Twenty-five Shaker Heights High School students and two teachers traveled to Emory University in Atlanta for the 61st National Junior Classical League Latin Convention. About 1,800 students and adults participated in a week of classical competition and learning. Shaker's group earned numerous top 10 awards in academic, artistic, and athletic contests.
The 2014 Shaker Heights schools delegation consisted of:
Gautam Apte, Sameer Apte, Hannah Barrett, Rachel Brunot, Gianni Ciccarelli, Joe Espy, Andrew Frye, Brian Gao, Amelia Gingras, Blake Himes, Brian Johnson, Allison Kao, Vishnu Kasturi, Sam Katz, Matthew McMillan, Meredith Modlin, Olivia Proe, Ben Robertson, Gabe Sekeres, Marjorie Shaw, Julia Shin, Jason Suh, Narayan Sundararajan, Maria Suresh, Jocelyn Ting, with teachers Nora Murphy and Robert White.
Shaker's top 10 results include:
Gautam Apte (Level I): Academic Heptathlon (9th); Latin Derivatives (9th); Greek Derivatives (10th); Sight Latin (1st); 100 Yard Backstroke (4th)
Sameer Apte (Level IV): Classical Greek (2nd); Greek Derivatives (3rd); Reading Comprehension (3rd); Latin Vocabulary (4th); Ancient Geography (5th); Latin Grammar (5th); Academic Heptathlon (6th); Hellenic History (9th); Mythology (9th); Sight Latin Poetry (2nd)
Hannah Barrett (Level III): Classical Art (7th); Couples Costume (2nd); Essay (10th); Sight Latin Prose (10th); Computer Photo (5th); Traditional Scrapbook (10th)
Rachel Brunot (Level II): Classical Greek (2nd); Essay (2nd); Computer Photo (1st); Traditional Photo (9th)
Joe Espy (Level III): Marathon (5th); 400 Meter Track (7th); Shot Put (9th); 800 Meter Track (10th)
Andrew Frye (Level I): English Oratory (8th); Large Models (8th)
Brian Gao (Level IV): Hellenic History (7th); Classical Greek (8th); Reading Comprehension Prose (10th)
Amelia Gingras (Level II): Classical Greek (6th)
Blake Himes (Level II): Latin Grammar (7th); Reading Comprehension (9th)
Brian Johnson (Level II): Classical Greek (10th); Essay (2nd); Dolls (4th)
Allison Kao (Level III): Ancient Geography (4th); Hellenic History (5th); Greek Life and Literature (6th); Classical Art (8th); Reading Comprehension Poetry (9th); Couples Costume (2nd); 200 Meter Track (3rd); 800 Meter Track (6th)
Vishnu Kasturi (Level II): Mottoes (10th)
Sam Katz (Level II): Classical Greek (3rd); Latin Derivatives (8th); Mythology (10th); Dolls (1st); Games (3rd)
Matthew McMillan (Level III): Roman History (6th); Classical Greek (7th)
Meredith Modlin (Level I): Classical Greek (6th); Latin Literature (9th)
Ben Robertson (Level IV): Greek Derivatives (1st- Overall High Score); Reading Comprehension (4th); Classical Greek (5th); Greek Life and Literature (5th); Latin Vocabulary (6th); Mythology (6th); Academic Heptathlon (7th); Latin Derivatives (7th); Roman Life (7th); Latin Grammar (8th); Ancient Geography (9th); Traditional Photo (2nd); Computer Photo (7th)
Gabe Sekeres (Level I): Classical Greek (9th)
Marjorie Shaw (Level I): Latin Literature (7th); Modern Myth (9th); Sculpture (2nd)
Julia Shin (Level I): Latin Literature (3rd); Classical Greek (6th); Modern Myth (5th); Couples Costume (7th); Acrylic/Oil (4th); Black Pencil (7th); 50 yard Backstroke (4th); 50 yard Breaststroke (4th)
Jason Suh (Level I): Latin Literature (8th); Couples Costume (7th); 100 yard Freestyle (5th); 50 yard Butterfly (6th); 50 yard Freestyle (8th); Marathon (10th)
Narayan Sundararajan (Level IV): Ancient Geography (1st for 3rd year in a row); Greek Life and Literature (1st); Hellenic History (2nd); Classical Greek (7th); Classical Art (9th); Roman History (10th); Essay (2nd); Drawn Maps (2nd)
Maria Suresh (Level II): Classical Greek (5th); Sight Latin (3rd); Dramatic Interpretation (8th); Latin Oratory (10th); Colored Pencil (4th); Black Pencil (9th)
Jocelyn Ting (Level I): Mottoes (9th); Pottery (8th); Marathon (6th)
Certamen Teams
Matthew McMillan and Ben Robertson were part of the 5th place Ohio Advanced Certamen Team (Latin).
Blake Himes, Sam Katz and Vishnu Kasturi were part of the Ohio Intermediate Certamen Team (Latin) that advanced to the semi-finals.
Sameer Apte, Ben Robertson, Narayan Sundararajan and Maria Suresh made up an Agon (Greek Certamen) team that advanced to the semi-finals.
Rachel Brunot, Gianni Ciccarelli, Amelia Gingras and Brian Johnson made up an Agon (Greek Certamen) team.
This was the first year for Greek Certamen (Agon) at Nationals. The competition was open, with all 24 teams played in the same competition without regard to level.
Sundararajan Elected 2nd VP of NJCL
In other news, Narayan Sundararajan has been elected Second Vice President of the National Junior Classical League (NJCL), an organization with 50,000 members that seeks to increase awareness of the civilizations of Greece and Rome in the modern era through service events across the world. The NJCL has chapters throughout the United States as well as affiliates in other countries in the world. The Shaker Heights Latin Club is a registered member of the NJCL.
As Second Vice President, Narayan will be in charge of overseeing and expanding the number of service projects the NJCL as a whole provides, and will work with local JCL chapters to increase the number of service hours their clubs complete. He will also work with other NJCL board and committee members.