Certamen is a quiz-bowl style game for students of Latin, Greek, and classical civilizations. It allows students to demonstrate their knowledge of the ancient peoples, languages, and cultures, and the relationships between those topics and the modern world. The matches are fun, competitive, informative, and compelling for students.
- Open Certamen provides an opportunity for students to engage in FRIENDLY competition. The designated purpose of Open Certamen is to allow those delegates without much previous practice the chance to experience Certamen on a fun level, without the pressure of Competitive Certamen.
- Competitive Certamen is for those students who wish to play certamen at a competitive level. These students MUST be cleared to play be their state/provincial chairs. The three divisions of NJCL Competitive Certamen are Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced.
- Additionally, the World Series of Certamen (WSOC) is available for teachers and those who have graduated. While it does tend to be competitive, it is meant for fun and entertainment.
What does Certamen mean to the players and coaches?
"Some students have a deep-seated desire to learn more than what is taught in the classroom. No Latin teacher can cover vocabulary, grammar, derivatives, Roman history and daily life, mythology, and the influence of Latin in the modern world with any degree of thoroughness during class. Students who find these areas fascinating and are willing to delve deeper into them find Certamen a fulfilling experience.
Some students know that they are Latin nerds and revel in the camaraderie of other Latin nerds. Rather than hiding their knowledge, they compete with each other to show it off, and feel good about themselves in the process.
Winning is always nice, but learning more and developing self-respect are what education is all about."
-- Susan S. Schearer
Here are some important links for Certamen:
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Vocabulary Lists (please note: these lists are for reference and not official vocabulary lists for certamen questions.)
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In order to promote more Certamen tournaments at the local level, NJCL has question sets available for local hosts. Questions were written for the current year’s tournaments and have not been distributed electronically or posted online at this time. Purchase will include at least a syllabus, two to three preliminary rounds, and a final round. Questions will be free to states and provinces that did not enter teams in the NJCL tournament.
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A few generous and successful coaches have started a shared folder of their materials to help other coaches start or develop programs. If you have materials you would be willing to contribute, please feel free to add them to the shared folder.
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Certamen Study Materials (under development)
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Certamen Winning Teams (under development)
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Please visit our Vimeo page for some videos of matches.