Middle schoolers earn high placings at Ludi Novembres
This story was submitted by middle school Latin teacher Lisa Masoni.
A group of 24 middle school delegates joined the upper school students to attend Ludi Novembres, the fall Junior Classical League conference, at St. Francis High School in Sacramento on Nov. 18. They learned about Caesar and zombies, Latin demons and Heinrich Schliemann’s connection to Sacramento and the Gold Rush. They tossed grapes, played volleyball and collected seven boxes of books to donate to the Prisoners’ Literacy Project. They also earned many awards in their academic competitions.
At the MS1 level, four sixth graders earned top placings. Trisha Iyer and Arjun Moogimane took first and second place in mythology, respectively. Chloe Lee placed first in reading comprehension and third in grammar, and Akshat Mehrotra earned first place in daily life.
Several grade 7 students were winners at the MS2 level. Katelyn Abellera took second in reading comprehension; Rupert Chen placed first in reading comprehension and second in vocabulary; Michelle Jin won first in both grammar and reading comprehension; Jeremy Ko earned first in vocabulary, second in reading comprehension and third in mythology; Andrew Pluzhnikov earned second in daily life; Edward Sun took second in grammar; Hita Thota placed first in mythology; and Nicholas Wei took second in mythology and first in derivatives.
Eighth graders participated in the MS3 level of competition, where Akhilesh Chegu took first in vocabulary and grammar; Arjun Dixit placed third in derivatives; Maddie Jin took second in derivatives and first in mythology; Aaron Lo took third in mythology and second in daily life; Brandon Park placed second in mythology, third in vocabulary and first in derivatives; and Thresia Vazhaeparambil placed second in vocabulary, third in reading comprehension and third in daily life.
Students also participated in open certamen, a quiz bowl game where students play on mixed teams. Aaron Lo, Maddie Jin and Arjun Dixit played on the second place team and Akhilesh Mehrotra’s team placed first. This bodes well for the state convention in the spring, where students will put together a school team to play against other schools.
Tags: Junior Classical League, Latin