Latin students prove successful at state convention
February 4, 2016
The Homestead Latin program traveled to Madison, Wis. to compete at the Wisconsin Junior Classical League (WJCL) State Convention for the ninth time from Jan. 28 to Jan 30. Out of the 550 students in attendance from 12 different schools, Homestead brought 65 representatives.
According to Mrs. Marianne Wallach, Latin teacher, Homestead took home a second place trophy, outperforming large schools such as Marquette, Brookfield East, Divine Savior and Edgewood High School, but also took home a first place overall Spirit trophy among all 12 schools, both large and small.
Homestead students dominated the art category. In the academic testing, Homestead placed high in reading comprehension, mythology, Roman life, derivatives and vocabulary. Thomas Blaubach, senior, said, “This is a once-a-year opportunity to come together as a whole program and compete as a school.”
Along with these program accomplishments, the Latin I Certamen team, which competes in a game of fast recall of facts about classical civilizations and its peoples, languages and cultures, claimed the 2015-16 Wisconsin Level 1 Certamen State Championship. This team consisted of Shir Bloch, Jackie Wang, Erik Sutton, freshmen, and Nahyr Velaquez, senior. Over the summer, this team will travel to the National Certamen competition at Indiana University-Bloomington during the week-long National Junior Classical League Convention.
“Four of our Homestead students were elected to the 9-member WJCL state executive board responsible for the activities of the 800 high school members of the WJCL this next year. These HHS students are Ansley Laev, junior, for President, Katie McCarthy, sophomore, for Second Vice President, Katya Mikhailenko, junor, as Historian and Silma Berrada, sophomore as Secretary.” Mrs. Wallach said.
Mikhailenko commented, “This was my third year at convention, and every time I go back, it is more fun. I am very proud and excited to be elected as the Historian for the WJCL board.”
