[Click here for photos and click here for some videos – username is dean_l@summitcds.org and password is njcl2011. For the videos, use the Folder pull down window and change to NJCL 2012.]
The final day is always tough for the kids. The rookies are surprised that the week is over, the veterans are bummed but know that next year will bring more of the same, and the graduated seniors realize that the JCL experience will no longer be the same because they will return as older & wiser SCL’ers.
My schedule for the day: Novice Certamen Finals at 10 am, lunch, break, Roman parade, dinner at 7, and then the World Series of Certamen with the ‘Bad Larrys.’
For information on the OH National Championship, click here.
There was Ludi Ultimate in the morning. I woke up at bit later than I wanted but grabbed some coffee and tried to find the fields to watch Tullus & the OH team play. On my way, I passed an SCL’er who was heading to the fields, and he informed me that the fields were pretty far away. So I did not make it to Ludi Ultimate. I was told later that Tullus got kneed in the thigh in the 3rd game and did not play after that. It must not have been too bad, because Tullus did not mention it himself until I brought it up.
[As a side note, Tullus and I will be heading up to Blaine MN in mid-August for the USA Ultimate Youth Club Championship. He plays in the Under 16 Division, and last year the Cincinnati team lost in the Semis to North Carolina, the eventual champions. I am one of the coaches and therefore will be on a bus (again) later in the month. Go to the video folder of the Shutterfly account, click on the Ultimate folder, and check out a score by the Cincinnati team in the Semi’s – Tullus is the one in the blue hat.]
After lunch, I checked out a couple of the afternoon activities. The lecture on the Emperor Tiberius was full. I stood at the door for a couple of minutes and saw the professor go through a few busts & coins of Tiberius. I then visited the ‘Project Linus’ service event, where students make blankets for less fortunate children. NJCL Parliamentarian Sam Buck was in charge at the time, and there were a number of OH students helping her out.
The last day of convention always features a toga parade. The kids love it. Imagine 1,600 people in togas parading through a college campus, and you will get the general idea. Some merely throw on sheets (but never the dorm sheets, never…), others have more elaborate togas, and still others go for it & have terrific costumes.
Some highlights from the last GA
The Lower Certamen team finished 8th in the Nation, and the Upper team earned 7th in the Nation. Adam Sichel (Indian Hill) earned ‘The Most Valuable Player’ Award, which honors the top certamen player in the Novice Division. Summit alumnus and Boston University student Paul Slater won this award for the Lower Division in 2008.
The OH T-Shirts, designed by President Heather Smith, won 4th place for Best Use of Theme.
OH had so many winners in the Open Certamen Division that I could not keep track of all the names. Eugepae, V’omnes!
There were a number of OH people who won big awards:
- Creative Arts – 9th place for Alex Lathem (Westlake) and Bhavani Srinivas (Shaker Heights)
- Graphic Arts – 4th for Drew Galletta (Lakota West) and 6th for Tino Delamerced (Summit)
- Best of Show – Tom Carroll (Westlake) for the Latin Literature Test, Hannah Barrett & Bhavani Srinivas (Shaker Heights) for Couples Costume, Adam Sichel (Indian Hill) for Level 1 Reading Comprehension, Connor Tomshank (St. Edward) for Level 2 Reading Comprehension
The whole GA sang the JCL song for the final time at the close of the GA. I sang with my son Tullus.
A torch was passed from the North Carolina delegation to the Nevada delegation to symbolize that next year’s convention is in Las Vegas.
Bad Larrys and the World Series of Certamen
The WSOC is for teachers & ex-JCL’ers to have fun, play some certamen, and entertain the crowd. The Bad Larrys have played every year. We usually make it to the Semi’s but have never made the Finals. The questions are sometimes goofy, sometimes hard, sometimes normal. A new type of question was introduced this year, Dramatic Interpretation. The player was required to act out a quote from an ancient author. More on this later.
As stated earlier, Bad Larry was joined by Bad Brian Compton (Moeller), Bad Chris Lapp (Summit alumnus & Notre Dame Law), and Bad Kate Hattemer (Walnut Hill alumna, Yale Alumna, writer). We faced fellow OH team – Crosstown Shootout, featuring Michelle Martinez, Kyle Lovett, and Kelly Schmidt – in the 1st round. I was able to get the very 1st question: ‘Who wrote about a ‘corvus’ late into the night?’ The 1st team thought classical and went with Tacitus, but I was able to get the points by answering Edgar Allan Poe (master of the short story, UVA dropout, and author of ‘The Raven’ = corvus). The round was pretty close, but we were able to edge out Crosstown Shootout by a few pts.
Round 2 was in a bigger room because we faced the tough FL team, led by coach David Jackson. I think we lost the round but managed to score over 100 pts. The highlight of the match was probably the Dramatic Interpretation question. Bad Kate got the toss-up by kissing many kisses (from Catullus 5) – I sheepishly reminded her that I was married but flattered. I volunteered to act out the bonus, the famous Cacata Carta (Excrement-Covered Book) poem. For some reason which I cannot explain, I mimed it: no words, just actions. I will let the gentle reader imagine the result.
The Bad Larrys again made the Semis. We were matched against another OH team, the ‘Red Raiders from Shaker Heights (Bob White, Michael Cowett, Sarah Leonard, and Ed Cormany), and ‘3 Asians and a White,’ led by ‘Lord Chang,’ one of the VA Certamen coaches. We jumped out to a lead which we never relinquished and made the Finals for the 1st time ever!
The Finals was less fun. Not because we did not win – surprisingly, we were actually in it up until the 19th question. Rather, because it became more real certamen and less WSOC-style certamen. In other words, little joking, even less banter, and more serious intent. Former OH player Adam Williams (fellow teacher with ‘Lord Chang’ in VA) led the ‘Sexaginta et Sex’ team – a reference to Star Wars and Order 66, when the Emperor orders the killing of the Jedis. The other team was led by former TX player Andrew Rist. The TX team won a close match and earned the ‘Schearer Cane.’
