H-B Latin scholars take on the Virginia Junior Classical League

Every year the Virginia Junior Classical League (VJCL)  hosts a convention in late November, usually the Sunday and Monday before Thanksgiving. 

To start the day off it begins with the two hour drive from Washington-Liberty high school to the convention center in Richmond. Several hours later begins the mentors’ cult-like introduction meeting which features several speakers and speeches in both Latin and English as well as the fierce spirit competition, which HB was not a part of this year.

Though all schools put in fair amounts of effort, there is bound to be a clean out for some schools, *cough*cough*, Thomas Jefferson High School (for Science and Technology (TJSST), Edison High School, and Wakefield Country Day. Though Swanson pulls their weight, not many middle schools go and they by far have the strongest Latin program. Yorktown and Washington-Liberty won a handful of awards but it was hard to compete with TJSST’s 87-member student body, which is bigger than one approximate grade in HB’s middle school.  

The Virginia (this year amended to the Velociraptor) Senior Classical League (VSCL), the college version of the VJCL, holds a key part of the conventions as well. In addition to the many speeches by the VJCL officers, they have their own speeches about the dinosaur convention next door, making the already insane 1000+ person convention even more insane.  

Running for Office

Every year at the VJCL convention there are office roles which go up for election to serve until the next convention. There are numerous roles ranging from an editor, who runs a newsletter for the VJCL to the president who is the main lead on VJCL, to the historian who is the person responsible for the scrapbook.

This year after learning that there was one other person running for editor, I decided to join the race. To be an office member one must have exhausted the classical courses, Latin, or Greek or otherwise be currently enrolled in the course. However, you must serve the whole time in high school, seniors cannot run however they can still be a part of VSCL. 

Through the convention there are several steps to become an officer. One part of that is the speeches and campaign, though some of these are not necessary if no one else is running against you. For example the role of historian had one person running so they automatically won, and did not necessarily have to campaign. However, I chose not to campaign so that the other person I was running against would have a better chance at winning, as while they could not run again, I could run for the next two years. In the end I lost the race, however I did learn how to run and perfect my campaign. 

Tests

The convention has several events, such as the four sets of testing taking which students are ranked on and award varying degrees of award ranging from 1st place to 10th place. The test ranges in difficulty based on level, topic, and test. 

The test taking circumstances are a mixed bag. The first one is alright, though a little annoying depending on how you feel about the test. The second feels like almost a rush so you can get dinner when you’re done.  For those who go to the 8 pm test, it may very well just be a survival game to finish and crash before the 16+ hour day gets to you.

Graphic Arts

Students attending the VJCL convention can submit creative works that range from large models, to pottery, to colored pencil works, maps, even cards, and children’s books. All of which have to be related to the classics, Greek or Roman and even sometimes in Latin.

The H-B submissions contributed a large model made of wood, which won 4th in 6-8 (middle school grades are combined due to the fewer numbers of students, whereas high schoolers compete by grade level). Amongst H-B 10th graders, the following pieces placed: a mixed media piece (2nd), a black pencil artwork (10th), a cartoon (3rd), a colored pencil piece (8th), and a piece of jewelry (5th). An H-B 9th grader’s drawn map placed 6th overall. Finally, an 11th grade student placed 7th for their colored pencil piece.

Creative Arts

The third section is the Creative Arts, which includes Latin Oratory, Modern Myth (a retelling of a myth in modern times), a costume contest, and a dramatic interpretation. In addition to these, there is also an impromptu art contest that relates to the prompts and materials which are provided and uses them to create a piece of art based on some form of classical reference.

Unfortunately for anyone who wants to do impromptu art, it is held at 9:45-10:45 at night, preventing anyone from going to the dance or going to bed early like a sane person. However, there is another session Monday morning for anyone who wishes to get a higher grand total of sleep over the trip.

The prompt for our sessions was a myth in the form of a broadway play or musical. In addition, we had to include a popsicle stick that could be cut up, traced or glued directly on.

There were several approaches to this, such as a poster like I did (it appeared to be the most common medium), while others did projects such as a costume design. 

In addition, I did the Latin oratory, which involved reading a story aloud in Latin with about 10 minutes of preparation to truly understand the story. Yes, people who speak Latin are judged objectively.  If you were clear, understood what you were saying, had accurate Latin pronunciation (such things do exist), as well as confidence overall, you scored well in front of three judges.