Some middle school Latin students took top spots in the National Junior Classical League’s creative writing contest this year. Contestants submitted work based on the phrase ”Suave mari magno magnum spectare laborem,” which translates to “It is sweet to watch a great struggle on the great sea,” a paraphrasing of the first two lines of Book II from Lucretius’ “De Rerum Natura.” According Latin teacher Lisa Masoni, “This gave the students a great deal of latitude in choice of topic, with approaches ranging from [rising ninth grader] Chelsea Xie’s powerful and wrenching mythological story about the impact of Poseidon’s actions to [rising ninth grader] Ameera Ramzan’s historical (well, maybe legendary) retelling of the Battle of Drepanum from the point of view of one of the sacred chickens.”

The complete list of Harker students who earned high placings is as follows:

Grades 4-6 category (all students are rising seventh graders):

2nd place: Ziyang Wang, “Can’t Even Relax on the Beach”

3rd place: Jessica Xu, “Ransom on the Sea”

4th place: Reyansh Malla, “The Sea’s War”

7th place: Tavish Yergera” In the Life of a Storm”

Grades 7-8 category

1st place: Chelsea Xie, grade 9 rising, “Riptide Lust”

2nd place: Shreyas Karnam, grade 8 rising, “A Golden Covenant”

3rd place tie: Shamik Khowala, grade 9 rising, “The Strait of Messana”

3rd place tie: Benjamin Li, grade 8 rising, “A Story Told Too Often”

4th place tie: Ameera Ramzan, grade 9 rising, “Chickens Can’t Fly, But Can They Swim?”

7th place tie: Abby Wang, grade 9 rising, “The Lure”

8th place tie: Charlene Li, grade 8 rising, “Rescue on the Sea”

9th place: Lucas Yuan, grade 8 rising, “Blood, Sweat, and Dreams”