The Harker upper school Junior Classical League (JCL) earned a first-place trophy in its division at the California Junior Classical League Convention. In the last 11 years, Harker upper school JCL students have won first place eight times and second place three times. The convention was held at Woodbridge High School in Irvine. Under the guidance of Harker JCL president Sohini Khan and vice president Alex Han, both Gr. 12, Harker students kept up a loud and enthusiastic set of cheers and routines. Students wore togas and T-shirts designed by April Luo, Gr. 11.
On the dais were upper and middle school sponsors John Hawley, upper school Latin teacher, and Lisa Masoni, middle school Latin teacher, who are members of the adult board of the CJCL, national certamen chair and treasurer respectively. They were joined on the podium by Brandon Araki, Gr. 12, who serves as the webmaster for the CJCL.
Many upper school students placed high in JCL competition this year. Top placers in ancient geography were Araki, who achieved first place at the high school advanced level and Richard Fan, Gr. 9, who took first at high school level three. Performing well in Latin vocabulary were Araki with another first place spot at high school advanced, Pranav Sharma, Gr. 9, earning first place at high school level 3 and Ashvin Swaminathan, Gr. 9, who took second at high school level three.
Harker had several top finishes in the certamen team category, including Araki, Khan, Jessica Lin and Phillip Oung, both Gr. 10, taking first place at high school advanced, Sharma winning first place at high school level three and Fan, Swaminathan and Jonathan Cho, Gr. 9, earning second place at high school level three.
In Latin derivatives, Shannon Su, Gr. 9, took first place at high school level three, Han made his way to second place at the high school advanced level, Luo took third, also in advanced, and Monisha Dilip, Gr. 12, took fourth at high school advanced.
Christophe Pellissier, Gr. 10, took first place in mottoes at the high school advanced level, with Han taking second. Other top finishers in mottoes were Anjali Menon, Gr. 12, who placed third at high school advanced, and Laura Pedrotti, Gr. 9, taking third at high school level three.
Pellissier, Han and Menon also took the top three spots, respectively, in abbreviations and quotations. Pedrotti took third place in this category at high school level three.
In the sight reading Latin competitions, Menon placed first in the prose subcategory at the high school advanced level. Meanwhile, Lin, made it to third in poetry at the high school advanced level. Swaminathan and Su reached first and third in sight reading prose, respectively, at high school level three.
Swaminathan also took second in advanced grammar, while Khan placed fourth. Michael Cheng, Gr. 9, placed fourth in grammar at high school level three.
In other categories, Eric Zhang, Gr. 9, took fourth place in Roman history, Lin placed first in Roman daily life, Menon earned first place in dramatic interpretation and Fan won first place in mythology.
Additionally, Swaminathan garnered first place in individual academic and individual combined events in third year Latin. Lin was elected 2010-11 recording secretary for the CJCL, and Ramakrishnan Menon was appointed CJCL webmaster for next year. Khan was awarded a CJCL Scholarship of $1,500 toward Latin education in college.
Next year’s CJCL convention will be at Miramonte High School in Orinda, near Berkeley.