The Latin Club is preparing for the upcoming one-day regional contest Jan. 27 at Holy Trinity from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

“Regionals are our Latin competitions,” Latin teacher Jennifer Staton said. “We get all the Latin students in the area from around five to six different schools, and they all compete in different contests. There’s culture, history, grammar, and vocabulary.”

Participation in the competition costs $12.

“I include that in our Latin dues, so if a student would like to compete, they pay the Latin dues in the beginning of the year,” Staton said.

She said participating in the competition can enhance students’ understanding of Latin.

“It really reinforces the study of grammar and culture and history, and it also gives the students an opportunity to sort of specialize in something that they’re interested in,” Staton said.

Staton said she provides many ways to prepare students.

“To prepare, there are usually study guides online and just in class activities,” Staton said. “We also do a game called Certamen, which is kind of like a Jeopardy game, and we practice that in our Latin club.”

Freshman and Latin club Vice President Daniel Mirell said he enjoyed his previous experience at Regionals.

“The first time was a lot of fun,” he said. “I didn’t go into it knowing much about it, so I was mostly just following my friends around, but there were a lot of fun activities. I was doing basketball, [and] there was ludi, which is like Latin and Roman games and stuff.”

While it can be a lot of fun, students may also encounter challenges, according to Mirell.

“The biggest struggle we have is that we have a really small Latin program,” Mirell said. “We took 30-something kids. Holy Trinity has like double that that they brought to States, let alone Regionals.”

By Samiya Neely