Western’s Classical Convention Club returned to compete in the annual Virginia Junior Classical League.
The Virginia Junior Classical League convention, also known as VJCL, is a statewide convention for students to show off their skills in the Latin language and culture. The Latin Classical Convention Club represented WAHS on Sunday November 24, through Monday the 25th in Richmond, VA.
VJCL consists of fun educational activities and events such as a Latin costume contest, art contest, Latin storytelling, guest seminar speakers, general assemblies, and much more. One of the main events is the campaigning and election of VJCL officers who run the whole convention. This year Latin club co-president Isadora Hrabe ran for VJCL historian and won.
In order to prepare for the convention, Hrabe has helped organize meetings and design t-shirts for the club to wear at the convention. The t-shirts are based around the theme that the convention decides each year. This year’s theme was non scholae sed vitae discimus, “we learn not for school but for life.” Club sponsor Margaret Marshall explained how she helped students prepare for the convention herself by quizzing students on Certamen, a Latin trivia competition. Other than that, Marshall said that “being in Latin class is the preparation because most competitions are based around the Latin curriculum.”
Last year, assistant principal Teresa Tyler accompanied VJCL club to the convention in replacement of the previous Latin teacher, Elizabeth Beckwith, who wasn’t able to attend. Tyler first started attending the Latin convention in 2006 when her son attended. “ It was a lot of fun so I went every year,” Tyler exclaimed. Tyler has since then attended every year and was more than happy to step in last year.
Hrabe’s favorite parts of the Latin convention consisted of social interactions with new people and learning new information on Classics itself. “I love being surrounded by people who love the Classics just as much as I do. As much as I love the fun parts, I love learning about Latin,” Hrabe said. VJCL has built many friendships and memories. Isadora shared one of her favorite memories at VJCL during the architecture competition when her friends influenced the whole classroom to sign Taylor Swift. “It was hilarious and so fun.” Marshall brought up that the convention hosts many departments in Latin culture and leaves you with more depth and information in classics. “You can explore more about whatever seems interesting to you and be taught by professors from all over the state,” Marshall said.
