Had 2020 gone as planned, a contingent of upper and middle school Latin students would have headed to the University of Richmond in Virginia for the annual National Junior Classical League Convention. The convention was held virtually July 24-29 instead, with 12 Harker students joining the California delegation for games, academic competitions and assemblies.
Rupert Chen, grade 10, kicked off his term as second vice president of the California Junior Classical League by leading the California delegation in nightly organizational meetings and submissions to spirit and service competitions. California placed first in service (letters to representatives) and second overall for large states in spirit and service. Chen and his brother Felix, grade 8, appear at the 35-second mark in a video of one of the spirit themes, “Golden Slumbers/Purple Rain,” named for the JCL colors of purple and gold.
Rupert Chen also served as webmaster for CaJCL for the 2019-20 school year, and the CaJCL website placed first in the website competition. Kabir Ramzan, grade 9, is taking over as webmaster this year.
Students earned the following academic awards, competing at the level of Latin completed in 2019-20.
Level 1/2:
Rahul Sundaresan, grade 7: First in Academic Heptathlon, Ancient Geography, Hellenic History, Roman Life, Mythology, Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, and Latin Derivatives; Second in Classical Art; Third in Roman History
Sundaresan also competed on the novice open certamen (quiz bowl) team that placed second. Open certamen teams are made up of students from different states.
Level 1:
Felix Chen, grade 8: Fifth in Latin Derivatives, Reading Comprehension and Roman Life
Level 2:
Trisha Iyer, grade 9: Fifth in Reading Comprehension
Kabir Ramzan, grade 9: Third in Latin Vocabulary
Michelle Wei, grade 9: Fifth in Reading Comprehension
Iyer and Ramzan also played on the California intermediate competitive certamen team, which placed eighth.
Level 3:
Tiffany Chang, grade 10: First in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, fifth in Latin Vocabulary
Rupert Chen, grade 10: Fourth in Reading Comprehension Prose
Michelle Jin, grade 10: Third in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations
Lauren Liu, grade 10: First in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, first in Latin Literature, second in Reading Comprehension Poetry, second in Classical Art, third in Latin Vocabulary, fifth in Latin Derivatives, fifth in Reading Comprehension Prose
Nicholas Wei, grade 10: First in Reading Comprehension Poetry, second in Latin Grammar, second in Latin Vocabulary, second in Reading Comprehension Prose
Level 4:
Ann Ryan, grade 11: Summa cum laude in Impromptu Art
Level 5+:
Jeffrey Fung ’20: Second in Greek Life and Literature, third in Reading Comprehension Poetry, third in Latin Vocabulary, fourth in Hellenic History, fourth in Roman Life, fifth in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, fifth in Latin Literature
At the final assembly, Lisa Masoni, middle school Latin teacher, was presented with a Summa Cum Laude Sponsor award. This award recognizes contributions to JCL on the local, state and national level. Her nominators highlighted her service to CaJCL as treasurer for the past 14 years, as well as her work on the national level on the certamen moderator squad.