The Junior Classical League  is a national organization whose goal is to promote Roman and Greek culture and language to the modern generation. Every year the JCL hosts a state convention and invites their members to join in festivities including art, Certamen (Latin academic team) competition, skits and academic testing.

From Friday, April 13, to Saturday, April 14, Reagan’s Latin Club and Certamen team participated in the 67th Junior Classical League State Convention at UNC Chapel Hill.

Reagan attends the convention with other Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools. West Forsyth participates in JCL every year, along with Mount Tabor and East Forsyth who could not attend this year’s 2018 convention.

Before the convention, Reagan’s Certamen teams competed in a regional tournament to qualify for the semifinals at the state convention. Reagan’s novice, or beginner, Latin Certamen team won and moved on to the next round at UNC. The six freshmen ended up taking home second place out of six teams in the semifinals.

“The novice Certamen team’s hard work has paid off,” said Latin teacher Danetta Genung.“It’s a huge deal to win second place over the entire state’s Latin programs.”

Individual awards were also given to Reagan students. Board games, graphic arts and paintings placed anywhere from fifth to first. Each ribbon won in the name of a Reagan student was converted to points to go for the overall sweepstakes. The winner of the sweepstakes was announced at the closing ceremony on Saturday, April 14. Reagan placed first in their division for medium-sized schools. The team also placed first in the skit, scrapbook and publicity categories.

JCL has many opportunities for those who are athletic, academic or social. All JCL members have the option to campaign for a state office. These offices range from president, first vice-president, parliamentarian and secretary, along with many other smaller elected positions.

Junior Haylie Paulin was elected Torch Editor for the 2018-2019 year. The Torch is the JCL’s newsletter that is published online several times a year. Paulin will be in charge of issuing articles, writing them and organizing the paper.

Since Reagan’s scrapbook and publicity folder placed first overall, Genung had to nominate three of her students to fulfill the positions of Publicity Officer and Co-Historians on the state board. Sophomore Amy Johnson and junior Madison Nichols will be Co-Historians, and freshman Katherine Buchanan will hold the position of Publicity Officer.

“Holding an officer position on the state JCL board is a huge deal, and I am looking forward to working with my fellow Reagan friends and the new friends I will  make on the board,” Paulin said.

All of these accomplishments by the Reagan team at JCL were accompanied by a lot of preparation in advance.

“To prepare for the Certamen semifinals, we had weekly practices and each team member took home packets for study guides,” Genung said.

Although the Raiders did a lot of work prior to and during the convention, they had a lot of fun. At every state convention there is a “spirit” competition where every school has ten minutes, starting at the same time, to chant and cheer, an exciting activity for participants.

The Reagan Latin Club definitely had a successful weekend at the JCL convention. From winning the overall sweepstakes in their division to several individual awards, the team accomplished a lot.

“JCL gives students an opportunity to see the larger picture of people taking latin and there are a lot of benefits that students can get competing in the events,” Genung said.