Torch: WI | Page 14

I think I’ll just be honest. I have loved, I have learned, and I have changed so much over my four years as a WJCLer. I have loved my fellow JCLers like family, I have learned not only classical knowledge but life skills, and I have been shaped into someone that I am actually proud to be. For all these things I am grateful to the wonderful organization that has given me so much. So here is a message, to all of you, JCLers past, present, and future.

I think I’ll just be honest. Nothing in my high school life has ever come before the WJCL. It was always the thing I put first, above forensics, soccer, my job, heck even family. Throughout high school it always came first, and there’s a reason for that. Of all the activities I did, of all the organizations I was a part of, none of them had the love or the community that the WJCL did. Whether it was just at my local level at Madison West Public High School for the Arts, (comma) for the Win or at the state level WJCL-wide, I experienced so much love. When people, including me, say that their Latin friends are their best friends, it’s not a lie. JCL friends will move mountains to be there for you, keeping up contact even after they are no longer in the organization, supporting you whatever the odds. These are the relationships you hold on to, don’t take them for granted.

I think I’ll just be honest. Latin and the JCL has taught me much, beside just the core curriculum. Latin taught me how to lead. Whether it was TAing for Mags or being President of MadWest, I learned how to garner respect and take charge, two things that I hope will serve me well down the line. The JCL taught me how to care for others, to love others how I had been loved, to work hard, to accept disappointment, to move forward. These experiences are burned into my memory, the cornerstones of my person. Latin and the JCL will teach you if you let it, and if you do and you learn, it will change you.

I think I’ll just be honest. I am not the same person I was before JCL. The people, the classics, the lessons, they’ve changed me and most likely others like me. My time in the WJCL is over, I’ve graduated, I’ve moved forward. As the creed says, “covenant to hand on the torch of classical civilization in the modern world”, it’s time for my class to pass on the torch. Latin has done all it can for me, and now it’s your time. Your time to build up those relationships, that knowledge, your time to let it change you. Go along with the ride, and let it take you places. You won’t regret it-- I sure don’t.

cogito me modo probam futuram esse

by frances bartolutti

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