Latin Organizations and National Exams

How to find out more from the Internet about these organizations:

• National Junior Classical League (http://www.njcl.org)
  Formed in 1936, the National Junior Classical League (NJCL) is an organization of junior and senior high school students sponsored by the American Classical League. The NJCL is the largest Classical organization in the world today, with over 1,000 chapters across North America and includes over 50,000 members. The purpose of the organization is to encourage an appreciation of the language, literature and culture of ancient Greece and Rome, and to impart an understanding of how much the modern world owes to those ancient civilizations.
  
  The NJCL holds an annual week-long convention for over 2,000 high school students. The location changes each year to a college campus in the host state. Most state JCL chapters also hold their own annual conventions. Any Latin student, past or present, may join the Junior Classical League for a small membership fee. If any school has at least five students interested, you can form a chapter.
  
  For more information, contact Geri Dutra, National JCL Administrator, administrator@njcl.org.
   
• Kentucky Junior Classical League (http://www.kyjcl.com)
  The Kentucky Junior Classical League is among the most active state chapters in the NJCL. Each Spring, KJCL holds a convention for nearly 500 Latin students, alternating sites between Louisville and Lexington. The event lasts from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning, and includes seminars and workshops given by university professors; academic testing; team and individual sports; Certamen, a form of Latin quiz bowl; as well as competitions in sight Latin, graphic arts, costumes and much more. Each fall, a local chapter hosts the other schools for a one-day Forum, including many of the same events but in a less academic atmosphere.
  
  For more information, contact Hunter Wight, Kentucky JCL Chairperson, hunterwight@gmail.com.
   
• National Latin Exam (http://www.nle.org)
  The National Latin Exam (NLE) is offered every year by the American Classical League and is open to any and all high school Latin students. More than 149,000 Latin students from all fifty states participated in 2007. The exam is comprised of 40 questions covering grammar and syntax, culture, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. The exam contains items usually taught by the first week of March in a given year of study and generally is designed to test comprehension of Latin rather that the production of forms. Deductive reasoning skills are honed, as students learn to reason out responses when they encounter something they had forgotten, or not covered in class at this point.
  
  KET encourages all students to participate in this nonthreatening exam. A poor performance is in no way penalized and many students find they do very well and even receive awards. Practice exams can be found on the NLE website or on the KET Latin I website under Cetera (in the navigation bar to the left of the page.)
   
• Medusa Mythology Exam (http://medusaexam.cjb.net)
  Also offered by the American Classical League, the Medusa Mythology Exam is administered during the second week of March, and gives students an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of Classic mythology. Each year the exam has a theme, around which all questions are asked. Past themes have included: Oracles and Prophecies, Romance, Heroes, Transformations, Olympus and the Underworld, and the Life of Hercules. Practice exams and keys may be found at the Medusa Mythology Exam website.
   
• Additional opportunities for Latin studnets, including scholarship contests, may be found under Cetera on the KET Latin I website.