WJCC Latin Students Place in Top 10 at State Convention

Latin is not the dead language for many WJCC middle and high school students.

Those who demonstrated their knowledge of the language and culture at the Virginia Junior Classical League convention last month showed it’s alive and well when they took home some of the top prizes from the convention’s competitions.

Twenty-two WJCC students won a combined 62 awards from the convention, which took place Nov. 22 and Nov. 23 in Richmond. The convention typically hosts between 1,800 and 2,000 students from throughout the commonwealth, said Strother Sharp, Latin teacher at Hornsby Middle School.

Sharp, who has taught Latin in the school division for more than 15 years, said this year’s WJCC participants “really distinguished themselves.”

“This is work that they’ve done above and beyond their regular classwork,” Sharp said. “It represents an awful lot of work and dedication.”

She said the quality of work submitted by all students to the convention, which ranged from original myths penned by students to mosaics and costumes, was “astonishing.”

“We are working as hard as we can that [Latin] stays alive and one big part of that is to get the kids in there and make the language alive for them, to grab hold of things that interest them,” Sharp said.

The results for all of the WJCC participants are listed below. Students were separated into competition categories based on the most recent level of Latin coursework completed.

Berkeley Middle School

• Kaitlyn Baker – 6^th place chart, 4^th place Modern Myth,
• Jordan Greenspon – 8^th place Modern Myth, 7^th place Roman life test
• John O’Neill – 8^th place cartoon, 4^th place Modern Myth
• Niko Orginos – 7^th place Modern Myth, 9^th place elementary derivatives test, 9^th place elementary vocabulary test
• Nicholaus Paxton-Turner – 8^th place large model, 6^th place sculpture
• Melody Saldana – 9^th place Roman life test
• Hannah Weiss – 1^st place reading comprehension I, 1^st place Modern Myth, 8^th place photography, 6^th place small model, 8^th place Geography test, 5^th place elementary vocabulary test
• Shonta Wright – 5^th place chart, 2^nd place poster, 3^rd place ornament

Hornsby Middle School

• Jordan McLeod – 9^th place pencil drawing. 2^nd place costume, 1^st place Modern Myth
• Gracie Dry – 9^th place Modern Myth, 7^th place mosaic, 3^rd place storytelling.
• Annabelle Kelley – 6^th place storytelling, 6^th place doll, 5^th place greeting card, 4^th place costume, 2^nd place Modern Myth

Toano Middle School

• Peyton Bowie – 5^th place Modern Myth, 8^th place other media, 5^th place life test, 10^th place vocabulary test
• Olivia Garrett – 1^st place other media, 7^th place life test, 3^rd place mythology test, 8^th place vocabulary test
• Skylar Hackett – 10^th place Modern Myth, 10^th place sculpture, 6^th place life test
• Ashleigh Route – 4^th place watercolor, 9^th place sculpture, 3^rd place life test
• Dylan Settle – 2^nd place Modern Myth, 5^th place Pentathlon Test
• Devon Southard – 9^th place history test

Jamestown High School

• Brittany Hicks – 6^th place in storytelling

Lafayette High School

• Hailey Botkins – 6^th place literature test, 1^st place Modern Myth, 7^th place dramatic interpretation, 9^th place storytelling
• John Patterson – 7^th place literature test, 8^th place vocabulary test, 6^th place Modern Myth, 7^th place dramatic interpretation
• Ben Petrakis – 4^th place Modern Myth, 9^th place pencil drawing, 6^th place child’s book
• Elim Utterback – 2^nd place Modern Myth