22
by RACHEL WANG
WISCONSIN
Despite the polar vortex and cold weather, our snowy state has been as active as ever. We held our State Convention in our lovely capital of Madison on the wintry weekend of January 31st. Despite the low temperatures. spirit and excitement were high among the hundreds of delegates. The #JCLove for the classics was present and thriving; between the Certamen finals, fun dances, exciting general assemblies, and so much more, there were few dull moments at convention.
The WJCL also ran two successful service projects during our state convention. The first of these projects was a toy drive to collect stuffed animals for local police stations to hand out to children in stressful or traumatic situations. Our delegations did a wonderful job of collecting stuffed animals. The other service project the WJCL put on this year was collecting money to buy a Heifer through Heifer International, an organization that would use the money to buy a Heifer for a family in need. Through competitive coin wars between the officers, passing around a milk jug for donations, and an auction to pie the state officers the WJCL achieved its goal of raising enough money.
Our newly elected board of officers is eager to take on the challenging task of planning what’s next for the WJCL. We are confident that there are more fun things in store for the rest of the year and we are excited to see you all in North Dakota this July, where hopefully the weather will be a little warmer. Valete, Amici, and see you at nationals!
Salvete from snowy Massachusetts! This past December, we hosted our annual Classics Day event at Boston University. Students attended lectures given by classical scholars based on this year’s Classics Day theme, “Ancient Festivals and Celebrations.” Topics ranged from “How to Perform a Sacrifice” to “The Big Fat Ancient Greek Wedding.” After, schools performed short skits relating to either the National theme or the Classics Day theme. AMSA JCL stole the show with a snazzy “Queen Bee” rap about Dido accompanied by equally snazzy bee dancers.
Classics Day was just the finale to this year’s MassJCL Classics Week! Held in the first week of December, schools participated in daily activities such as wearing their favorite JCL shirt and hosting a Ludi event.
Our local chapters have also been busy bees! Several chapters such as Abbey Kelley held parties to celebrate Saturnalia, making candy dormice. Winchester held a special party to celebrate Vergil’s birthday. Barnstable has hosted numerous gladiator fights, including a battle between the foreign language classes - of course, Latin came out on top! BLS showed their JCL spirit by marching in the Roslindale Parade. In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, Mount Greylock helped clean and organize a homeless shelter on MLK Day. AMSA and many other schools wrote letters to soldiers and first responders for the state service project, Operation Gratitude.
To prepare for our state convention in the spring, the MassJCL board has been hosting weekly officer social media takeovers - make sure to head on over to our Instagram, @massjcl. We look forward to sharing the JCLove and thriving with all of you at National Convention!
by REENA SINGHAL
MASSACHUSETTS