Convention Delegate List

The list of students signed up to attend the convention is posted here.  If you see any mistakes or omissions, please let me know as soon as possible.  (Yes, it is too late to sign up.)

Upper Level Certamen

Mr. Suddarth reports that Upper Level Certamen (Latin Three, Four, and Five) will be practicing on Tuesday and Friday mornings at 7:30 AM in room S2.  All students in these classes who are going to the convention are encouraged to attend.  The first practice will be this Friday, March 21.

Italy Trip

Below is a picture of the twenty MUS Latin students who traveled to Italy last week with Ms. Reinhardt and me.  We had a great trip, and we commend the students for their deportment.

This trip provides students with an excellent opportunity to study the rich cultural legacy of the ancient Romans in a manner that is impossible to reproduce in the classroom.  (In other words, you'll learn a lot more by visiting the Villa Iovis or the Arch of Titus in person than you can learn simply by reading about them in a textbook.)  The next trip is tentatively scheduled for spring break of 2016.  It will be offered to students in Latin Two and Latin Three. 
 

On the steps of the Temple of Ceres in Ostia (with our tour manager Sergio)

NLE Update

The National Latin Exam is still on for Wednesday after school.

Obviously, missing Monday and Tuesday because of weather is not good in terms of final review and preparation in class.  All students need to review on their own by taking advantage of the practice questions, syllabi, and previous exams posted on the NLE website.

National Latin Exam

The NLE will be this Wednesday, March 5, immediately after school in Hyde Chapel.  We should be finished by 3:15 PM.

Everyone should bring two sharpened #2 pencils.  Students in Upper School Latin classes should report to the front steps of the Chapel and line up alphabetically by level of Latin.  Lower School students should report to the side door (i.e., the one Lower Schoolers usually use to enter the Chapel) and line up alphabetically by teacher.

In addition to the review and practice that we have been doing in class, everyone is encouraged to take advantage of the new review application that the NLE has put online.



Go for the NLE Gold!

Italy Trip Meeting

We are going to have one last mandatory meeting for all students going on the trip to Italy tomorrow (Tuesday, February 25) during OP in US 216.  We are going to cover some final details, and a member of the school administration is going to offer some reminders about the consequences of disciplinary violations.

Pompeii

All Latin Club members are invited to attend the opening of Pompeii this Friday, February 21 at the Paradiso.  We will be seeing the 5:15 PM showing (in 3D).  The film is rated PG-13 and has a run time of 106 minutes.  Buy your ticket, meet inside the theater, and settle in for 90 minutes of volcanic debris flying right at your face.

Latin Convention

A reminder that all convention paperwork (permission slips and pre-convention writing contest entries) are due one week from today - Friday, February 21.  All of the information is posted here.

Latin and the ACT

Congratulations to the MUS students who have received perfect scores on the ACT.  As one of them explains in this article, having a strong foundation in Latin certainly helps.

Course Selection Sheets

All of my Latin One and Latin Three students need to come to my office sometime next week to pick up a language course selection sheet for next year. These sheets need to be completed, signed, and returned by Friday, February 28, 2014.

2014 State Latin Convention

The preliminary information packet for MUS students and parents is posted here.

For more detailed information, the official TJCL convention packet is located here.

To access the MUS study guides, go to this page, log in with your MUS id and password, select the Latin Contests page, and then select the JCL tab. To access the study guides provided by TJCL, go to this page.

The sign-up deadline is Friday, February 21, 2014. Please follow the instructions in the information packet carefully. And since space is limited, we recommend NOT waiting until the last minute to turn everything in.

Latin Motto Proclamation

Governor Haslam has endorsed an MUS-submitted honorary Latin motto for the state of Tennessee.  Read more about this here.  To see the full proclamation, click here.

Italy Trip Meeting Reminder

For the students who are going on the trip to Italy in March and their parents.

Thursday, January 23 - 5:30 PM - Wunderlich Auditorium

Latin One Certamen

Mr. Gagliano and I will be running the Latin One Certamen team this year.  We will begin practice next Wednesday morning (January 15) at 7:15 AM in LS 106. 

Any Latin One student who is a member of JCL may try out for the team.  Generally speaking, we will practice every Wednesday and Friday morning from 7:15 to 8:00 AM.

Hercules

You never have to look very far to find evidence of our classical heritage.

Winter storms have classical names this season; in fact, Winter Storm Hercules just hit a couple of days ago.

And speaking of Hercules, there is a new Hercules film coming out later this week . . . only to be followed by another Hercules film this summer.