Here is the link to the page with all the pictures.
Busy day for everyone today. Contests of all sorts all the time:
- 7:15 am: track & field events (Olympika!) – I am told Tullus & Julia did well
- 8:00: graphic arts judging (teachers & other adults) – Melissa said that there were a bunch of good OH projects
- 8:15: English Oratory competition – it was organized by Emelie Inderhees, State Chair of Teachers and teacher at Wellington and wife of Brian Inderhees (the other State Chair, the really important one, Technology & Convention) – she will hereafter by referred to as Mrs. I
- 10:00: Contest Session 2 (Reading Comprehension, Roman Life, Mythology)
- 11:15: 4 different cool colloquia, e.g., Weird, Funny, & Outrageous Pompeii by historical fiction author Vicky Alvear Shecter – Shelly Dean, check out her new book, I think your students will like it (http://www.amazon.ca/Curses-Smoke-A-Novel-Pompeii-ebook/dp/B00G5N4Q2Y/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1/190-6722443-9171669)
- 12:15: Essay Contest
- 2:00-3:30: Spirit and then GA 2 – mandatory for all. Video of spirit preparations. Video of End of Spirit.
- 4:00: Nominations Committee Meeting for all candidates for national office – more about this below
- 4:15: Basketball – Mrs. I said that OH won its 1st couple of games
- 5:30: Auditions for the talent show on Thurs called ‘That’s Entertainment!’ – I know that Emily Haussler was doing a dance for her audition
- 6:00: Dramatic Interpretation competition – judged by Shaker teacher Nora Murphy and Columbus Academy teacher Christy Bening
- 6:30: Competitive Certamen, Round 1 – more about this below
- 8:45: Academic Decathlon – top 5 winners earn cold, hard cash! – Sameer Apte hopes to finish in the top 10
- 8:45: Dance – theme is ‘Fresh, Clean, and Peach-y Keen!’ – not sure what that means…
- 8:45: Team Trivia
- 8:45: Bazaar – where Latin-related items can be purchased as a memento (the Latin word which means ‘remember!’)
- 8:45: Movie, ‘Monsters, Inc’
- 11:00-12:00 midnight: OH Fellowships, mandatory
- 12:30: in rooms with lights out (supposedly… but everyone is probably so tired that they did in fact go to sleep)
Here was my day:
8 am – 11 am: I judged School Scrapbooks. An example of how much space is required for all the projects: they were on tables in the racquetball court. This category takes many judges b/c each book requires such a time commitment. My only task was to judge ‘Content and Theme.’ Most were excellent and used the NJCL theme for the scrapbook, omnium enim rerum principia parva sunt (for the beginnings of all things are small). One was organized by the 9 Muses of Greek Mythology. Another was a Pop-up book organized by month. It took me 2.5 hours (I took a couple of breaks…) to judge only content/theme for 12 scrapbooks b/c you need to put down comments & explanations to justify your score.
11 – 1 pm: Mrs. I and I attended the State Chairs luncheon. Most states have 2-3 chairs to organize all the activities, some have more (TX, VA), others have just 1. They talked about next year’s convention at Trinity University (San Antonio TX). There were (rather harsh, in my opinion) complaints about the NJCL website. The failure of some schools to pay properly for their state and national dues was discussed. [***For Melissa Burgess, who is apparently obsessed with what food I eat: My lunch with the other state chairs consisted of salad, chicken/risotto/veggies, banana creme pie, and coffee. And I had a nice conversation with your friend Jen Jort (?) of Illinois. She is a colleague with Lisa Mays, a Summit alumna, who presently teaches at Elgin Academy in Chicago. For dinner I had a salad (with those purple onions and shredded cheese and french dressing) and some spanish rice and a half pita turkey sandwich and lemonade. Oh, and I stole a banana yesterday and another one this evening – there is no way that a healthy snack is a crime.]
2-3:30: General Assembly 2
The National Latin Exam people honored the many winners in attendance. It first started in 1977, and over 150,00o students took this prestigious exam in 2014. Of the 123 students at the convention who earned a perfect score, Ohio has 13. Sorry, too many for me to name, and plus I don’t know them all, b/c there are over 100 at Emory, and I am bad with names anyway. But I did get a few other special awards:
- 3 Perfect Scores: Sameer Apte (Shaker) was 1 of 28 at Emory
- 4 Consecutive Gold Medals: Sameer Apte (Shaker), Jesse Campbell (Summit), Morgan Dineen (LakWest), Ben Robertson (Shaker), Narayan Sundararajan (Shaker), and Connor Tomshack (St. Edward)
- 4 Perfect Scores: Ben Robertson (Shaker) and Connor Tomshack (St. Edward) were 2 of 7 at Emory
- 5 Consecutive Gold Medals: Tino Delamerced (Summit) – now also known as ‘Tony’ due to a mistake on stage…
- And, in the steps of Heather Smith (Shaker) and Paul Slater (Summit) and sister Anna Delamerced (Summit), Tino won an NLE Scholarship worth $4,000! The study of Latin really DOES pay! In the words of those enigmatic Racketeers (a regular act at ‘That’s Entertainment!’): It’s true, it’s true!
The GA also had Roll Call, where each state does a 2-person, 1-minute skit to announce how many from their state are in attendance. CA did a spoof of Lourde’s ‘Royals.’ Maine brought its huge, inflatable ‘Lobster Sam’ (it was yellow this year, I thought last year it was red, maybe there was an off-season injury). Shaker students Hannah Barrett and Matthew McMillan did a spoof on LeBron James’ most recent ‘decision.’ (Sorry, the quality is not very good, I did not go down close to the stage…)
4-5 pm: I was at the NomComm meeting to support Narayan Sundararajan in his run to become the NJCL 2nd VP. I am now in 5th year as the State Chair of Students, and my main task is to mentor the OH officers in their duties. As a freshman, Narayan was appointed one of the representatives from Cleveland, and he was elected as Treasurer as a sophomore. He was a terrific officer, was a font of great ideas, was always willing to help others, was always enthusiastic about the JCL: in other words, the perfect candidate for the NJCL! He gave a great speech and was unanimously approved as the sole candidate for the 2nd VP. Tomorrow during ‘Meet the Candidates,’ Narayan will need to think on his feet and prove that he is worthy (b/c he IS worthy) by answering some tough and also some goofy questions from the voting delegates from other states. More on his election as the week progresses.
6:15-9 pm: Competitive Certamen began today with the 1st of 3 preliminary rounds. Each round has 20 toss-up questions, with 2 bonus for the team that answers correctly. Toss-ups are 10 pts, and each bonus is 5 pts. There is a total of 400 pts per round, and a score of 100 or more is good, and around 200 is great. Advanced had a solid round. They got the 1st 3 questions, then won only 1 of the next 11, but rallied to take the final 5 questions. Final score: OH 135, IN 85, NC 30. The intermediate team was matched against perennial power Mass. The match started uneven, with only 2 of the 1st 5 questions answered correctly. Then Mass took 4 of the next 5, but OH rolled to victory in the last half behind the quick buzzes of Blake Himes (Shaker). [At the evening fellowship, when certamen came up, the delegation began chanting, ‘Blake! Blake! Blake!’ Pretty cool stuff.] The Novice had a hard 1st round match against Mass (again) and a strong GA team. Caroline Klette (Summit) put some points on the board on question 12. The players were very nervous and were just not quick enough, but they will be ready for the lightning fast pace of play during rounds 2 and 3 tomorrow.
Stuff from the Tues night Fellowship:
- Joseph from Shaker: ‘Shaker, oh, um, I mean Ohio, represented itself very, very well in Olympika.’
- Mrs. I on her experience during English Oratory: ‘I admit it, I got grumpy, I didn’t let someone compete.’ The crowd reacts with sympathy for the student. Then she adds, ‘But, hey, come on, he refused to followed directions.’ The teachers immediately gave her a standing ovation. Well, not really, but I was applauding on the inside…
- Morgan from Lakota West: ‘For the 2nd year in a row, after I completed a test, I lost my scantron between my seat and the door!’
- David from Turpin: ‘I slept through most of a colloquium, but woke up at the best part. Did you know the pyramids are positioned in the shape of the constellation Orion?!’
- Davis from Summit: ‘I did the essay contest. My theme was that all new art is just a new spin on old art.’
- Emily from Summit, on her audition for ‘That’s Entertainment!’: ‘I did ballet, it was kinda terrifying, I almost kicked an SCLer!’
- Maria from Turpin, on the extremely difficult Academic Decathlon test: ‘I took the test, it was pretty hard, but I loved taking the test in those comfortable chairs.’
- Tullus from Summit, on Narayan’s qualifications: ‘He is running unopposed. I didn’t even take notes on him!’
- To thank him for his help and hard work, Treasurer Lindsey Dierig gave Nice Price of Indian Hill a star trophy and a book (L. Ron Hubbard’s ‘Disaster’, the 8th book in his Decalogy).