West Shore placed fifth in creatives and 17th overall at the Florida Junior Classical League state Latin forum held in Orlando last weekend.

“Our goal this year was to place in the Top 20, and we met and exceeded that,” Latin teacher Maria Petosa said.  “We also placed above Edgewood in overall sweepstakes.”

Nineteen students represented West Shore in the event which drew more than 1,000 students from 50 schools.

“There were so many people there,” freshman Joshua Boyer said. “It’s cool knowing we did so well considering how many schools we we were competing against.”

Petosa lauded her students’ efforts.

“To provide some perspective on how difficult it is to place in the Top 20, most schools bring 25 students at the junior and senior divisions,” Petosa said. “We only brought 19 and still had enough overall points to place which means the kids scored high and well enough to make up for the lack of six students.”