STATE UPDATES
OHIO
The Ohio JCL has already hosted several great activities and events over the last few months. We have been able to serve the community in a number of ways including two Make a Difference Days, which helped the OJCL give back to the community by cleaning the California Woods Nature Preserve and Cleveland Culture Gardens. Each event was a lot of fun and made a big difference for the parks.
On top of those service events, Ohio also had its first local Certamen match at The Summit Country Day, a Cincinnati school, and will have another Certamen at the University of Cincinnati in a few weeks. In addition to Certamen, we have also put on a walk for suicide prevention which raised more than $700. Finally, everyone had a chance to catch up with friends at our Ohio Convention Reunion Day. All these activities were very successful and we have many more exciting things to come!
Dustin Argo, Ohio JCL Editor
LOUISIANA
After a great nationals at Emory University, Louisiana kept the party going a little longer with its post-nationals party. A month later, on Oct. 18, delegates from schools all over the state came together at Catholic High School for the annual Fall Forum. At Fall Forum, delegates were able to participate in Certamen, Impromptu Art, and different colloquia led by state officers. Thanks to a successful canned food drive, the LJCL was able to donate more than 950 cans to the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank! Also at Fall Forum, the convention theme, dance themes, and procession themes were announced for State Convention in the spring.
In December, Louisiana delegates will come together to celebrate an annual Saturnalia party held by Baton Rouge High’s JCL. All of these events are leading up to our biggest one of all, State Convention!
Woojin Lee, Louisiana JCL Editor
CALIFORNIA
California JCL is back in full swing this school year! Our regional conventions, Ludi Novembres and SCRAM (Southern California Regional Amicii Madness) are just weeks away, and local JCL chapters are hard at work practicing for Certamen qualifiers in February! Our State Board is extremely excited for State Convention, which will be held at Miramonte High School in Orinda, and can’t wait for another wonderful year of JCL fun and friendship!
Bray McDonnell, California JCL Editor
Above: Ohio JCLers at Cincinnati's Make a Difference Day clean the California Woods as part of the state JCL's service project.
MASSACHUSETTS
This past month, MassJCL just hosted its first event, aptly entitled, “Kickoff.” Located in Western Massachusetts, closer to New York than to Boston, this event brought students from all over the state, and even a couple from both Connecticut and Vermont. Fortunately, Zeus was with us, for, when it would normally be cold enough in the mountains for students to be donning coats and jackets, this year, the weather was absolutely beautiful and the foliage exquisite. Our 2014-2015 president, Connie Chang’s own improv group “kicked off” Kickoff with a hilarious, stomach-hurting and abs-building show. There were many activities going on throughout the day, such as Certamen scrimmages, officer workshops and visits to the Clark Museum, which held a copy of the Magna Carta as one of its featured exhibitions.
Our main event, however, was the annual trebuchet and ballista contest. Earlier on, the smaller marshmallow catapulta were already put to the test, yielding Taconic High School as the winner. Now, it was time to test the big guns. These real-life replicas of siege engines, some over ten feet tall, battled it out over which would launch either a bag of beans or an arrow the farthest across the field. MassJCLers anxiously waited, crowding behind a rope barrier put up for their safety in case some of the engines accidentally launched backwards [a quite common event]. Those working on the siege engines hurriedly made last-minute adjustments, offered sacrifices to Apollo and crossed their fingers. In the end, Mount Greylock Regional High won for farthest-launching catapult, Classical Magnet for farthest-launching ballista and Boston Latin School’s ballista for most creative name, “Cic-arrow.” Altogether, it was a day to remember, filled with friendly competition, new friends and a breathtaking view.
Linda Qin, Massachusetts JCL Editor
STATE UPDATES · Torch:U.S. · Winter, 2014-2015
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