Latin Students Stun at National Convention at Emory University
From July 22nd-28th, seventeen St. Andrew’s Latin students attended the National Junior Classical League (NJCL) Convention, which was held at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
This year, over 1200 students and teachers from across the United States competed in various academic, artistic, and athletic contests related to Ancient Mediterranean culture and Latin and Greek languages.
The Texas State Advanced Certamen team, including Captain Isaac Hilton ‘23, Meredith Shaw ‘23, Martina Faini ‘25, and Presley Kuo ‘26, put up big scores in the preliminary rounds before being knocked out in a tough semifinal round. Overall, the team ended up in fourth place in the nation. Giulia Faini and Maya Rossouw, both in the class of ‘25, also practiced with the team and shared a part in their success.
Senior members of that team, Isaac and Meredith, played along with another teammate and coaches in the World Series of Certamen –a competition that pits teams of recent graduates and current Certamen coaches/teachers against each other as they answer particularly challenging questions on Ancient Mediterranean culture, history and language - and made it to the final round, finishing third overall! Quite an accomplishment!
The Texas State Novice Certamen Team, including SAS student Quinn Evans, who served as an alternate and played on a wildcard team, placed 3rd in the Novice Division.
Roman Rawie ‘25 and Laila Antonini ‘25 placed fourth and tenth overall in creative arts. One of Roman’s first place winning photographs featuring an archaeological dig he worked on this summer in Spain was even featured in the best of show video. St. Andrew’s students placed in the top ten across many academic and classical civilization contests. Linked here are the results of the individual academic and classical civilization contests.
Throughout the convention, Giulia Faini ‘25 as Webmaster and Martina Faini ‘25 as Convention Coordinator helped lead the Texas delegation in their roles as Texas State Junior Classical League officers.
Several St. Andrew’s alumni attended the convention as sponsors, members of the NJCL Committee, or Certamen moderators. Trace Turner ’13 is currently serving as NJCL Publications Chair, and Emma Schmidt ‘21, Will Snider ‘20, Phil Swanger ‘08, and Andrew Rist ‘05 worked on the moderating staff this year.
In addition to having a blast at the convention, the group also visited the World of Coca-Cola, National Civil Rights Museum, and Georgia Aquarium before spending the evening at an Atlanta Braves game.
