Latin, one of the oldest languages, influenced nearly all European languages as well as the services of the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, Latin’s reach declined and its interest waned in recent years.
However, Jesuit’s Latin program is being revitalized with new teacher Ms. Vanessa Jones at the helm and a successful trip to the 2012 Area C Junior Classical League Convention.
The event, held at Hebron High School the morning of February 25th, included competitions in everything from Dramatic Interpretation to Latin Oratory to Classical Art and even athletics, in which Jesuit students placed 1st in seven categories, six of which were won by freshmen.
Ms. Jones, recognizing the strong showing, remarked that her favorite part of Area C this year “was that so many Jesuit students wanted to compete and participate.”
While Latin students, especially Juniors, have expressed frustration over having had a different teacher each year, the strong performances of Alex Baughman ’13, who placed second in Greek History, Alec Sellik ’13 who finished third in the same subject, along with a fourth place finish by Alexander Davis ’13 in Costume and a sixth place performance by Kevin Ly ’13 in Greek Derivatives, prove that the Latin upperclassmen have maintained a solid work ethic and matched the enthusiastic freshmen and sophomore base of the language. Perhaps a healthy rivalry is developing.
In fact, Ms. Jones “feels strongly that Jesuit will have a few students who will place high enough to warrant us going to Nationals,” a clear bi-product of the work ethic and determination Jesuit Latin students have exhibited in the weeks preceding the competition.
Embodying that work ethic, junior Kevin Ly recounted working on some practice Greek derivatives worksheets the week before the competition and although, as Ly put it he “didn’t always get the right answer or know all of the vocabulary to score perfectly,” his practice resulted in a solid sixth place finish.
Additionally, although Alex Baughman remarked that he was “slightly surprised” by his second place finish, his performance was emblematic of always “staying concentrated on the task at hand even when it is tough.”
With a healthy turnout at Area C, coupled with some strong showings in the athletics and academics competitions, Jesuit Latin students look forward to Baylor and later to state, where Jesuit won basketball three years ago along with some impressive academic performances.
Building upon the new-found vitality characteristic of last semester, the hope of both the JCL and Ms. Jones is that students will do well enough at state to go to Nationals, where Ms. Jones went herself as a teenager, enjoying the “dances” and interesting students.
While times haven’t always been ideal for Latin students, those times are disappearing fast; expect Area C not to be a fluke from Jesuit Latin students, but rather, the beginning of a successful trend for years to come.
