Semester Exams

Language exams are scheduled for Monday, December 18. Study guides have been posted in onCampus (Topics > Links and Handouts).

Saturnalia

Latin Club Saturnalia
Tuesday, December 5 - OP
Wunderlich Auditorium

All Upper School and Lower School Latin Club members are encouraged to attend. We are asking everyone to bring a small cash donation (ca. $1-5) for our annual Angel Tree service project.

CAMWS Latin Translation Contest

The CAMWS contest will be administered in the Wunderlich Auditorium tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday, November 29). We will begin testing at 2:30 PM. Students should bring writing utensils and completed answer sheets (uncrumpled, unfolded, unstapled).

This is required for all Upper School Latin students.

The best way to prepare is to study the Dickinson College vocabulary list.

Latin Fall Festivus Results

Approximately 250 students from the Memphis area attended the 10th Annual Latin Fall Festivus at Germantown High School on Saturday, November 11. About 60 MUS Upper School and Lower School students participated.

Participating institutions included: MUS, St. Mary's, Hutchison, St. Benedict, Westminster Academy, Collegiate School, White Station High School, Germantown High School, Houston High School, Collierville High School, Westwood High School, White Station Middle School, Central High School, and Rhodes College.

MUS winners:

Vocabulary, Level One: 2nd place - Mark Hieatt; 3rd place - Kerry Zhao

Vocabulary, Level Two: 1st place - Max Shackelford; 2nd place -  Fawwaz Omer

Vocabulary, Advanced: 2nd place - Rob McFadden and Chang Yu (tie); 3rd place - Loyd Templeton

Mythology, Level One: 2nd place - Kerry Zhao; 3rd place - George Zhang

Mythology, Level Two: 2nd place - Hart Gowen; 3rd place - Cooper Grinspun

Mythology, Advanced: 1st place - Loyd Templeton; 3rd place - Chang Yu

Open Certamen, Lower Level: 1st place - George Zhang; 2nd place - Ryan Peng; 3rd place - Max Shackelford

Open Certamen, Upper Level: 1st place - Warren Turner, Rob McFadden, Arjun Puri; 2nd place - Loyd Templeton, Ethan Hurst; 3rd place - Chang Yu, Gregory Guo

Discus: 1st place - Kyle Gan

Classical Meme Contest: 2nd place - Cullen Lonergan

Congratulations to all of these students, and thanks to all of the students who came out on a Saturday morning to be a part of the experience!

Festivus

The 2017 Latin Fall Festivus will take place this Saturday, November 11 at Germantown High School. Participating students need to be there by 7:50 AM. We will be finished by 11:45 AM.

A list of participating students, activity assignments, and other instructions and announcements is posted here.

CAMWS Latin Translation Contest

The Classical Association of the Middle West and South Latin Translation Contest is scheduled for Wednesday, November 29 from 2:30 to 3:30 PM in the Wunderlich Auditorium. Participation is required for all Upper School Latin students. (Lower School students are not eligible to participate.)

Unlike the National Latin Exam or the Advanced Placement Latin Exam, the CAMWS competition tests general proficiency in Latin by means of a single sight translation passage. There is not, therefore, a specific list of items to study. However, students can prepare for the contest by studying the official vocabulary list and by examining the passages used in previous years.

Latin Veterani Dinner

On Monday, October 23, MUS hosted the Latin Veterani Dinner, an annual banquet for “veteran” Latin students in the Memphis area. A total of 67 students and teachers from these schools attended: MUS, GSL, ECS, Briarcrest, St. Mary’s, White Station Middle School, White Station High School, Germantown High School, Houston High School, and Westwood High School. Ms. Dawn LaFon of White Station High School was the featured speaker.

2017 MUS Veterani

Bubones Apparel

For anyone who did not pre-order a hoodie but would like to have one, I do have a couple of extras available in my office for purchase. Also, Mr. Suddarth has some limited edition Latin baseball caps. See him for more information.

NJCL Online Exams

The first NJCL online exam is coming up soon. Any student interested in participating needs to contact Mr. Gagliano by Thursday, October 19. More information about these online competitions is posted here.

Italy Trip Meeting

There is a mandatory meeting for all students who are going on this year's trip to Italy:

Tuesday, October 17
US 216
OP

Officer Election

These students have been elected to serve as Latin Club Senators under the leadership of Latin Club Consul Chang Yu:

Latin Two: Cooper Grinspun
Latin Three: Rob McFadden
Latin Four: Loyd Templeton

T-shirts, magnets, and hoodies should be ready for pick-up in the next two to three weeks. Sign-up for Festivus activities will take place after Fall Break.

Latin Fall Festivus

Although the weather may still feel like summer, nevertheless, it is time to begin thinking about the 2017 Latin Fall Festivus. Preliminary information is posted here. This is open to any Upper School or Lower School student who joins the Latin Club.

The deadline for payment of Latin Club dues, by the way, is Friday, September 29. An extra $5.00 needs to be added for Festivus participation. More information is posted here.

Imperium

There will be six opportunities to play Imperium (the ancient Roman version of the board game Risk) this semester. Sessions will run on Wednesday afternoons from 2:20 to 3:20 in Room SCI 2.

Tentative schedule:

        Lower School: September 20, October 18, November 8

        Upper School: October 11, October 25, November 15

Cumulative high scorers will face off in a tournament at the end of the year to determine the overall champions. Latin Club membership is required to participate.

Officer Positions

A reminder: Any Upper School students who want to be included on the ballot for JCL Senate positions need to e-mail Mr. Sellers by the end of this week (Friday, September 15). More information is posted here.

And speaking of leadership opportunities, TJCL is currently seeking to fill a vacancy in the position of 1st Vice-President. If anyone is interested, please let Mr. Sellers know.

Latin Club Information

Latin Club information for the 2017-2018 year is posted here.

Dues may be paid to any Latin teacher between now and September 29.

Latin Club Officers

Congratulations to Senior Chang Yu for being appointed MUS Latin Club Consul for the 2017-2018 school year.

Upper School students who are interested in serving as senators need to declare their candidacy by Friday, September 15. More information is posted here.

Consul Yu

Welcome Back

As a new school year begins, here's a story about the Roman world that has been very much in the news this summer:

Welcome to 'Little Pompeii'

New Banner

Thanks for another great year!

Banner on Ridgeway Road

Romans, Go Home!

Another soon-to-be viral sensation from the Bubones Theatre:

Romans, Go Home!

Italy Trip

Registration for the next MUS Latin trip to Italy is open. If you sign up before May 25, you will receive a $300 discount.

For more information, go to this website and log in:

Username: MUS
Password: Italy2018

This trip is open to students who will be in Latin Two and Latin Three next year (2017-2018).

MUS Latin students, on the island of Capri in 2014.

Trigon

Congratulations to Jack Jabbour for his victory in the 5th Annual Lower School Roman Trigon Championship . . . and to Coach Torrey for entertaining the crowd during the faculty undercard.

Jabbour (center, holding trophy) with the rest of this year's trigon cast and crew.

Coach Torrey, magister trigonis

Spring Semester Exams

The AP Latin Exam will take place Wednesday, May 17. (This has been rescheduled because of a conflict with another AP course.)

For all other students, MUS language exams are scheduled for Friday, May 19. Exam study guides have been posted to the onCampus page for each class (go to "Topics" and then "Links and Handouts").

Phaedrus Latin Composition Contest

Congratulations to the following Advanced Readings in Latin students for receiving recognition in the 2017 Phaedrus Latin Composition Contest:

Finalists:

Brooks Eikner, Henry Trammell

Semi-Finalists:

Aneesh Ram, Rahul Mehra, John McBride, Will Huffman, Chris Kerkhof

This contest, which is sponsored by New St. Andrews College (ID), requires students to write an original Latin fable in the tradition of the Roman fabulist Phaedrus. 

Trigon Championship

Congratulations to Will Schuessler, Caleb Littlejohn, and Jack Jabbour for advancing to the finals of the Lower School Trigon competition. The championship round will take place during Lower School assembly on Tuesday, May 9 in Thomas Amphitheatre (weather permitting).

Mr. Suddarth with 2014 champion Bays Webb

Lower School Trigon

The first round of the annual Lower School trigon competition will begin Wednesday, April 26 at 2:30 PM. We will meet in LS 106. This is open to any Lower School students who joined the Latin Club this year.

The trigon instructional video is posted here.

Bernice Fox Classics Writing Contest

Congratulations to Advanced Readings in Latin student Chris Kerkhof for placing in the 2017 Bernice Fox Classics Writing Contest, an annual creative writing competition sponsored by Monmouth College (IL). The contest this year featured the following topic: “A Figure from Classical History, Literature, or Mythology as the Next President of the United States.” Chris wrote about Trimalchio, a character in the Satyricon, a novel written by the Roman author Petronius.

Contest information and the full list of winners is posted here.

A Game of World Conquest

Since January, MUS Latin students have been involved in an epic tournament of Imperium, an ancient Roman version of the board game Risk. Congratulations to the winners of this semester's tournament:

Upper School:

1st Place - Ev Nichol
2nd Place - Loyd Templeton
3rd Place - Brooks Eikner

Lower School:

1st Place - Will Schuessler
2nd Place - Edwin Shy
3rd Place - Stefan Smith

National Latin Exam Report

We have received the results of the 2017 National Latin Exam:

85  Summa Cum Laude Gold Medals
32  Maxima Cum Laude Silver Medals
18  Magna Cum Laude
14  Cum Laude

Generally speaking, the top 10 to 15% of students nationwide earn Summa Cum Laude, the next 10 to 15% receive Maxima, and so forth. Everyone who scores above the national average qualifies for one of the four awards.

Special recognition goes to the students who earned perfect scores this year:

Latin One: Edwin Shy, Warren Barry, Fisher Marks, Ryan Peng
Latin Two: Kyle Koester, Rob McFadden, Charlie Eason, Vijdan Gill, Reid Chandler
Latin Four Poetry: Chang Yu

Congratulations to all of the students who placed in the contest this year!

TJCL Convention Report

Is this a picture of 44 MUS Latin students making the "U" sign? Or are they holding up 10 fingers? The answer is yes.

This weekend, 37 schools across the state attended the Tennessee Junior Classical League State Convention at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville. MUS finished in 1st place overall for the 10th consecutive year.

This was an impressive team effort, and all of the students on the trip contributed in some way to the 1510 points that MUS scored in a wide variety of Latin-related competitions. Our top performers were Rob McFadden, Brooks Eikner, Kyle Koester, and Ethan Hurst, all of whom finished in the individual top ten at the convention.

All three MUS Certamen teams advanced to the finals, with the Latin One and Latin Two teams winning their respective tournaments. (The Advanced team finished in third place, behind two very strong Certamen teams from middle Tennessee.) Also, the MUS chariot team finished in first place, bouncing back after last year's devastating loss by a mere fraction of a second.

Congratulations to all of the students who were a part of this outstanding group achievement!

Latin Language Appreciation Month

MUS Latin Club Co-Consuls Aneesh Ram and Brooks Eikner proudly display a proclamation from Governor Bill Haslam establishing April of 2017 as Latin Language Appreciation Month in the state of Tennessee.

The MUS Latin program has secured this proclamation from the governor every year since 2014.

CAMWS Translation Contest

We have received the results of the 2017 Classical Association of the Middle West and South Latin Translation Contest. 985 students in 53 schools in 19 states (and one European country) participated this year.

Top students are recognized with cash awards (top 2-3% of all students), book awards (top 3-8%), and certificates of commendation (top 20%).

  

MUS winners:

Latin Two: Rob McFadden, Reid Chandler, Cameron Evans, Vijdan Gill, Ben Cramer, Will Portera, Arnab Das, Charlie Eason, Kyle Koester, Gregory Guo

Latin Three: Loyd Templeton, Ty Williams, Ethan Hurst, Philip Wunderlich, Ethan Lam, Bailey Keel, James Blatchford

Latin Four: Chang Yu, Charlie Evans, Jason Wang, Jon Staffel, Jacob Webb, Brad Kerkhof, Matthew Temple, Jackson Howell, Josh Tyler

Latin Five: Brooks Eikner, Rahul Mehra

There were a total of 40 winners in Tennessee. MUS had 28 of them.

Convention Announcements

Final instructions and reminders for the students who are going to next week's TJCL State Convention are posted here.

Comprehensive information about specific convention events is posted here.

Latin Honor Society

Congratulations to the students who have qualified for the Latin Honor Society this year!

Requirements:

1. Be a JCL member.

2. Have an A average in Latin class through the first three quarters of the year. (qualifying average = 1Q + 2Q + EX1 + 3Q ÷ 4)

3. Participate in the Latin Fall Festivus and / or TJCL State Convention.

4. Teacher approval is required (acceptable behavior, no honor violations in Latin class, etc.)

Latin One: Cooper Grinspun, Holden Pate, Will Schuessler, Edwin Shy, Carrigan Sulcer

Latin Three: Louis Allen, James Blatchford, Ethan Hurst, Ethan Lam, Ev Nichol, Brandan Roachell, Sellers Shy, Zuhair Somjee, Jet Tan, Warren Turner, Loyd Templeton, Ty Williams, Henry Wood, Philip Wunderlich

Advanced Readings: Brooks Eikner, Aneesh Ram

(This is just the list for my classes this semester, not the comprehensive MUS list.)

Upper School students will be recognized at the evening awards ceremony on April 12. Lower School students will be recognized at the Order of the Owl ceremony on May 12.

What Have the Romans Ever Done For Us?

A video from the Bubones Theatre.

Sure to be an instant classic.

Upcoming Convention Tryouts

Mythology Spelling Bee
Tuesday, March 7
OP
Room SCI 2

Chariot Race / Olympika
Wednesday, March 22
immediately after school
Coach Torrey's office

National Latin Exam

The National Latin Exam is coming up soon. It will be administered from 2:15 to 3:15 PM on Wednesday, March 8 in Hyde Chapel. This is a requirement for all MUS Upper School and Lower School Latin students. The NLE does not allow a provision for make-ups.

In addition to the review and practice students are working on in class, we recommend that they take advantage of the NLE Practice App.

Convention Registration

The list of students who have registered for the TJCL State Convention is posted here. If there are any mistakes or omissions, please let Mr. Sellers know as soon as possible.

A total of 44 MUS students (Latin One through Five) have signed up.

Convention Reminder

Convention paperwork is due this Friday, February 10. More information is posted here.

MUS Latin Students in the News

Congratulations to two MUS Latin students, Darius Cowan and the impeccably dressed Chang Yu, for recently receiving recognition in separate articles in the Commercial Appeal.

Course Selection Sheets

All of my current Latin One and Latin Three students need to pick up a language course selection sheet from my office by Tuesday, January 24. These sheets should be filled out, signed by parents, and returned by Tuesday, January 31.

Convention

Preliminary information about the 2017 TJCL State Convention is posted here. This is open to both Lower School and Upper School students who meet the participation requirements.

The sign-up deadline is Friday, February 10.

Eidolon Essay Contest

The Paideia Institute is sponsoring an essay contest for high school Latin students (in particular, rising juniors and seniors). The grand prize: a free trip to Rome! The submission deadline is March 1, 2017.

Certamen

Upper Level Certamen practice will take place on Tuesday mornings this semester, from 7:30 - 8:00 AM in US 216. We will start on Tuesday, January 10 and continue up to the time of the TJCL State Convention in April. This is open to all students who are currently in Latin Three, Four, or Five.

Italy Trip Meeting

The next MUS trip to Italy will take place during Spring Break of 2018. This trip is targeted at students who will be in Latin Two and Latin Three at that time.

A meeting for students and parents who are interested in the trip is scheduled for Monday, January 9 at 6:30 PM in the Wunderlich Auditorium. For more information, please contact Mrs. Reinhardt.