Crown Point High School Latin Club Wins at State in 2016

CPHS-Latin-State-Convention-2016On Friday and Saturday, March 11-12, forty-seven members of the Crown Point Latin Club joined students from fifteen other schools at the 63rd Annual Indiana Junior Classical League State Convention at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. In addition to fun activities such as a “That’s Entertainment” talent show and a pizza party, the convention included a variety of competitions at the individual, team, and club levels.

Individually, our students performed extremely well in these events, receiving forty-seven first-place awards and bringing home 244 awards for top five placings! Additionally, two of our students received Individual Achievement Trophies in Academic Testing (Claire Dosen and Emily Fender), two received Individual Achievement Trophies in Graphic Arts (Luke Perrin and Susie Szymanski), and two received Individual Achievement Trophies in Creative Arts (Emily Fender and Susie Szymanski). There are only five trophies available in each of those categories! In addition, Susie Szymanski was also awarded the Eileen Johnson scholarship.

In the much-anticipated Certamen competition (a Jeopardy-style quiz game), all three teams advanced to the final rounds of their respective levels. In the final competition, our intermediate team (2nd year students) placed 2nd, while the novice team (1st year students) and advanced team (3rd and 4th year students) returned home with 1st place trophies. By virtue of their state championships, members of the novice and advanced teams have earned automatic spots on the state team competing at the NJCL National Convention this summer; advanced team members included August Dailey, Ben Depta, Claire Dosen, Emily Fender, Taylen Hovanec, Cameron Rachford, Skyler Sheck, and Susie Szymanski; Intermediate team members were Maddie Edwards, Taylor Richards, and Meagan VanDrunen; Novice team members were Kayla Apking, Jessica Bao, Dugan Dailey, Maddie Johnson, Isabelle Kalil, Emma Maddack, Stephanie Perez and Julie Tran.

We had two students elected as state officers at this year’s convention! Casey Akers (junior) was elected as the 2016-2017 IJCL President. He will be responsible for leading the state delegation at this summer’s NJCL National Convention, as well as planning Fall Latin Day, running all state board meetings, and managing the annual membership campaign. Hannah Walley was chosen as the 2016-2017 IJCL Editor. As Editor, she will be responsible for creating and publishing the state newsletter, Veritas et Scientia.

At the club level, Crown Point once again performed extremely well. In addition to winning the overall sweepstakes trophy for large chapters, we earned the 1st place trophy in the publicity contest (entry compiled by Emma Werkowski, Praetor). We placed 1st with our local chapter publication, Tempus Canis (edited by Hannah Walley), 1st in Delegate Spirit (led by Isabelle Melchor), 1st in the Helen Wampler Spirit Award (entry compiled by Callista Christ, Consul), 1st with our Chapter T-shirt (designed by Erin Sizemore) and 1st in Scrapbooks (created by Cameron Rachford). We also placed 1st for the Sharon Gibson Community Service Award, which is based on one of our many service activities that we do throughout the year (entry compiled by Callista Christ, Consul).

As a result of our high placings in these individual, team, and club events, the Crown Point Latin Club was once again named overall state champion and awarded the sweepstakes trophy. As a club, we earned a total of 2,774 points - over 1,300 points more than the second place team. We are extremely proud of all of our students for their dedication and enthusiasm for the study of Latin, and look forward to their competing at next year’s convention!

The next level of competition for these young people will be the National Junior Classical League Convention from July 25-30 at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. For more information on this event, see www.njcl.org.