From July 24-30, eight middle and upper school Saint Mary’s Hall Latin students attended the National Junior Classical League (NJCL) Annual Convention at the beautiful University of Louisiana at Lafayette. They rose early each morning to experience all the NJCL had to offer.
Each day, the students remained fully engaged and participated in the myriad events at the Convention, such as academic contests, general assembly, colloquia, spirit parades, Ludi (competitive games), Olympika (athletics), graphic arts, creative arts (speech/essay), the agora (market), and dances. Every evening, they attended the late-night State fellowship, a gathering of the 250+ Texas student delegation, at which the Texas State Junior Classical League business was conducted.
In particular, they attended numerous colloquia- hour-long seminars and workshops presented by Latin teachers, academics, and authors. They discussed wide-ranging subjects, such as “Star Trek and Greek,” “Classics on the Broadway Stage,” “The Truth about Latin Pronunciation,” “Aeneas, Hercules, and… Thor? Oh my!”, “Connections between Asian and Greco-Roman Narratives,” “The Blues of Achilles,” “Weaving - make your own mini-loom,” “Dyes and Clothing of the Ancient World,” and “A Visit with George O’Connor.”
One of the highlights was attending the excellent production “That’s Entertainment.” “That’s Entertainment” is always a convention favorite, and this year was no exception.
Students also had the opportunity to enjoy friendly competition through Open Certamen, the fun and lighter version of Competitive Certamen. Amruta Patel ’26 and Jacob Kollars ‘27 were on the winning team in this competition.
This convention was a pure delight, and we could not have done it without the help of our amazing chaperones. Thank you to Patti Nicoll, Raoul Nicoll, and Dipan Patel, who went above and beyond in supporting our students every step of the way.
Convention Results
With approximately 900 students in attendance and many others attending virtually, the competition was very robust, and our students achieved excellent results. Please help us in congratulating the following students. (Top 20 awards listed below.)
In-Person Attendees:
Ally Gibbs ‘23 (Level 5+)
7th Greek Derivatives
18th Ancient Geography
7th Classical Art
Amruta Patel ‘26 (Level 1)
5th Reading Comprehension 1
7th Latin Vocabulary
4th Latin Derivatives
5th Greek Derivatives
15th Roman Life
8th Classical Mythology
6th Latin Literature
10th Ancient Geography
2nd Sight Recitation
Calista Wilkinson ‘25 (Level 3)
19th Latin Vocabulary
15th Advanced Prose Reading Comprehension
9th Advanced Poetry Reading Comprehension
10th Greek Life and Literature
15th Classical Mythology
4th Classical Greek
14th Latin Literature
4th Classical Art
5th Dramatic Interpretation - Advanced Poetry
8th Sight Recitation
Colston Book ‘27 (Level 1/2)
2nd Reading Comprehension 1
8th Elementary Grammar
6th Latin Vocabulary
6th Latin Derivatives
3rd Greek Derivatives
7th Roman Life
10th Classical Mythology
7th Roman History
9th Mottoes
2nd Impromptu Art
2nd Mystery Test
4th Marathon
Inaaya Wali ‘27 (Level 1/2)
9th Elementary Grammar
1st Roman Life
1st Greek Life and Literature
7th Greek History
9th Classical Mythology
2nd Latin Literature
2nd Ancient Geography
10th Roman History
10th Mottoes
2nd Jewelry
Jacob Kollars ‘27 (Level 1/2)
6th Latin Vocabulary
2nd Latin Derivatives
4th Roman Life
8th Classical Mythology
8th Ancient Geography
9th Roman History
7th Mottoes
Lily Kelly ‘25 (Level 2)
16th Latin Vocabulary
20th Latin Derivatives
19th Ancient Geography
5th Impromptu Art
Rabani Bajaj ’27 (Level 1/2)
6th Reading Comprehension 1
11th Elementary Grammar
3rd Latin Vocabulary
7th Latin Derivatives
4th Greek Derivatives
6th Roman Life
4th Greek History
3rd Classical Mythology
1st Latin Literature
7th Ancient Geography
4th Roman History
3rd Mottoes
Virtual Results:
Aarya Shah ‘24 (Level 3 Virtual)
2nd Latin Vocabulary
1st Classical Mythology
3rd Heptathlon
Henry Zachry ‘23 (Level 4 Virtual)
2nd Classical Mythology
1st Roman History
Leonora Leykum ‘24 (Level 3 Virtual)
2nd Heptathlon