In late May, lower and middle school Latin students were honored for another successful year, which saw many notable wins and achievements. Most recently, middle schoolers won 29 gold medals and 17 silver medals across three categories in the National Latin Exam. Fourth grader Bruce Wang, sixth graders Maximilian Brown and Kepler Oh and seventh grader Natasha Chatterjee earned Perfect Paper recognition in the Pegasus National Mythology Exam, in which lower and middle school students collected 50 awards overall.
Middle schoolers also posted great results at the California Junior Classical League’s State Convention in late March, claiming top placements in dozens of competitions. Full results for this and other contests during the 2024-25 school year are listed below.
California JCL Convention
Individual Results, MS1 (Grade 6)
Mili Agarwal: Third in Dramatic Interpretation I
Astraea Browei: Third in Derivatives, Third in Illustrated Quotations, First in Acrylic/Oil Painting, First in 100-meter run
Nicole Fields: Third in Roman Daily Life, Third in Classical Art, Third in Long Jump
Terence Heng: First in Ancient Geography, First in Classical Art, First in Roman History, Second in Latin Oratory I
Jason Huo: Second in Roman History; Third in Mythology
Olivia Liu: Second in Classical Art
Sofia Mohammed: First in Latin Vocabulary, First in Latin Grammar I, Second in Poetry
Melissa Zhao: Second in Latin Vocabulary, Third in Latin Grammar I
Mili, Terence, Jason, and Sofia were chosen to perform their comedic skit, “Little Caesar’s Last Pizza,” as the opening act of That’s Entertainment, the annual state convention talent show.
Individual Results, MS2 (Grade 7)
Claire Alpha: Third in Classical Art, Third in Latin Grammar I, First in Dramatic Interpretation I, Second in Textile Arts, Second in Illustrated Quotations, Third in Pottery/Sculpture, Third in Mosaics
Vihaan Shrivastava: First in Roman History, First in Ancient Geography, Second in Roman Daily Life
Kyle Xu: First in Mythology, Third in Academic Pentathlon, Third in 1600-meter run
Leo Zhang: First in Classical Art, Second in Academic Pentathlon, Third in Essay
Moxi Zhu: First in Latin Vocabulary, Third in Derivatives, Third in Sight Latin Reading
Individual Results, MS3 (Grade 8)
Rebecca Ding: Third in Latin Vocabulary, Third in Latin Reading Comprehension II, Third in Sight Latin Reading, First in Latin Oratory II
Yehong Fan: Third in Derivatives
Chelsea Jin: Second in Classical Art, First in Black Pencil Drawing (also awarded the second-place Viewers’ Choice Award), First in Mixed Media, Third in Small Models, First in Cartoons, First in Illustrated Quotations, Second in Traditional Photography
Reyansh Malla: Second in Ancient Geography, Second in Roman Daily Life, Third in English Oratory, Second in Black Pencil Drawing, Third in Mixed Media, Third in Ink Drawing, Third in Chalk/Pastel Drawing, Second in Small Models, Third in Maps, Second in Charcoal Drawing, Second in Colored Pencil Drawing, First in Board Games
Ravi Saxena: Second in Latin Vocabulary, Third in Grammar II
Heidi Wang: Second in Mythology, Third in Classical Art, Third in Derivatives, First in English Oratory, First in Poetry, Second in Latin Oratory II, Second in Sight Latin Reading, Second in Drawn Charts
Ethan Weyn: First in Classical Art, First in Ancient Geography, Second in Mythology, Second in English Oratory, First in Sight Latin Reading, Third in Latin Oratory, Second in Essay, First in Computer-enhanced Photography, First in Constructed Charts, Second in Ink Drawing, Second in Board Games, Second in Maps, Second in Mixed Media, Third in Black Pencil Drawing, Third in Cartoons, Second in Watercolor Painting, played on the Second place Open Certamen team
Tavish Yergera: First in Grammar II, First in Latin Vocabulary, First in Dramatic Interpretation I, played on the First place Open Certamen team, Second in 200-meter run, Second in 100-meter run
Ethan Yu: Third in Latin Reading Comprehension II, First in 200-meter run, First in 100-meter run
Eric Zhang: Second in Latin Reading Comprehension II
Sweepstakes Awards
Best in show, Ancient Geography test: Ethan Weyn
Individual Academic, MS1: Terence Heng
Individual Athletic, MS1: Astraea Browei
Individual Arts, MS3: Ethan Weyn
Overall individual:
Terence Heng, second place in MS1
Sofia Mohammed, fourth place in MS1
Claire Alpha, second place in MS2
Ethan Weyn, first place in MS1
Reyansh Malla, second place in MS3
Heidi Wang, fifth place in MS3
Chapter Contests:
Escape Room Intermediate, Second place: Ethan Chen, Yehong Fan, Ravi Saxena, Tavish Yergera, Ethan Yu and Eric Zhang (all grade 8); along with Ainslie Chen ’25 and Eric Zhang ‘25
Digital Scrapbook, Middle School: Second place (Historian Olivia Liu, grade 6)
Banner, Middle School: Third place
T-shirt, Middle School: First place (artist Danya Arun, grade 8)
Spirit, medium middle schools: First place
Certamen MS1: First place (Terence Heng, Jason Huo, Sofia Mohammed)
Certamen MS2: Second place (Vihaan Shrivastava, Kyle Xu, Leo Zhang, Moxi Zhu)
Overall medium middle schools: First place
National Latin Exam
Introduction to Latin (Grade 6)
Cum Laude: Ben Zheng, Maximilian Lichtsinn
Magna cum Laude: Andrei Pop, Kevin Liu, Cheryl Man
Maxima cum Laude/Silver Medal: Evelyn Shen, Astraea Browei, Olivia Liu, Landon Wan, Dorian Peccei, Nicolas Hira, Ayden Bi
Summa cum Laude/Gold Medal: Joy Li, Maliha Agarwal, Leah Huang, Jeannie Song, Suanne Li, Shiven Bhargava, Kepler Oh, Enzo Carleial, Melissa Zhao, Jason Huo, Sofia Mohammed, Jane Tang, Terence Heng
Beginning Latin (Grade 7):
Cum Laude: Meena Mudigonda, Aiden Zeng
Magna Cum Laude: Leo Zhang
Maxima Cum Laude/Silver Medal: Kelly Wang, Isabella Zhou, Laila Merchant, Moxi Zhu, Pranav Jaishankar
Summa Cum Laude/Gold Medal: Leray Williams, Natasha Chatterjee, Derrick Li, Kyle Xu, Stella Melnic, Andrew Park, Jeffrey Zhu, Claire Alpha, Joshua Lin, Jacee Liang
Intermediate Latin (Grade 8):
Cum Laude: Heidi Wang, Hannah Sachse, Siddharth Jnagal
Magna Cum Laude: Abigail Eu
Maxima Cum Laude/Silver Medal: Ziyang Wang, Chelsea Jin, Eric Zhang, Rebecca Ding, Yehong Fan
Summa Cum Laude/Gold Medal: Jessica Xu, Ryo Sugaya, Tavish Yergera, Ethan Weyn, Ethan Yu, Ravi Saxena
Pegasus National Mythology Exam
Level 1 (Grades 3-4):
Perfect Paper: Bruce Wang, grade 4
Level 2 (Grades 5-6) (All Grade 6):
Cum Laude: Terence Heng, Kristina Rabodzey, Ben Zheng, Nathan Chi, Nicole Fields, Astraea Browei, Jane Tang, Jeannie Song, Maximilian Lichtsinn, Ayden Bi, Liya Zhang, Leah Huang, Suanne Li, Andrei Pop, Warren Kong, Shiven Bhargava
Magna Cum Laude: Melissa Zhao, Olivia Liu, Jason Huo
Maxima Cum Laude/Silver Medal: Landon Wan, Kevin Liu, Joy Li
Perfect Paper: Maximilian Brown, Kepler Oh
Level 3 (Grades 7-8) (Classes of ’29 and ’30):
Cum Laude: Chelsea Jin, Tavish Yergera and Eric Zhang, all grade 8; Claire Alpha, Stella Melnic, Meena Mudigonda , Aiden Zeng, Barry Zhong and Jeffrey Zhu, all grade 7.
Magna Cum Laude: Rebecca Ding, Yehong Fan, Ryo Sugaya, Ziyang Wang and Ethan Yu, all grade 8; Christine Wang, Leray Williams and Leo Zhang, all grade 7
Maxima Cum Laude/Silver Medal: Heidi Wang, grade 8; Andrew Park, Liv Sachdev and Joshua Lin, all grade 7.
Summa Cum Laude/Gold Medal: Hannah Sachse, Ethan Weyn and Jessica Xu, all grade 8; Kyle Xu, grade 7
Perfect Paper: Natasha Chatterjee, grade 7
Latin League results:
Latin League is a new monthly competition that began this school year, in which the middle school fielded three teams. In regular season play, JV ended their season at 4-1, tying for first at the top of the region and placing second after a one-on-one round against Classical Homeschool Day.
Varsity Gold edged out Varsity Purple by 2 points to win the region. The top two teams in each region qualified for post-season play.
In the super-regional round, Varsity Purple placed 3rd, qualifying for the National Final. Varsity Gold placed 5th.
Varsity Purple went on to tie for 4th in the National Final.
Congratulations to all players!
Varsity Gold: (all grade 8) Rebecca Ding, Abby Eu, Yehong Fan, Ryo Sugaya, Heidi Wang, Ethan Weyn, Eric Zhang
Varsity Purple: (all grade 8) Reyansh Malla, Ravi Saxena, Tavish Yergera, Ethan Yu, (’30) Leo Zhang, Vihaan Shrivastava, Kyle Xu
JV: (all grade 6) Shiven Bhargava, Terence Heng, Jason Huo, Warren Kong, Olivia Liu, Cheryl Man, Sofia Mohammed, Jeannie Song, Melissa Zhao
National Roman Civilization Exam:
Gold: Reyansh Malla, Ethan Weyn and Eric Zhang, all grade 8; Natasha Chatterjee, Vihaan Shrivastava and Moxi Zhu, all grade 7; Terence Heng and Jason Huo, grade 6.
Silver: Ethan Yu, grade 8; Derrick Li and Leo Zhang, grade 7; Nicole Fields, grade 6;
Bronze: Ayden Bi, Kepler Oh, Heidi Wang, Kyle Xu, Warren Kong, Melissa Zhao
National Classical Etymology Exam:
Gold: Heidi Wang, Ethan Yu, Liv Sachdev, Moxi Zhu, Rebecca Ding, Ethan Weyn
Silver: Alexandra Corso, Warren Kong, Leo Zhang, Abby Eu, Terence Heng, Ravi Saxena, Claire Alpha, Hannah Sachse, Tom Zhang
Bronze: Derrick Li, Evelyn Shen, Ayden Bi, Reyansh Malla
National Latin Vocabulary Exam
Level ½, Grade 6
Gold: Sofia Mohammed, Jeannie Song, Jason Huo, Mili Agarwal
Silver: Melissa Zhao, Ayden Bi, Warren Kong
Bronze: Olivia Liu
Level 1, Grade 7
Silver: Derrick Li
Bronze: Kyle Xu
Level 2, Grade 8
Gold: Ravi Saxena, Alexandra Corso, Ethan Yu
Silver: Ethan Weyn
Bronze: Heidi Wang
National Hellenic Civilization Exam
Gold: Vihaan Shrivastava, Natasha Chatterjee, Ethan Weyn
Bronze: Terence Heng, Leo Zhang
NJCL Creative Writing Contest
Grade 6 category
1st: Warren Kong
2nd: Cheryl Man
3rd: Kepler Oh
4th: Rachel Chen
5th: Olivia Liu
Grades 7-8 category
1st: Jessica Xu, grade 8
3rd: Laila Merchant, grade 7
4th: Ethan Yu, grade 8
5th: Kyle Xu, grade 7
