Latin club students participated in the Junior Classical League (JCL) state competition this past weekend on April 5-7. Eight students from the school’s Latin club participated in events and four advanced to nationals.
“Latin competitions are more about doing tests, but also about fun as well,” senior Ishan Pandey said. “[It’s] like competing in some sports and also doing some lectures that are very informative.”
The competition consisted of two days in which the students participated in written tests, spoken events or graphic art events such as sculpting and drawing. There were also sports events and a quiz bowl the students participated in.
“My main thing at the state convention was running for the state board,” Iyer said. “I was running to be first Vice President. We had NomCom, where they reduce all the people that are running for each position to two candidates. I made it through NomCom and got to the actual election between the two people. I won that election, which got me elected to the State Board, which meant the district would fund my trip to nationals, which helps a lot.”
The state convention consisted of 66 schools and over 1,100 students. JCL nationals will take place at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville this summer from July 22-27. The students participating in the competition will travel with Latin teacher Courtney Herring and spend a week on the college campus.
“We will fly to Tennessee over the summer, and [the chaperones] stay in contact with [the students] to let them know what’s expected, what they should be packing and stuff like that,” Herring said. “At nationals, the students can take as many tests as they want and as many things as they want. In that aspect, some kids decide to take on a whole lot of other stuff and study for that over nationals. I always encourage them to do as many things as possible. It’s more chances to earn awards and ribbons.”
Members of the Latin club, such as Iyer and Pandey, said they are already studying for nationals and expect it to be a fun experience.
“I went to nationals last year, [but] it doesn’t really feel like a competition,” Iyer said. “It’s more like just a fun vacation because you’re at a college campus in a dorm. Everything is already planned out for you. In nationals, you can take as many tests as you want.”
In order to prepare for their competitions, Herring said she gives the students resources to study, but most of their work is done independently.
“I’m very proud of what the students accomplished,” Herring said. “Especially since at state, our students are competing against classical academies and private schools and health career prep, but there’s a lot of competition in Texas. We have a lot of academies that all they do is take Roman history and Latin and Greek [classes]. It’s really impressive [that they won], but I’m always proud of our kids and how they do. I can’t wait to see what they do at nationals.”
