In the beginning of the year, Westlake Latin Club was stuck without a Latin teacher. Students had to work pro bono, especially considering that one of the substitutes didn’t speak Latin. However, our teacher Mrs. Patton, or LP, is back, and with her come many fun activities, to keep the Latin Club alive and doing well. While the regular after-school tutoring remains, a few new exciting additions to the schedule are here.
One of our first and most major activities, happening on March 23, is Toga Thursday. While normally Toga Tuesday, having to be changed due to the Juniors with their ACT, Toga Thursday is a day where many people, including those not into Latin, come together and bond throughout the day, wearing our togas. After National Latin Exams and the grind of day to day work, it’s fun to have a day of leisure, even for those that are just looking to get into Latin Club, and are not full members.
Soon afterwards, we have a Spirit Week, to show the fun and possibilities of Latin. While themes have yet to be decided, as we want the community to be fully involved, participation is always a high point in the waning months of the school year.
Finally, election season is coming up, with many posts from incumbents open, who are either leaving for College, or trying to move up the Cursus Honorum. While full lists of candidates have yet to be released, this year seems to be coming up as a very interesting election year, with many future sophomores and juniors, looking to challenge the seniors' usual hold on upper positions.
While 2017 has been a difficult year for Westlake Latin Club, this year also made it known that we can persevere. With a new principal, some cutbacks had to be made. However, this doesn’t mean that we can have a fun, engaging, entertaining, and educational end of the year. We are going ad astra per aspera.
Westlake
Richard Garber
McAuley
Julia Cardinal
Although Convention has passed, McAuley Latin Club is still going strong. In fact, this week (March 20-24) is Foreign Language Week at McAuley! Each year we celebrate the privilege we have to learn another language and choose a theme for the week—this year’s theme being “find the missing piece…learn a world language!” In past years, the French and Latin Departments have reenacted the Gallic Wars in a canned food drive for the week’s service project. The language with the most donations per capita would be declared the winner. This year, the Spanish Department is joining us in the challenge to bring in as many diapers as possible. Diapers are not supported on food stamps or obtained through WIC and are therefore, the missing piece.
We will be donating the diapers to the Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank which is the only diaper bank in Cincinnati. Sweet Cheeks began in 2015 with the mission of eliminating diaper need and raising awareness of the basic health need for diapers.
Statistically, 1 in 3 families in America struggle to afford diapers for their children. Cincinnati is 4th in child poverty so the need is greater here; an estimated 16,000 children in Cincinnati alone face diaper need. This is the problem Sweet Cheeks aims to solve one diaper at a time! In 2016, they received and administered 153,290 diapers to families in need and in 2017, they hope to exceed 400,000 diapers. Our diapers will help them to add to the missing piece that many families in Cincinnati face.
36 OJCL TORCH: Chapter Updates Spring MMXVII https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjB6MPV-L3RAhVMNiYKHUL8A4EQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmagistrabush.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F09%2F23%2Fjcl-t-shirt-contest%2F&psig=AFQjCNHBUl5DxFMgey96R-DH1Oh37W6Q0A&ust=1484356401987376