On Thursday, March 13 through Saturday, March 15 (The Ides of March!), 23 members of the Crown Point Latin Club joined students from fourteen other schools at the 71st Annual Indiana Junior Classical League State Convention at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. In addition to fun activities such as a “That’s Entertainment” talent show and a Roman Banquet, the convention included a variety of competitions at the individual, team, and club levels. 

Individually, our students performed extremely well in these events, receiving 18 individual first-place awards and bringing home 130 awards for top-five placings! Additionally, one of our students (Nic Collier) received an Individual Achievement Trophy in Graphic Arts. There are only five trophies available in each of three individual achievement categories! Emi Wilson received the first ever Viewers Choice Award with her Graphic Art (best of show as selected by state convention delegates). Amy Mehrle, CP Chaperone, received the 2025 IJCL Distinguished Service Award for her service to the local and state organization. Additionally, Nic Collier, CP senior, was elected to serve as Secretary for the Indiana Senior Classical League (the college version of our organization) for 2025-2026. Two Crown Point Latin graduates were also elected as ISCL officers: Anna Suppes (Vice President) and Hayden Smith (Historian). Nic Collier was also selected to give the opening remarks in the final General Assembly at this year’s convention.

In the much-anticipated Certamen competition (a Jeopardy-style quiz game), the Novice team (first-year Latin students) placed sixth overall. The Intermediate (second-year Latin students) Certamen team placed fourth overall. The Advanced (third and fourth-year Latin students) team advanced to the final round and placed second overall. Members competing on the novice team were Lola Coil, Abby Katona, Addison Kerkes, and Jeremy Yancey. Members of the intermediate team were Gabriel Blake, Jacob Boron, and Annie Jacobi. Students competing on the advanced team this year were Jillian Boren, Nic Collier, Ashley Grindey, Sammie Ipema, Gibson Mehrle, Joe Stewart, Lincoln Vickers, and Luke Waldschmidt.

At the club level, Crown Point once again performed extremely well. In addition to placing second in the overall sweepstakes competition for large chapters, we earned 1st place in the Helen Wampler Spirit Contest (entry compiled by Nic Collier and Luke Waldschmidt, Consuls). We achieved second place in the Dennis M. Bartlow Publicity Contest (organized by Gibson Mehrle, Praetor), the Local Publications Contest (organized by June Kilarski, Tempus Canis Chair), the Delegate Spirit contest (led by Lincoln Vickers, Spirit Chair). We also placed 3rd in the Traditional Scrapbook Contest (organized by Emi Wilson), 4th in the inaugural Jeremy Walker State Convention Attendance Contest for greatest increase in number and 5th for greatest percentage increase, 5th in the Sharon Gibson Community Service (organized by Gibson Mehrle, Praetor), and 5th in the Chapter T-shirt contests. 

We are extremely proud of all of our students for their dedication and enthusiasm for the study of Latin, and look forward to seeing them compete again at next year’s convention! We are especially proud to report that 22 of the 23 students finished in the top five in at least one competition, meaning that they all earned points toward the 1,548 total points that we earned.

The next level of competition for these young people will be the National Junior Classical League Convention from July 21-26 at Miami University in Oxford, OH. For more information on this event, see www.njcl.org.

Students in attendance: Zofia Barick, Gabriel Blake, Jillian Boren, Jacob Boron, Lola Coil, Nic Collier, Jaylee Delinia, Ashley Grindey, Sammie Ipema, Annie Jacobi, Abby Katona, Addison Kerkes, June Kilarski, Asher McAlvey, Gibson Mehrle, Kenneth Ouyang, Joe Stewart, Lincoln Vickers, Luke Waldschmidt, Jack Watson, Joe Williams, Emi Wilson, and Jeremy Yancey.

Latin Club Sponsors: Jeremy Walker

Certamen Coaches: Jeremy Walker and Ryan Collier

Chaperones: Shari Boren, Stacy Coil, Amy Mehrle, and Jennifer Wilson

-written by Jeremy Walker