Activities - NJCL Convention - 1999 - Daily Highlights - Wednesday, August 4

Except for the Uta Pippig/Cosmos Ndeti-wannabes and those involved in the Candidates Open Forum, a number of JCLers no doubt took advantage of the late morning starting time for General Assembly III to catch a few extra winks. All delegates though came donned in their beach-bum best to attend the assembly. The agenda for today included the formal welcome from the American Classical League, parent organization to NJCL; the constitutional amendments committee report; and an announcement of the winners of the first Website Contest.

The National Latin Exam (NLE) was the next item on the program as Christine Sleeper and Tamara Bauer announced a number of the statistics on this 22nd annual exam:

• Over 100,000 students from around the world took the exam
• There were more than 8000 gold (summa cum laude) medals awarded
• 110 students had perfect papers in the Introductory Level Test
• 890 students had perfect papers in Levels 1-6, of those, 2 students had perfect papers for 5 consecutive years
• 35 students who had perfect papers were in attendance at convention

Doris Kays, NLE Scholarship Committee Chair, then took the stage to announce the winners of the 20 NLE scholarships in the amount of $1000 each and renewable for 3 years.

Assembly concluded with the announcement that National Committee members, Penny Cipolone and Stephen Gentile, who ran as unopposed incumbents for their respective positions, would continue for another five year term on the committee.

As assembly was adjourned, the auditorium was again transformed into an academic testing session with the offerings of Mythology, Latin Literature, and the ever-challenging Academic Pentathlon. At the same time, Ludi Volleyball participants headed back to the Leach Center for a second day of play. Ludi Basketball took place later that afternoon in Tully Gymnasium.

Late morning and early afternoon saw another round of workshops and seminars, including one hosted by SCLers Kevin Fu and Ian Anderson on Technology and the Internet. Other topics included Roman Aqueducts and Public Health and a State Convention Ideas Exchange.

Latin Oratory competition was held this afternoon, but Certamen was perhaps the buzz-word (ugh!) of the afternoon as Competitive Certamen held its last preliminary round and shortly thereafter, its semifinals, and Open Certamen was just getting underway. Following the Competitive Certamen semi-finals, it was determined that the following teams would be facing off in the finals to be held on Thursday:

	Novice	Lower	Upper
	Ohio	Ohio	Ohio
	Florida	Florida	Tennessee
	Virginia	Tennessee	Virginia

A chance for delegates to meet the NJCL officer candidates today was followed by a special dinner and dance in the Oglesby Union Courtyard. Meanwhile, sponsors and chaperones attended their customary banquet in the Turnbull Conference Center. Students and adults alike then reconvened in Ruby Diamond Auditorium for That's Entertainment, a convention staple hosted by the the SCL and an opportunity for JCLers to showcase many of their musical, comedic and other talents.

Convention Ear, Wednesday, August 4, 1999 (requires Adobe Acrobat)