Back Row, from left, are Stuart Morrison and Louis Perna. Front row, from left, are Jillian Van Daele, Dariya Banta and Jane Kearns. Photo Contributed
Latin students of St. Veronica School in Chantilly saw cookies as the secrets to their success on the Certamen circuit.
Certamen, Latin for “contest,” is the name of a competition of Latin scholarship, pitting teams from schools public and private, middle and high, in fast-paced rounds of questions and answers.
The St. Veronica Certamen teams of 2015-2016 have placed first, second or third in every competition they have entered. Sixth graders Mary Hitchcock, Thomas Keating, Harrison Deitz, Jacob Van Daele and Sohal Sudheeer compete in the Level 1 division; Level 1-Advanced team includes seventh graders Dariya Banta and Stuart Morrison and eighth graders Jane Kearns, Jillian Van Daele and Louis Perna.
Jenifer Scott, Latin teacher at St. Veronica, has been sponsoring Certamen teams for eight years, and said this current roster is her most successful yet. Since each Tuesday after-school practice begins with sharing Oreos, the team says maybe it’s the cookies that are bringing the magic.
Competitions are held throughout the region and can involve as many as 18 other schools. Three teams of up to four students compete in rounds of questions and answers, with top teams advancing to the finals. Students field questions about Roman history and culture, Latin grammar and vocabulary and classic mythology.
Eighth grader Jane Kearns, captain of the Level 1-Advance team, is in her third year on the team.
Brother and sister competitors Jillian (8th grade) and Jacob (6th grade) Van Daele agreed that being on the Certamen team has the added bonus of helping them in Latin class.
Sixth grader Sohal Sudheer, new to Certamen and St. Veronica’s, said the best part of being on the team “is the spirit of the competition, the rapid thinking, I just love the thrill.”