Latin Students Attend State Convention

Latin club members participated in a convention in Lawrence last Friday where they competed against Latin students from schools all across the state.

Twelve students, freshmen through seniors, participated in the state convention. Six East students placed individually. Sophomore Bethany Schneider ranked third overall in individual achievement in the state.

One of the main components of the tournament, the Certamen section, required students to answer various trivia questions. For this, they competed in teams of four and buzzed in their answers to the questions.

Another major component of the tournament was individual events, which tested students’ abilities to sight read, speak in Latin and memorization skills. Results were also revealed at the convention for a test Latin students took several weeks ago. The top five scorers in the state were recognized for their performance on that test.

For freshman and Latin 1 student, Jessie Peterson, it was exciting to participate in her first Latin tournament, and especially to see so many of her team members place.

“It was my first year, so I was just testing it out and seeing what happened,” Peterson said.

“[For next year,] I probably want to do better on the individual test beforehand and get my score up on that. I will try to do that by studying more and learning more about the Roman history.”