LHS Latin students compete at Kansas State Latin Convention
April 30, 2018
On April 20th, high school students from across Kansas gathered for the Kansas State Latin Convention.
The event was hosted by Lawrence High School, and a number of LHS Latin students competed in the diverse array of competitions offered during the convention. Some of the events included costume competitions, oratory, certamen (trivia), academic tests testing Latin knowledge and sporting events.
Sophomore Amelia Vasquez competed in the academic testing competitions.
“I love the teacher, Mr Puckett is great,” Vasquez said. “I think Latin is really interesting itself and I really like learning about the history of Rome and mythology.”
Juniors Sanders Barbee and Addie Spears competed in the couples costume competition, where they both had to design Roman-era costumes and develop their characters based on Roman mythology. They won third place.
“I like the competition because I got to show how creative I am while still showing my knowledge of Latin,” Barbee said.
Winning competitions is great, however students’ desire to attend the convention ultimately stems from their deep interest in the Latin language and Roman culture.
“I thought it would be really interesting [to learn Latin] because its a language a lot of people don’t really know,” Spears said. “Everyone thinks its a dead language, but it’s cool because you’re translating things people wrote thousands of years ago.”
