Saturnalia

All Upper School and Lower School Latin Club members are invited to attend our annual Saturnalia celebration tomorrow (Tuesday, December 6) in the Wunderlich Auditorium during Organizational Period.

Everyone is asked to bring a cash donation for our Angel Tree service project.

Fall Semester Exam Study Guides

Study guides have been posted on the onCampus website ("Topics" > "Links and Handouts"). Language exams are scheduled for Wednesday, December 14.

Festivus Results

Thanks to all of the students who participated in the 9th Annual Latin Fall Festivus this weekend, and congratulations to all of our winners.

Academic and Creative Events:

Vocabulary Test - Level 2 - Rob McFadden, 1st place
Vocabulary Test - Levels 3-4-5 - Brooks Eikner, 2nd place
Mythology Test - Levels 3-4-5 - Ethan Hurst, 2nd place
Costume Contest - Will Schuessler, 2nd place; Jason Wang, 3rd place
Mythology Spelling Bee - Brooks Eikner, 2nd place
Catapult Contest (Large) - Jon Staffel and Jackson Howell, 2nd place

Open Certamen:

Lower Level - Rob McFadden and Reid Chandler, 2nd place
Upper Level - Kyle Gan and Jacob Webb, 1st place; Loyd Templeton, 2nd place; Omkar Hosad, 3rd place

Feats of Strength:

Arm Wrestling - Ethan Hurst, 1st place
Discus - Charles Long, 3rd place
Javelin - Will Portera, 1st place

Approximately 250 students from the following schools participated: MUS, St. Mary's, White Station, Germantown, Houston, St. Benedict, Collierville, Westminster, and Collegiate.

Festivus

The Latin Fall Festivus will take place this Saturday, November 19.

Final instructions and activity assignments for MUS students are posted here. The packet with specific information about events is posted here.

Fall Updates

1. We have 75 MUS students signed up for the Latin Fall Festivus, which is just a couple of weeks away. Anyone who wants to try out for the Mythology Spelling Bee may do so at 2:30 PM on Wednesday, November 9 in US 216. More information about the Festivus is posted here.

2. The MUS production of "Julius Caesar" begins tomorrow - Saturday, November 5. More information is posted here.

Festivus

A reminder that the sign-up deadline for the Latin Fall Festivus is this Friday, October 28. More information is posted here.

Latin Fall Festivus

Information about the Latin Fall Festivus is posted here.

This will take place at Houston High School on Saturday, November 19, from 8:00 AM until 11:45 AM.

This is open to all MUS students (Lower School and Upper School) who joined the Latin Club. Students who want to attend need to sign up with their Latin teacher by Friday, October 28. There is no need to complete any paperwork or turn in any money, unless you want to pre-order a Festivus T-shirt.

JCL Membership Roster

The list of students who have joined JCL is posted here. If there are any mistakes or omissions, please let me know as soon as possible.

Turn the Radio On

Mr. Suddarth and I will be the special halftime guests on the radio broadcast of tonight's MUS football game. We'll be talking about the MUS Latin program . . . and perhaps we'll offer some analysis of the first half action on the field, as well.

You can catch the broadcast on AM 790.

Julius Caesar

Information about the upcoming MUS production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is posted here.

Former NFL player Eddie George as Julius Caesar, in a 2012 production in Nashville.
Mr. Whit Tenent will have the honor of playing Caesar in the upcoming MUS production.

Latin Club Deadline

A reminder that the deadline for Latin Club membership is one week from today - Friday, September 23.

This is open to both Upper School and Lower School students. Anyone with an interest in participating in any of our extracurricular activities or competitions or with an interest in qualifying for the Latin Honor Society should join. More information is posted here.

MUS Latin Club

Information about the MUS Latin Club for the 2016-2017 school year is posted here.

Dues should be paid by Friday, September 23.

Officer Information

Anyone wishing to serve as a Latin Club officer this year should read the information posted here.

Consul applications are due Friday, August 26. Senator applications are due Friday, September 16.

Banner

The new banner is now on display on Park Avenue:

More NLE Accolades

We've recently received word that the three students who earned a third consecutive perfect score on the National Latin Exam this year - Charlie Evans, Jackson Moody, and Jackson Howell - are in very select company. Only 35 students (out of over 140,000 who participated in the exam this year) qualified for this distinction.

Bernice Fox and Phaedrus

In addition to the CAMWS Translation Contest, the National Latin Exam, and the TJCL State Convention, we have also had some winners in two other competitions this semester:

1. Bernice Fox Classics Writing Contest

Honorable Mention: Dylan Echlin

2. Phaedrus Latin Composition Contest

Finalists: Dylan Echlin and Davis Harano

Semi-Finalists: Kyle Lam, Jamie Lindy, Jack McCaghren, Trent Scull, Evan Smith, and Jacob Suppiah

Congratulations to all of these students! 

Exam Study Guide

The study guide for the spring semester exams is posted here. Language exams are scheduled for Wednesday, May 25.

Convention Results

MUS finished in 1st place overall for the 9th consecutive year at the Tennessee Junior Classical League State Convention last week. Approximately 500 students from 33 schools participated in the competition.

Top performers were Reid Chandler (Latin One), Ethan Hurst (Latin Two), Chang Yu (Latin Three), Jackson Moody (Latin Three), and Patton Orr (Latin Five), all of whom finished in the individual top ten.

Congratulations to all of the students who were a part of the team this year!

National Latin Exam

We have received the results of the 2016 National Latin Exam:

14 Perfect Scores

90 Summa Cum Laude Gold Medals 

24 Maxima Cum Laude Silver Medals

12 Magna Cum Laude

11 Cum Laude

Generally speaking, the top 10% or so of students nationwide earn Summa Cum Laude, the next 10% receive Maxima, and so forth. Everyone who scores above the national average qualifies for one of the four awards.

Perfect Scores:

Arjun Puri (Latin 1)

Ethan Hurst, Zuhair Somjee, Ty Williams (Latin 2)

Brad Kerkhof, Jackson Moody, Charlie Evans, Matthew Temple, Jackson Howell, Jon Staffel, Sam Payne (Latin 3)

Henry Trammell, Rahul Mehra, Aneesh Ram (Latin 4 – Poetry)

Congratulations to all award recipients for a job well done!

Convention

Final convention instructions and reminders are posted here. Please read them. (N.B.: The white shirts have not arrived yet. They'll be here soon.)

A map of the University of Memphis campus is posted here.

Latin Language Appreciation Month

Governor Haslam has once again honored MUS's request to proclaim the month of April as Latin Language Appreciation Month in the state of Tennessee. You can read the full proclamation here.

Latin Honor Society

Congratulations to the students who have qualified for the NJCL Latin Honor Society this year. The list is posted here.

Upper School students will be recognized at an evening awards ceremony on April 13. Lower Schoolers will be recognized at the Order of the Owl ceremony on May 6.

Convention

We have two convention tryouts scheduled for after school on Wednesday, March 30:

1. Olympika / Chariot Race - Coach Torrey's office
2. Mythology Spelling Bee - S2

Anyone who is interested in these activities but who is unable to attend these meetings needs to notify Coach Torrey or Mr. Sellers ASAP.

Students should be advised of convention scheduling conflicts. The Mythology Spelling Bee overlaps with the second half of Academic Testing, and Olympika overlaps with Certamen.

All students who are attending the convention are reminded to take advantage of the study guides and resources we have posted on the Latin Contests page on Haiku.

CAMWS Latin Translation Contest

We have received the results of the 2015-2016 Classical Association of the Middle West and South Latin Translation Contest.

906 high school students at 50 different schools in 19 different states participated in this year's competition.

MUS winners:

Intermediate, Level Three:

Certificate of Commendation (finishing in the top 20%): Josiah Crutchfield, Charlie Evans, Brad Kerkhof, Jackson Moody, Tyler Rakers, Will Schneider, Jacob Webb, Chang Yu

Advanced, Level Four:

Book Award (top 7%): Aneesh Ram

Certificate of Commendation (top 20%): Brooks Eikner, Jacob Suppiah, Henry Trammell, Tom Wells

Advanced, Level Five:

Certificate of Commendation (top 20%): Kyle Day

MUS had more winners than any other school in Tennessee.

Complete results will be posted on the CAMWS website later this semester.

Bubones on Twitter

Mr. Gagliano has established a new Twitter account for the MUS Latin program. Follow this account for updates on the MUS Latin trip to Italy.

Convention List

This is the list of students who have signed up for the TJCL State Convention in April. If there are any mistakes or omissions, please let me know as soon as possible.

National Latin Exam

The National Latin Exam will be administered on Wednesday, March 2 from 2:15-3:15 PM in Hyde Chapel. This is required for all students currently enrolled in Latin - from Latin One through Latin Five.

In addition to the review and practice all students are doing in class, I recommend that students take advantage of the NLE Online Practice App.

Deadlines

A reminder that completed course selection sheets are due one week from today - Friday, February 12. This applies to all of my Latin One and Latin Three students. Information is posted here.

For the students who are going to the TJCL State Convention in April, registration paperwork is also due on Friday, February 12. Convention information is posted here.

TJCL State Convention

Information about the Latin convention is posted here. This is open to both Lower School and Upper School students who meet the stated requirements.

The comprehensive TJCL packet is posted here.

The sign-up deadline is Friday, February 12.

Course Selection

All of my current Latin One and Latin Three students need to come to my office to pick up a language course selection sheet for next year. This should be done by Friday, January 29. The sheet should be returned to me by Friday, February 12.

Options for current Latin One students:

Accelerated Latin Two
Accelerated Spanish One
Regular Spanish One
Regular French One

To qualify for either accelerated class, the student needs to have at least a B+ in Latin One. (Accelerated classes are more challenging, but they do come with a GPA boost. All Upper School Latin classes are classified as accelerated.) For motivated students who can handle six academic classes, it is perfectly fine to sign up for more than one language.

As for the Latin Three students, for most of them, Latin Three satisfies the graduation requirement. For those who want to continue in Latin, there are two options:

Advanced Placement Latin (at least a B+ in Latin Three is recommended)
Advanced Readings in Latin (a course designed for students who want / need a fourth year of Latin on their transcript but who do not feel prepared for the demands of AP)

Lower School Certamen

Latin One Certamen practice started this morning. It will continue for the next several months on Wednesday and Friday mornings, from 7:15-8:00 AM in LS 106. This is open to all students who joined the Latin Club. It's a fun activity, and it's an important part of our preparation for the TJCL State Convention in April.

Upper Level Certamen continues to meet on Wednesday mornings, from 7:15-8:00 AM in US 216. Everyone in Latin Three, Four, and Five is invited to participate.

Twitter Kerfuffle

Here's a funny story about a local Latin teacher (and MUS parent) who has made international news this week because of a Twitter mix-up. Poor bloke.