On Friday and Saturday, March 10-11, 20 members of the Crown Point Latin Club joined students from seventeen other schools at the 69^th 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 21 individual first-place awards and bringing home 145 awards for top five placings!  Additionally, one of our students (Nic Collier) received an Individual Achievement Trophy in Academic Testing and an Individual Achievement Trophy in Graphic Arts. There are only five trophies available in each of those categories!  Hayden Smith, CP junior, was elected as the 2023-2024 IJCL First Vice President. Additionally, two Crown Point Latin graduates were elected to serve as officers for the Indiana Senior Classical League (the college version of our organization) for 2023-2024: Abby Godsen (President) and Jackie Bozinovski (Parliamentarian).

Tris Grady, CPHS senior, was selected to give the closing remarks for the third General Assembly. Logan Pauley and Colton Neal were chosen to perform during the “That’s Entertainment” talent show.

In the much-anticipated Certamen competition (a Jeopardy-style quiz game), the Novice team (first year Latin students) advanced to the final round and returned home as state champions. The Intermediate (second year Latin students) Certamen team also returned home as state champions. The Advanced (third and fourth year Latin students) team placed fourth, just missing the final round. Members competing on the novice team were Preston Kimbrell, Joe Stewart, Jack Szymczak, Lincoln Vickers, Luke Waldschmidt, and Jack Watson. Members competing on the intermediate team were Nic Collier, Sammie Ipema, Gibson Mehrle and Kaimbria Noordermeer. Students competing on the advanced team this year were Tris Grady, Colton Neal, Brynne Noordermeer, Logan Pauley, Hayden Smith, Megan Szpak, Maddie Thunberg, and Jackson Vrlik.

At the club level, Crown Point once again performed extremely well. In addition to placing third in the overall sweepstakes competition for large chapters, we earned 1st place in the Helen Wampler Spirit Contest (entry compiled by Hayden Smith, Consul), the Delegate Spirit contest (led by Colton Neal, Convention Spirit Leader), the Dennis M. Bartlow Publicity Contest (organized by Hayden Smith, Consul), the Local Publications Contest (organized by the CP Latin Officers/Chairs), and the Traditional Scrapbook Contest (organized by Megan Szpak, Scrapbook Chair).

We also placed 3^rd in the Sharon Gibson Community Service (organized by Hayden Smith, Consul) and 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 their competing at next year’s convention! We are especially proud to report that all 20 students finished in the top five in at least one competition, meaning that they all earned points toward the 1,817 total points that we earned.

The next level of competition for these young people will be the National Junior Classical League Convention from July 23-29 at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information on this event, see www.njcl.org.

-written by Jeremy Walker

Students in attendance: Nic Collier, Tris Grady, Kris Hahn, Sammie Ipema, Preston Kimbrell, Gibson Mehrle, Colton Neal, Brynne Noordermeer, Kaimbria Noordermeer, Logan Pauley, Hayden Smith, Joe Stewart, Megan Szpak, Jack Szymczak, Maddie Thunberg, Lincoln Vickers Jackson Vrlik, Luke Waldschmidt, Jack Watson, and Emi Wilson.

Latin Club Sponsors: Jeremy Walker and Angela Taraskiewicz

Certamen Coaches: Jeremy Walker, Angela Taraskiewicz, and Ryan Collier

Chaperones: Amy Mehrle and Jennifer Wilson