Forty-five students from Amherst Middle and High School attended Pioneer Valley Classics Day at Mount Holyoke College on January 21. Students attended workshops on topics ranging from Cleopatra to Curses in the Ancient World; they dressed as ancient characters and presented classically themed works of art, as well as entering a variety of competitions and providing the grand finale of the event with a performance of their original play "Daedalus and Icarus."
Nick Baskin won 1st place in the Greek Oral Interpretation contest and 2nd place in the Latin Poetry contest.
Dominic Myren and Darius Peyton won 2nd place in the Drama Oral Interpretation contest.
Morgan Anastasi won 2nd place in the Latin II Oral Interpretation contest.
A team of Drake Niedzielski, Emily Jung, Nye Winston-Corradino and Alex Locke finished 2nd in the Latin I Certamen.
A team of Morgan Anastasi, Varun Sheel, and Ankrish Nawalkhan finished 2nd in the Latin II Certamen; 3rd place was won by Matt Pruyne, Zoe Langsdale and Lula Beresford-Banker.
In the Advanced Latin Certamen, a team consisting of Spencer Diamond, Willie Hirschfeld, Emma Anderson and Ian Emerson placed 2nd.
The lively performance of "Daedalus and Icarus" received many laughs and a rousing ovation. The cast included: Dorothy Jones, Morgan Anastasi, Raphe Gilliam, Alex Locke, Erin Kavanagh, Shayna Goss, Matt McCudden, Emily Jung, Edward Larson, Drake Niedzielski, Nye Winston-Corradino, Ian Emerson and Simon Elliott; and featured a performance by Amherst Chorale members Simone Frank, Alex Lichtenstein, Tim Nagy and Sara Sremac.
