This story was contributed by Lisa Masoni, middle school Latin teacher, and Scott Paterson, upper school Latin teacher.
The California Junior Classical League celebrated its return to in-person events with an epic Ludi Octobres (October Games) hosted by Saint Ignatius High School in San Francisco on Oct. 22. Twenty-three Latin students from the middle and upper schools participated in assemblies and workshops, academic testing, face-painting, Kahoots, naumachia (staged ship battles), a service project and Certamen (a Latin-themed quiz bowl). The best parts of the day included a return to in-person traditions, such as spirit cheers and the chance to interact with more than 600 students from 21 northern California schools.
Harker students brought home the following individual awards:
Middle School 1 (Grade 6)
Ryo Sugaya: Third in Roman Daily Life
Ethan Weyn: First in Derivatives, first in Mythology
Middle School 2 (Grade 7)
Jacob Chung: First in Latin Grammar 1, second in Derivatives
Shreyas Karnam: First in Reading Comprehension Novice, third in Latin Grammar 1, member of the first-place Open Certamen Novice team
Zahra Syed: First in Derivatives
Middle School 3 (Grade 8)
Shamik Khowala: First in Derivatives, first in Reading Comprehension Intermediate
Ameera Ramzan: Second in Latin Vocabulary, second in Reading Comprehension Intermediate
Demi Zheng: First in Latin Vocabulary, second in Derivatives
Upper School, Level 3
Rahul Sundaresan: Second in Derivatives, second in Mythology
Upper School, Advanced Level
Ainslie Chen: First in Vocabulary, second in Reading Comprehension Advanced, member of third-place team in Open Certamen
Felix Chen: Third in Daily Life
Trisha Iyer: First in Daily Life, first in Reading Comprehension Advanced, member of first-place team in Open Certamen
Hannah Levanon: Member of first-place team in Open Certamen, second in Daily Life
Kabir Ramzan: First in Derivatives, second in Vocabulary
In late July, eight Harker students joined the California delegation to the 2022 National Junior Classical League Convention, the first in-person JCL event since 2019. Several more attended remotely as long-distance delegates. The California delegates endured quite an odyssey — overcoming plane delays and cancellations, daily thunderstorms and an alligator swamp in the middle of the University of Louisiana, Lafayette campus — to enjoy a week of competitions, workshops and opportunities to bond with Latin students from the state and all over the country.
“A highlight for many was joining forces with [New Hampshire] and [New Jersey] for a spirit battle against the Texas behemoth,” said Lisa Masoni. “In the opinion of the national second VP, the consortium of small-state delegations was definitely more spirited! “
One of the most important events at the convention is the election of national officers to lead the organization for the 2022-23 school year. Senior Rupert Chen was elected first vice president. Harker’s last national officer, Maya Nandakumar ’15, held the same office in her senior year. Chen, fresh off a stint digging at the archaeological site of Vindolanda on Hadrian’s Wall, will be responsible for promoting membership and publicity during his term of office.
Below are the top 10 awards earned by Harker delegates:
Had 2020 gone as planned, a contingent of upper and middle school Latin students would have headed to the University of Richmond in Virginia for the annual National Junior Classical League Convention. The convention was held virtually July 24-29 instead, with 12 Harker students joining the California delegation for games, academic competitions and assemblies.
Rupert Chen, grade 10, kicked off his term as second vice president of the California Junior Classical League by leading the California delegation in nightly organizational meetings and submissions to spirit and service competitions. California placed first in service (letters to representatives) and second overall for large states in spirit and service. Chen and his brother Felix, grade 8, appear at the 35-second mark in a video of one of the spirit themes, “Golden Slumbers/Purple Rain,” named for the JCL colors of purple and gold.
Rupert Chen also served as webmaster for CaJCL for the 2019-20 school year, and the CaJCL website placed first in the website competition. Kabir Ramzan, grade 9, is taking over as webmaster this year.
Students earned the following academic awards, competing at the level of Latin completed in 2019-20.
Level 1/2:
Rahul Sundaresan, grade 7: First in Academic Heptathlon, Ancient Geography, Hellenic History, Roman Life, Mythology, Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, and Latin Derivatives; Second in Classical Art; Third in Roman History
Sundaresan also competed on the novice open certamen (quiz bowl) team that placed second. Open certamen teams are made up of students from different states.
Level 1:
Felix Chen, grade 8: Fifth in Latin Derivatives, Reading Comprehension and Roman Life
Level 2:
Trisha Iyer, grade 9: Fifth in Reading Comprehension
Kabir Ramzan, grade 9: Third in Latin Vocabulary
Michelle Wei, grade 9: Fifth in Reading Comprehension
Iyer and Ramzan also played on the California intermediate competitive certamen team, which placed eighth.
Level 3:
Tiffany Chang, grade 10: First in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, fifth in Latin Vocabulary
Rupert Chen, grade 10: Fourth in Reading Comprehension Prose
Michelle Jin, grade 10: Third in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations
Lauren Liu, grade 10: First in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, first in Latin Literature, second in Reading Comprehension Poetry, second in Classical Art, third in Latin Vocabulary, fifth in Latin Derivatives, fifth in Reading Comprehension Prose
Nicholas Wei, grade 10: First in Reading Comprehension Poetry, second in Latin Grammar, second in Latin Vocabulary, second in Reading Comprehension Prose
Level 4:
Ann Ryan, grade 11: Summa cum laude in Impromptu Art
Level 5+:
Jeffrey Fung ’20: Second in Greek Life and Literature, third in Reading Comprehension Poetry, third in Latin Vocabulary, fourth in Hellenic History, fourth in Roman Life, fifth in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, fifth in Latin Literature
At the final assembly, Lisa Masoni, middle school Latin teacher, was presented with a Summa Cum Laude Sponsor award. This award recognizes contributions to JCL on the local, state and national level. Her nominators highlighted her service to CaJCL as treasurer for the past 14 years, as well as her work on the national level on the certamen moderator squad.
At the California Junior Classical League Convention, held on April 13 and 14 at Menlo School, Harker upper school Latin students were successful in a large number of events, with Harker taking first place overall in its division.
Two students won awards for the best academic performance at their respective levels. Freshman Akshay Manglik won in level 3, competing against 223 other students, and sophomore Jeffrey Fung was the winner at the advanced level, in which 236 other students competed.
Fung was also the top scorer in the academic pentathlon and grammar II tests. Other top test scorers were senior Edgar Lin in derivatives and Andrew Semenza in reading comprehension III.
Several more Harker students earned top spots in other competitions, including Elliot Kampmeier, grade 9, who placed second in level 1 sight reading.
In the level 3 events, Manglik took first place in pentathlon and dramatic interpretation, second place in grammar II and third in derivatives. Anna Vazhaeparambil, grade 9, placed third in pentathlon, dramatic interpretation and cartoons. Sara Yen, grade 9, took second place in dramatic interpretation and grammar II, and junior Ben Yuan finished in second place for both reading comprehension III and sight reading, with a third place finish in Latin oratory.
At the advanced level, Jai Bahri, grade 10, placed second in sight reading (poetry), and Arohee Bhoja, grade 9, took second in dramatic interpretation. Junior Timothy Chang placed first in essay, third in classical art and third in daily life. In addition to his other wins, Fung also took first place in sight reading (poetry), third place in ancient geography and third place in sight reading (prose). Sophomore Avi Gulati placed first in grammar II, pentathlon and sight reading (poetry), as well as third in ancient geography and sight reading (poetry). Semenza took top spots in three events, placing first in reading comprehension III, second in derivatives and third in vocabulary. Sophomore Kyle Li had third place finishes in both mythology and pentathlon, and Lin took second place in pentathlon in addition to his win in derivatives. Finally, Sara Min, grade 11, placed third in mythology, Ayush Pancholy, also grade 11, finished third in reading comprehension III and sophomore Jack Hansen took third in reading comprehension III.
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.
More than 30 middle school students posted medal-winning scores in this year’s National Myth Exam, which took place during the spring semester. The annual exam, taken by all middle school Latin students, includes questions on Greek and Roman myths.
Silver medals, awarded to students who scored between 95 and 99 percent, were awarded to rising seventh graders Hita Thota, Jeremy Ko, Alan Jiang, Jasmine Li, Andrew Fu and Andrew Pluzhnikov; rising eighth graders Nicole Tian, Anoushka Khatri, Arnav Jain, Brandon Park, Jacqueline Hu, Angela Jia, Aaron Lo and Alex Zhang; and rising ninth graders Betsy Tian, Angela Cai and Akshay Manglik.
Bronze medal winners, who scored between 90 and 94 percent, were rising seventh graders Atri Banerjee, Anthony Tong, Linette Hoffman, Nicholas Wei and Isaac Yang; rising eighth graders Ishaan Parate, Aaron Tran, Prakrit Jain, Thresia Vazhaeparambil, Ysabel Chen and Akhilesh Chegu; and rising ninth graders Sidra Xu, Jason Lin, Anna Vazhaeparambil, Shalini Rohra and Maria Vazhaeparambil.
These students were presented with their medals and certificates in May at the California Junior Classical League’s state convention.
Students attending the State Latin Convention at St. Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco April 21-22 had a lot of fun at workshops, sports, assemblies and competitions. In addition to dozens of individual awards (listed below, for those who like all the details!) the Harker delegation (middle school and high school combined) had the top individual at four of the seven levels of competition.
At the middle school 2 (MS2) level, Akhilesh Chegu, grade 7, was the individual academic and individual overall champion.
At the middle school 3 (MS3) level, Sara Yen, grade 8, was the individual academic champion, while Anna Vazhaeparambil was individual arts and individual overall champion.
Both middle and upper school placed first in the state (in their respective small delegation categories) due to the effort and enthusiasm of all the delegates.
The middle school delegation took second for Scrapbook and T-Shirt Design. In MS2 certamen, the team of Malar Bala, Akhilesh Chegu, Madelyn Jin, Brandon Park, Ann Ryan and Thresia Vazhaeparambil, all grade 7, took second place, and in MS3 certamen, the all-grade 8 team of Jason Lin, Akshay Manglik, Anna Vazhaeparambil, Maria Vazhaeparambil and Sara Yen placed first.
MS1 awards (Latin 1A/grade 6):
Katelyn Abellera: First in Reading Comprehension I, first in Sight Latin Reading
Rupert Chen: Third in History
Andrew Fu: Third in Mythology
Jacob Huang: First in Vocabulary (tie)
Michelle Jin: Second in History
Sukrit Kalsi: Played on the first place open certamen team
Jeremy Ko: Played on the second place open certamen team
Edward Sun: First in Vocabulary (tie)
Anthony Tong: Third in Grammar 1, third in high school mixed doubles tennis
Trisha Variyar: First in Mottoes, Abbreviations and Quotes, second in Daily Life, second in Sight Latin Reading
MS2 awards (Latin 1B/grade 7):
Akhilesh Chegu: First in Sight Latin Reading, second in Latin Oratory, third in Derivatives, third in Vocabulary
Madelyn Jin: Second in Derivatives
Brandon Park: First in Mythology
Ann Ryan: Second in Dramatic Interpretation (Girls)
Thresia Vazhaeparambil: First in Latin Oratory, third in Daily Life
MS3 awards (Latin 2M/grade 8):
Jason Lin: Second in Mythology, third in Pentathlon, third in Latin Oratory, third in Sight Latin Reading
Akshay Manglik: First in Derivatives, first in Dramatic Interpretation (Boys)
Anna Vazhaeparambil: First in Dramatic Interpretation (Girls), first in Sight Latin Reading, first in Cartoons, first in Greeting Cards, second in Pentathlon, third in Vocabulary
Maria Vazhaeparambil: First in Reading Comprehension II, second in Derivatives, second in Vocabulary, second in Greeting Cards
Sara Yen: First in Grammar II, first in Pentathlon, first in Vocabulary, second in Sight Latin Reading
Members of Harker’s Junior Classical League chapter competed at the California JCL State Convention late last month, taking top spots in several categories. The 20-person team included two middle school students – Arohee Bhoja and George Wehner, both grade 8 – who are enrolled in Latin at the upper school.
Harker placed second in two certamen (quiz bowl) competitions and had many stellar individual performances.
The breakdown of top three finishes by Harker students is as follows:
Venkat Sankar, grade 12 – First place: 6; second place: 1
Arohee Bhoja, grade 8 – First place: 4; second place: 2; third place: 3
Nikhil Dharmaraj, grade 10 – First place: 2; second place: 2
Kyle Li, grade 9 – First place: 1; second place: 1; third place: 1
Bryan Wang, grade 9 – First place: 1
Edgar Lin, grade 11 – First place: 1; second place: 2
Andrew Semenza, grade 11 – First place: 1; second place: 3; third place: 1
Jai Bahri, grade 9 – Second place: 1
Jeffrey Fung, grade 9 – Second place: 3; third place: 1
Jack Hansen, grade 9 – Second place: 1
Montek Kalsi, grade 9 – Second place: 1
George Wehner, grade 8 – Second place: 2
Robert Bloomquist, grade 10 – Second place: 2
Sara Min, grade 10 – Second place: 1
Arnav Tandon, grade 12 – Second place: 1; third place: 1