MASSACHUSETTS
by SARA RHOUATE
Summer 2021· Torch: U.S. · STATE UPDATES
by JOHN GAMBLE
LOUISIANA
26
So far this spring has been pretty great! There have been lots of fun get-togethers statewide, and we look forward to summer for our annual national convention. We had our elections and now have several new officers who are ready to get to work so we can have another great year of Latin. Torch issues should be coming out roughly every quarter of the year.
In mid-April, MassJCL held its state convention virtually. Typically, state convention consists of three days overnight at a convention center or a high school; however, due to the new flexibility of the virtual world, the activities took place over two Saturdays. Due to the switch, we couldn’t host many of our usual activities, but we were still able to hold most of the standard contests (which worked out well due to Massachusetts tending to be a state more focused on academic contests) as well as a game night consisting of Among Us and JackBox games. For the first time in years, we were able to bring back academic finals, which is similar to Certamen for delegates who scored high on testing but were not playing in Certamen finals. Given the new schedule, candidates for office also had more time to campaign from the first Saturday of convention when speeches were held to the following Saturday when voting fellowships occurred, which resulted in close battles. All in all, state convention was a success, and now MassJCL is preparing for nationals.
INDIANA
bY ANNE GREGG
The IJCL held two Certamen invitationals with a final match between the teams coming to a head at state convention a half-virtual, half-in person event. The state convention was a massive success and even came with the best Roman banquet food the Indiana Junior Classical League had ever seen. The day began with a raucous General Assembly that led into trivia and colloquia projected to both online and in person participants. IJCLers had the chance to enjoy That’s Entertainment! as usual and enjoy a day of learning on camaraderie. At the end of the day, after awards were handed out and new officers were elected, we all made our separate ways home, reeivigorated for more national and other events next year will bring for the Indiana Junior Classical League.