Veni, Vidi, Vici. I came, I saw, I conquered.

Seven Spartans returned from the Virginia Junior Classical League Convention, which was attended by a total of 1600 Latin students from the state, with 12 awards. The Latin Convention, held at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, required its attendees to participate in contests and tests centered on ancient Rome during the two-event. Spartans submitted their Roman mosaics, storybooks, and textiles, recited myths and passages in Latin, and sat with hundreds of other students to take tests on Latin grammar, vocabulary and culture.

“Convention actually went really well. I enjoyed it. It was nice to see the students win when they didn’t expect it,” said Latin teacher and Latin Club sponsor Whitney Slough. “There were 14 West Potomac [High School] kids and seven Falls Church [High School] kids and they only won two awards.”

Seniors Alice Fuller and Josh Hamilton, juniors Julia Staron and Tricia Goldberg and sophomore Aaron Calkins competed in the costume contests. Fuller and Hamilton partook in the Upper Level Pairs’ contest. They were required to dress up as Jupiter, King of the Gods, and Io, his girlfriend who was turned into a cow by Jupiter’s jealous wife. Calkins dressed up as Charon for the upper level boys’ contest and Staron and Goldberg, competing in the upper level girls’ contest, each dressed up as the blood-thirsty Agave.

“My mom and I made the toga and we followed the Crete style. We took red food dye and stained it so it was like blood. Then we wove ivy through my hair,” said Goldberg.

WS also competed in the Arts and Crafts competitions and did particularly well. Freshman Stuart Pratuch won first place in Lower Level Textiles for his tapestry. Pratuch used a machine to sew the pictures and symbols of the 12 major Roman gods and goddesses onto the pillowcase sized fabric. Junior Maddy Spencer won first place in Ink Drawing and eighth place on the Art and Architecture test, and senior Josh Hamilton won first place for his illustrated children’s book.

“It was called Latin Lads Inferno. It was about a little kid who goes into the Underworld,” said Hamilton. “I liked getting to see all the kids who entered the art contest.”

But Convention wasn’t all work. On the first day, schools waved their banners and chanted in Latin during the huge assemblies before starting their day. That night, a banquet was given to which everyone was required to wear a toga. In between the action, students attended lectures given on Roman life and history or snuck in rest time together before rushing off to their next activity.

“Honestly [my favorite part] was sitting around with that group of people playing cards. It was just being around those people,” said junior Maddy Spencer.