Vox Latina 2019-2020 Vox Latina Fall 2019 | Page 12

The Dean Dynasty
By Abby Almaguer
If you are a member of the Ohio Junior
Classical League, you probably already
know about the Dean family. They have
been more affectionately nicknamed the
Dean Dynasty, or even the Deanasty. The
Deans are well known in the JCL
community for their knowledge,
leadership, and friendly faces. Mr. Dean
and his wife, who taught Latin at Indian
Hill High School, named both of their
children after revered Romans. Tullus was
named after the third king of Rome, Tullus
Hostilius, and Julia was named after Julius
Caesar (maybe).
Mr. Dean has taught Latin at Summit for
twenty years, leading our nationally
recognized program. Before Summit, he
taught for ten years, both as a high school
teacher and a graduate student teacher.
He served as the OJCL Chair of Students
for nine years and helped teachers and
12
students at convention in any way
possible. Summit awarded Mr. Dean the
Leader of Character award and the Faculty
Chair for Distinguished Teaching. Mr.
Dean inspires excitement and enthusiasm
for the classics in all of his students.
The Dean kids grew up talking about the
classics at home long before they began
taking Latin at school in sixth grade. They
did not feel pressured to take Latin
because their parents were teachers, but
took Latin because both of them
genuinely wanted to. Julia says that she
always loved it, but more importantly, it
was “language that I could use to connect
with others and join a community— the
OJCL.” This sense of camaraderie that
drives all of us to be part of the OJCL
inspired both Julia and Tullus to run to
office on the OJCL executive board.