OFFICER VOICES · Fall 2025 · Torch: U.S.
5
Salvēte Amicī!
This year has been an absolutely amazing experience and I am forever grateful and honored to be your NJCL Communications Coordinator.
Over the past few days I’ve gotten the joy of not only meeting and talking with you all as well as seeing your love and support at That’s Entertainment, but also getting to write out all of your recognitions, awards, and remarks in my minutes. This community truly is full of JCLove that strives to promote the study of the classics, and feel so lucky to join in arms with every dear colleague around the nation online at Legamus! Sessions, officer meetings, and at General Assemblies. Thank you all so much for such a fun year.
While my term as your Communications Coordinator has ended, I am lucky enough to get to have another term as part of the NJCL Board as your president! I am very excited to lead the 2025-2026 as we continue to grow our small organization.
E corde,
Reesey Lai
2024=2025 NJCL Communications Coordinator
I have had so much fun preparing for elections these past couple of months! Getting to interact with all of our candidates and help them prepare to see all of you at convention is amazing! I also love reading all of the local constitutions and preparing my colloquium!! As we get closer to the best part of convention (ELECTIONS!!), my time as parliamentarian is coming to an end. Thank you all so much for the opportunity to serve as your parliamentarian! It has been too amazing for words!
Valete amores,
isabella Ochoa
2024-2025 NJCL Parliamentarian
Salvete Omnes!
I can’t believe that this is my final act as your NJCL Historian! It’s really surreal growing up through the JCL, and being shaped by a community that you can dedicate everything to, just for it to end as quick as it started. I’ve learned so much about myself because of you all, and for that, I am eternally grateful. Seeing your photos from the Photo of the Month submissions, creating monthly zines, and creating the JCL’s scrapbook connected me to you all in some of the best ways possible. I loved seeing what you all were up to! These connections, these memories, are what makes the JCL special.
I sincerely hope you all get the most out of the JCL as I did. The friends you make will last a lifetime and the knowledge gained will shape you into a leader and a scholar. Try something new! Get into art, testing, or even certamen! I have no doubt that the legacy you all will create through the JCL will be nothing short of special, and I will miss seeing your photos every month.
So, thank you. Thank you for the memories, the friends, and the lessons. You all have shaped me into who I am.
Valete,
Philip Towbin
2024-2025 NJCL Historian
Salvete amici,
I’ve been lucky enough to immerse myself in the world of the Classics for seven years, now. From the very beginning, the JCL has served as a true home to me. My first NJCL convention took place in Fargo, ND, in 2019 — and I have cherished each and every moment since. These memories — from the welcome of older JCLers in Fargo and the joy amid the pandemic that my brother and I found within the JCL, to the privilege of supporting younger students and befriending my own NJCL board this past year — each hold within them a part of what makes the JCL so wonderful. The community of the JCL — the deep and lasting bonds of friendship and camaraderie that we form — has changed the course of my life, and I know that it continues to affect me still.
It has been a true honor to serve as your NJCL editor this past year.
Ab imo pectore,
Felix Chen
2024-2025 NJCL Editor