Latin students attended the Florida Junior Classical League State Latin Forum at the Wyndham Orlando Resort from April 11-13.
“I mainly wandered around campus with my friends and participated in some of the Ludi (games) and bazaar,” freshman Eileen Hatch said.
Latin States is a statewide competition for Latin students involving various categories.
“For Latin States, I prepared by completing my Creatives project and packing the necessary supplies,” Hatch said.
Hatch created a digital art piece of Mount Olympus and two hippocampi, which are mythical creatures.
“I received awards in several categories, including second place for Digital Art [grades] 5-9, third place in an Impromptu Art challenge, third place in the puzzle challenge Pandora’s Box [grades] 8-9, and seventh place in a Mystery Test for all grades.”
The competition also featured events such as a bazaar selling crocheted manatees and wooden curse tablets, an IV square what is this? and a tug-of-war game called Toga War, where opponents wear togas.
“I mainly focused on helping with the bazaar and played Certamen and our annual game of Manhunt on the hotel campus,” freshman and Latin Club Vice President Daniel Mirell said. “I didn’t prepare much, just reviewed some reference material.”
Freshmen August Terry and Adelia Torvik created the crocheted manatees sold at the bazaar.
“We wanted to participate in the bazaar, and since both August and I crochet, we decided to sell crocheted items,” Torvik said.
It took them about an hour to make each manatee, and they completed all the manatees in a month and a half.
“We made three sizes: small, medium and large,” Torvik said. “The small cost $7, medium cost $20, and the large were raffled.”
A total of 26 manatees were sold, along with 69 raffle tickets.
“We earned a total of $445 and haven’t decided what to use the money for,” Mirell said.
Next year will mark the 76th annual Latin States competition.
“I’m definitely going next year because I had a great time, and it was a great experience to learn more about the Classics, meet like-minded individuals and showcase our Latin program,” Mirell said.
By Samiya Neely
