College Prep Latin Student attends National Latin Convention

Christopher H., College Prep junior, together with his teacher, Jeannie de Vries, represented the East Bay as part of the California delegation to the National Latin Convention. Christopher brought home 11 ribbons and 3 medals for academic achievement, including one for fifth highest cumulative score of all delegates. In addition, he was one of the four members on California’s advanced certamen team, which took third place in the overall competition.

Says Linda Foust, Christopher’s mother “Some people say Latin is a dead language, but you wouldn’t know it by observing its students at the annual Junior Classical League’s National Latin Convention” held this July on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. “Contrary to popular opinion, those who study Latin are not quiet intellectuals. Yes, they are smart as can be, but their convention is lively, competitive, spirited, and even raucous at times. You haven’t experienced ‘loud’ until you have heard 1600 student delegates, all dressed in costume, screaming cheers for their states in a closed convention hall.”

The theme, and thus the costumes, changed every day during the week-long gathering, culminating in a banquet at which everyone wore togas. During the week the kids competed in “Olympic” athletics, dramatic presentations, creative arts, academic testing in areas like grammar and Roman life, and a Jeopardy-like game called “certamen (ker-TAH-men).” Certamen, taken very seriously at novice to advanced levels, is the centerpiece of the competitions. The questions cover all aspects of classical learning, including vocabulary, mythology, history and grammar.

The California Junior Classical League sponsored sightseeing tours in Nashville before and after the convention. The California students toured Andrew Jackson’s historic home and a full-scale replica of the Parthenon with its startling 42-foot statue of Athena inside. They also sampled Southern cuisine.

There is a state convention this spring in southern California and local competitions in the fall called “Ludi Octobres,” or October games, at which events identical to those at the national convention will be held. College Prep will send a team to both the local and state conventions. The College Prep team, though small, usually scores high in the overall school competitions, coming in second in last year’s small school division at state.