Ireland. “I just like picking things apart,” he said. “I’m a big history person. Tracing how language has changed over time is very natural to me.”

Since it began in 2003, the IOL has been hosted in a different country each summer. “The competition challenges participants to analyze the grammar, structure, culture, and history of different languages and to demonstrate their linguistic abilities through puzzles and problem-solving challenges,” according to its website.

Reames’ mother, Laura, shared the news of his achievement in an email to the School. “I thought Gilman would want to know about this great capstone to Ethan’s 14-year odyssey because Gilman played a large part in Ethan’s development,” it read. “The School allowed Ethan to follow his interests while instilling the confidence to be comfortable with who he is.”

In the fall, Ethan will matriculate at Tufts University, where he will study history. For now, he’s looking forward to his big summer trip and meeting the other seven students on the North American team. 

Congratulations, Ethan!