JCL members attend annual state convention

Members+of+Harkers+JCL+delegation+cheer+during+the+State+Conventions+opening+ceremonies.+Eighteen+upper+school+students+and+two+middle+school+students+attended+the+event.

Courtesy of Harker JCL

Members of Harker’s JCL delegation cheer during the State Convention’s opening ceremonies. Eighteen upper school students and two middle school students attended the event.

by Julia Huang, TALON Co-Organizations Editor

Twenty members from the Upper School’s Junior Classical League (JCL) delegation attended the annual State Latin Convention held this year at St. Ignatius High School last Friday and Saturday.

Harker’s attending group included 18 upper school students and two middle school students attended the convention.

Students who attended included middle school students Arohee Bhoja (8) and George Wehner (8); freshmen Jai Bahri, Jeffrey Fung, Jack Hansen, Montek Kalsi, Kyle Li, Jin Tuan and Bryan Wang; sophomores Bobby Bloomquist, Timothy Chang, Nikhil Dharmaraj, Sara Min and Alexander Young; juniors Edgar Lin and Andrew Semenza and seniors Nikhil Manglik,Venkat Sankar, Arnav Tandon and Peter Wu.

“The JCL State Convention was a great success,” chaperone and Latin teacher Clifford Hull said. “Usually, it’s held in L.A. This year, it was held at St. Ignatius in San Francisco. The fact that it was held so close to our school meant that we didn’t have to travel all day as we have done in the past. The students had a really good time, and they dominated the convention.”

The Harker team won 16 first place awards, 19 second place awards and eight third place awards. First place winners included Arohee in Reading Comp III and Vocabulary, Bryan in Dramatic Interpretation (Boy), Nikhil Dharmaraj in Latin Oratory and English Oratory, Andrew in Reading Comp III and Venkat in Ancient Geography, Daily Life and Sight Latin Reading. Kyle tied first in Mythology and Edgar tied first in Derivatives. Both Certamen groups received second place, and Harker received first place in Overall—High School.

“This was [my] fourth year,” Edgar said. “The scheduling was pretty packed this year. They tried to get more and more stuff every year, and [the activities] were all pretty fun.”

The next club event for JCL members is the annual National JCL Convention, which will be hosted this year at Troy University in Alabama from July 24 to 29.