On Mar. 12-14, 26 Latin students of all grades attended the 72nd annual Indiana Junior Classical League Convention at Indiana University.
“The Indiana Junior Classical League is a 501 C3 nonprofit organization that encourages the study of classics in Indiana, middle and high schools, for students,” Latin teacher Britiany Haworth said.
Haworth has been going to the convention for many years.
“This was my 18th Latin convention. I started my freshman year of high school and haven’t missed one since,” Haworth said.
Students could participate in many different competitions at the convention, including art projects, academic testing and memorized oratories.
“My main one that I did was an oratory, which is like you memorize and you kind of act out this passage of Latin. And that was a lot of fun because I love stuff like that. I love speaking Latin,” senior Oliver Hunt said.
North Central earned 643 points and placed fifth overall out of 15 schools at the convention.
“Overall, we got fifth place out of 15 schools, which I think is pretty good. I wish I would have encouraged the kids to do even more competitions and score more points,” Haworth said.
The convention had many ways for students to learn. “They can attend colloquiums, taught by actual professors from IU and other colleges around Indiana,” Haworth said.
Students can learn how Latin is still used today.
“I learned really that classics in Latin are still very present today. We had a speaker who gave a talk about where he had taken old Latin poetry and turned it into modern day songs and you could still feel and that’s very much like a song you would hear today. And those are still like emotions you feel today,” Hunt said.
There are also games and other activities that students can participate in at the convention.
“There’s a dance every year on Friday night, which goes well. They did mixer activities at one point. There’s pop culture, certamen and other games,” Haworth said.
Many students still take Latin as their language class at North Central.
“I like learning about all the different little things about Latin grammar because I also study Spanish and I get to see all those little peculiarities in Spanish and English, too,” Hunt said
