St. Andrew’s Hosts & Competes in Austin-area Latin Convention
The SAS Latin Club hosted and competed in the Austin-area Latin Convention this February and earned the recognition as the highest-ranking private school in the 2025 competition.
Over the weekend of February 28 and March 1st, the St. Andrew’s Upper School Latin Club hosted the Austin-area convention on our home campus on Southwest Parkway.
While the competition lasted a couple of days, planning for the convention has been a year in the making with our two cConvention cCoordinators, Martina Faini and Maya Rossouw, planning each week for the event, which went off without a hitch. Latin students from around Central Texas came together to network and compete in academic, artistic, and athletic competitions honoring the Greco-Roman idea of finding balance in life.
Our Novice and Advanced Certamen teams have been practicing regularly, and that hard work really paid off at the convention. Our Novice team, composed of Suzanna Gilson, Captain Jai Gulati, Keira Lyle, and Sophie Oakes, beat the LASA team in overall score on Friday night to claim the area championship and a spot representing the Austin area at the State convention.
Our Advanced team, composed of Quinn Evans, Giulia Faini, Captain Martini Faini, Presley Kuo, Maya Rossouw, and Nina Urban, played a close final match against the LASA team, fighting to the end of the round for points, and won second place overall in the area.
Big congratulations to all our Certamen players!
Overall, St. Andrew’s won second place in the Gold Sweepstakes Division, the largest division of schools. We were the highest-ranking private school at the competition. Additionally, our students who competed in the athletic portion of the convention earned third place in Olympika Sweepstakes.
In addition to individual contests, all students at the competition take a contest called the Pentathlon, consisting of five parts: Grammar,, Mythology, History, Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary. The majority of St. Andrew’s students won awards for the Pentathlon exam, with one of our students receiving a high-point award. For the highest score in level 5+, Presley Kuo won this award.
Many St. Andrew’s students were recognized with high-point awards for their contest(s), indicating that they scored higher than any other student at the convention in a certain contest.
High Score Overall Awards- Sana Abbas—Robert Bogan Latin Oratory High Score
- Laila Antonini—Lauren Dill Judges’ Choice Award in Vocal Solo
- Laila Antonini—Mottoes
- Quinn Evans—Latin Literature
- Martina Faini—Roman History (Empire)
- Cate Kleber—Greek Derivatives
- Presley Kuo—Mythology
- Presley Kuo— Reading Comprehension Poetry
- Roman Rawie—Ancient Geography
- Roman Rawie—Classical Art
- Maya Rossouw—Vocabulary
For receiving the highest score of all seniors taking the most difficult test, the Decathlon, Martina Faini received the Armadillo Senior Scholar award, which includes a $500 scholarship. This test has ten components: Geography, Grammar, Culture, Latin Derivatives, Literature, Mottoes, Mythology, History, Reading Comprehension, and Vocabulary.
The individual upper school awards are as follows:
The individual upper school awards are as follows:
1st Place
- Sana Abbas—Latin Oratory
- Laila Antonini—Costume, Mottoes, Vocal Ensemble, Vocal Solo Alto/Bass
- Gracie Edwards—Sight Latin Reading
- Quinn Evans—Latin Literature
- Giulia Faini—Roman Life
- Martina Faini—Decathlon, Roman History (Empire), Vocal Ensemble
- Anderson Ford—Greek History
- Suzanna Gilson—Mythology
- Jaiden Gulati—Dramatic Interpretation
- Holly Hornaday—Roman History (Monarchy/Republic)
- Ainsley Jones—Decathlon
- McAlpine Kirkland—Greek Derivatives, Vocal Ensemble
- Cate Kleber—Classical Art, Greek Derivatives, Monochromatic Art
- Presley Kuo—Mythology, Reading Comprehension Poetry, Vocal Ensemble
- Sophie Oakes—Roman Life
- Roman Rawie—Ancient Geography, Classical Art
- Maya Rossouw—Latin Derivatives, Vocabulary
- Jacob Sela—Ancient Geography
- Katherine Stone—Latin Oratory
- Nina Urban—Mythology, Vocal Ensemble, Vocal Solo Soprano/Tenor
- Emily Wallingford—Photography, Roman History (Empire)
2nd Place
- Laila Antonini— 3-D Art, Roman History (Monarchy/Republic)
- Amelia Brandon—Reading Comprehension
- Pippa Dixon—Roman Life, Vocal Ensemble
- Cole Eclarinal—Ancient Geography, Mottoes
- Gracie Edwards—Dramatic Interpretation
- Quinn Evans—Decathlon
- Suzanna Gilson—Reading Comprehension
- Ginny Heard—Vocal Ensemble
- Connor Henderson—Ancient Geography
- Ainsley Jones—Roman Life, Vocal Ensemble, Vocal Ensemble
- Gideon Jones—Greek Life
- Skye Rossouw—Roman Life
- Nola Sabo—Roman Life
- Colin Sweany—Roman History (Empire)
- Savan Vigna—Photography
- Kinsley Werner—Vocal Ensemble
- Graves Wood—Greek History
3rd Place
- Leena Abdallah—Dramatic Interpretation
- Sana Abbas—Mythology
- Daniel Antonini—Advanced Grammar
- Anton Boerema—Vocabulary
- Miller Bowers—Mottoes
- Amelia Brandon—Vocabulary
- Hunter Briggs—Softball Throw
- Cate Delisi—Classical Art
- Pippa Dixon—Classical Art
- Anna Jane Frost—Roman Life
- Jai Gulati—Decathlon
- Parker Henderson—Ancient Geography
- Holly Hornaday—Greek History
- Cooper Johnson—Latin Derivatives, Mottos
- Josie Kastner—Greek Life, Latin Literature
- Ethan Kim—Latin Derivatives
- McAlpine Kirkland—Latin Literature, Solo Alto/Bass
- Keira Lyle—Decathlon
- Annie McMullen—Roman Life
- Sophia Oakes—Mythology
- Skye Rossouw—Ancient Geography
- Tres Slaughter—Roman History (Empire)
- Colin Sweany—Roman Life
- Nina Urban—Decathlon
- Emily Wallingford—Advanced Grammar
- Kinsley Werner—Greek Life
- Graves Wood—History (Monarchy/Republic)
As mentioned, each student at the convention takes a test called the Pentathlon that covers many of the topics commonly taught in Latin classrooms.
St. Andrew’s Pentathlon Results
Summa Cum Laude
Miller Bowers, Quinn Evans, Martina Faini, Holly Hornaday, Ainsley Jones, Gideon Jones, McAlpine Kirkland, Presley Kuo, Maya Rossouw, Nina Urban
Summa Cum Laude
Miller Bowers, Quinn Evans, Martina Faini, Holly Hornaday, Ainsley Jones, Gideon Jones, McAlpine Kirkland, Presley Kuo, Maya Rossouw, Nina Urban
Maxima Cum Laude
Daniel Antonini, Laila Antonini, Anton Boerema, Hunter Briggs, Ginny Heard, Colby Jacobs, Allison Jones, Ethan Kim, Cate Kleber, Wyatt McAbeer, Roman Rawie, Trevi Reed, Woods Smith, Colin Sweany, Graves Wood
Magna Cum Laude
Sana Abbas, Amelia Brandon, Cate Delisi, Eva Dempsey, Pippa Dixon, Giulia Faini, Suzanna Gilson, Viren Harding, Connor Henderson, Parker Henderson, Cooper Johnson, Keira Lyle, Annie McMullen, Sophie Oakes, Josie Powers, Campbell Queen, Marnee Richardson, Skye Rossouw, Nola Sabo, Jacob Sela, Aidan Strauss, Savan Vigna, Luke Vogelpohl, Emily Wallingford
Cum Laude
Leena Abdallah, Max Carson, Samantha Cece, David Delisi, Will Delisi, Finn Dooner, Cole Eclarinal, Gracie Edwards, Andersson Ford, Anna Jane Frost, Jai Gulati, Josie Kastner, Billings Key, Ryan Kipke, Tres Slaughter, Katherine Stone, Kinsley Werner, Dom Zubedy
As St. Andrew’s hosted this convention at our home campus, we have many, many people to thank.
First, we would like to give a big thank you to all the parents and caregivers who donated food for the volunteers and gave up their time to volunteer. We also appreciate some of our amazing alumni for coming to support in a variety of ways: Ali Campion, Rachel Deleery, Jade Ross, Will Snider, and Trace Turner.
Additionally, we want to thank our many colleagues who came to volunteer their time and support the convention: David Barragán, John Frost, Chad Fulton, Lori Hahn, Olivia Havel, Dan Latrielle, Evan Otto, Scott Pass, Juan Recondo, Selesha Subnaik, Linh Tran, and Darcie Westerlund. Thanks also go to Elizabeth Guice, who photocopied contests for us in the weeks before the convention. Thanks to our security team for always keeping us safe and to our wonderful administrators, Dr. Steven Fletcher and Mrs. Melissa Grubb, for allowing us to host the event on our campus.
The next stop for these amazing students is the State Latin Convention on April 4-5 at Bellaire High School in the Houston Area.
Bonam fortunam omnibus! (Good luck to all!)
