Students and Alumni Show Leadership, Latin Skills at TSJCL Convention

Jennie Luongo, US Latin Teacher
The Texas State Junior Classical League (TSJCL) Convention this year was held at Anderson High School here in Austin on April 5-6. The state convention brings together JCLers from across Texas to network and to compete in various competitions related to the Classics. Students had the opportunity to compete with other Latin students from around the state, participate in colloquia presented by Classics scholars and members of the Senior Classical League, and show off their skills in a talent show, among many other activities.
Certamen is a buzzer- style game of quickly recalling facts related to the topics of Latin grammar, Roman history and culture, and Greco-Roman mythology. At the State level of Certamen, each area is allowed one team to represent them. The team can comprise students from different schools or all one school within the Austin area, depending on the results of the Area convention.

St. Andrew’s Middle and Upper School students combined to make the Austin Novice team, and the St. Andrew’s Upper School Advanced Certamen team represented Austin in the competition. Advanced players are Bering Edwards, Lorelei Ing, Emma Schmidt, and Captain Will Snider.  After a tough draw, the Advanced team barely missed making it to finals. Our Novice players were Owen Almy, Esme Aguilar, William Berry, Kenzie Dorrance, William Sykes, and Captain Lorena Koppel. After a tough preliminary round the Novice team went to the consolation match and from there made it to finals. The Novice team won third place overall. This is an immense achievement for both of these teams and is the result of lots of hard work and practice.

The convention itself is run by an executive board of student officers, aided by five adult State Chairs.  Lauren Dill (State Chair), Lorelei Ing (2018-2019 Area F Co-Chair), Emma Schmidt (2018-2019 Area F Co-Chair), and Will Snider (2018-2019 TSJCL Outreach Coordinator) had a huge hand in making sure the convention ran smoothly. Every year at the State Convention students elect positions for the 2019-2020 board of officers. Lorelei Ing was also elected as the 2019-2020 First Vice President after a very successful campaign in which many members of the St. Andrew’s delegation helped. Lorelei will be responsible for academic contests in the coming year.

Our school had a great turnout in academic and classical civilization contests, leading us to get 10th overall sweepstakes in the Upper Division. Below you can view the results of the academic contests.  

First Place
Emma Erben, Latin Derivatives
Sina Mohammadi, Ludi Chess
Will Snider, Reading Comprehension
Chris Zhao, Classical Art

Second Place
Emma Erben, Decathlon
Zach Okayli Masaryk, Talent Show

Third Place
Parker Brandt, Creative Writing
Meyer Cohen, Vocabulary
Bering Edwards, Decathlon
Bering Edwards, Mythology
Sofia Gonzalez, Vocal Solo
Emma Schmidt, Latin Derivatives
William Sykes, Roman Life
Chris Zhao, Electronic Art
Andrew Buller, Ludi Basketball
Sabrina Kalmans, Ludi Basketball
Jacob Marcus, Ludi Basketball
Solomon Marshall, Ludi Basketball
Sina Mohammadi, Ludi Basketball
Gavin Reintjes, Ludi Basketball
Niclos Zarafshani, Ludi Basketball

Fourth Place
Henry Erlinger, Multimedia Art
John Fontenot, State T-shirt Design
Lorena Koppel, Vocabulary
William Sykes, Grammar I
Nick Zarafshani, Grammar V
Nick Zarafshani, Vocabulary
Chris Zhao, Roman Life
 
Fifth Place
Emma Schmidt, Mottoes
Will Snider, Decathlon

Sixth Place
Owen Almy, Sight Recitation
Tristram Coffin, Mythology
Lorena Koppel, Reading Comprehension
Leo Vernor, Roman History
Chris Zhao, Mixed Media

Seventh Place
Esme Aguilar, Mottoes
Owen Almy, Mythology
Tristram Coffin, Research Paper
Tristram Coffin, Roman History
John Fontenot, Club T-shirt
Lorena Koppel, Miscellaneous Art
Zach Okayli Masaryk, Oil Painting
Soloman Marshall, Sight Recitation

Eighth Place
Meyer Cohen, Mottoes
Gavin Reintjes, Ancient Geography
Allyssa Weiss, Latin Derivatives
Chris Zhao, Polychromatic Art

Ninth Place
William Berry, Greek Derivatives
Sabrina Kalmans, Classical Art
Lorelei Ing, Latin Literature
Lorelei Ing, Roman History
Allyssa Weiss, Decathlon

Tenth Place
Michael Barrow, Roman Life
Tristram Coffin, Costume
Sofia Gonzalez, Sight Recitation, level 3
Sina Mohammadi, Sight Recitation, level 4

Pentathlon Awards:

Summa cum laude: Michael Barrow, Meyer Cohen, Kenzie Dorrance, Bering Edwards,  Emma Erben, Lorelei Ing, Emma Schmidt, Will Snider, William Sykes

Maxima cum laude: Parker Brandt, Squeaky Buentipo, Maddy Clark, Tristram Coffin, Henry Erlinger, John Fontenot, Gray McKinnerney

Magna cum laude: Esme Aguilar, William Berry, Sophie Buechler, Sofia Gonzalez, Lorena Koppel, Soloman Marshall, Gavin Reintjes, Luke Weaver, Chris Zhao

Cum Laude: Everett Bradley, Andrew Buller, Truman Cunningham, Sabrina Kalmans,Jacob Marcus,Sina Mohammadi, Zachary Okayli-Masaryk, Allyssa Weiss

Many thanks to alumni Andrew Rist ‘05, Ali Campion ‘13, Jade Ross ‘13, William McKinnerney ‘17, Katherine Salinas ‘17, Walton Schmidt ‘17, and Matthew Tobias ‘18 for running events, presenting colloquia at the convention, and giving back to the TSJCL in so many ways!  

Good luck to those from this group who will be representing St. Andrew’s at the National JCL convention at North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota at the end of July.
 
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