Pioneer Valley Classics Day 2009 took place at Mount Holyoke College on Thursday, January 22. Three hundred Latin students were in attendance from schools across Western Massachusetts, including a delegation from ARHS and ARMS. Latin teacher Sean Smith accompanied 40 students to enjoy a day-long celebration of Latin and Greek language and culture.
Twenty Latin Club members from the middle school and high school collaborated to entertain the Classics Day audience with their production of "The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships." In the photo below, Zeus ponders what to do with the golden apple:
Classics Day also offers students a variety of contests to demonstrate skill and mastery. Amherst students participated both as individuals and on teams to garner the following prizes.
Ellie Smith and Sonia Brown won 2nd place in the poster contest for their poster of Rumor.
Amherst won 3rd place in the Intermediate Certamen with a team of Ian Emerson, Lizzie Kumar, Shayna Goss and Helen Sharma.
Amherst won 2nd place in the Advanced Certamen with a team of Emma Anderson, Alex Karpinski, Spencer Diamond and Marianne Wald.
Nick Baskin won 1st place in the Greek Oral Recitation contest and 1st place in the Latin Poetry Recitation with a poem from Catullus. Alex Karpinski won 1st place in the Latin Prose Recitation with the opening of Cicero’s oration against Catiline.