Pacifica Stories

Junior Classical League Convention
Just before spring break, five students and Mrs. Scobey piled into a school van and began the six-hour drive to the Bay Area to join nearly 700 other Latin students from thirty-five California schools for the Junior Classical League (JCL) State Convention. “But we weren’t translating Virgil and conjugating verbs for two days,” shares Mrs. Scobey. “Picture a gymnasium filled with hundreds of high school students in homemade togas, stomping their feet and chanting a dozen different cheers in Latin and raising enormous banners—then you’ll have a sense of the energy of the event.”

The Junior Classical League convention (JCL) involves games and academic competitions as well as athletic and creative arts contests. And although JCL is a national organization that has existed for almost seventy years, this is the first time in Pacifica history that our school has participated. 

“I really enjoyed the spirit that was created by all of the people together in one place,” shares sophomore Vyvien Estes. “We participated in and watched events like Latin oratory, chariot races, and a trebuchet competition.” (A trebuchet is a type of catapult – don’t worry, we had to look it up too.) Junior William Reimers earned second place in a costume contest, for which he dressed up as the already-assassinated Julius Caesar. And sophomore Theo Rothchild scored second place on a written test on Mottos, Quotes, & Abbreviations. Other adventures included a late-night encounter with a life-sized Trojan Horse and participating in a fast-recall trivia competition called Certamen, which was a highlight for everyone. 

Pacifica’s JCL team formed in January, just weeks before the regional competition. The students put in hours of studying outside of class to prepare first for the regional event, which was held at Loyola High School in February, and then for the semi-finals at the convention in March. Our student competitors included sophomores Vyvien Estes, Anna Mori, and Theo Rothchild, along with juniors Seela Kapoor and William Reimers. This year’s Pacifica JCL team also includes juniors Ellie Knight, Bella Lingel, and Lilah Robinson. 

In the short time that Pacifica’s JCL team has existed, students have learned an enormous amount. “I gained a greater understanding of Latin grammar and a grasp of the language that I would not have had reason to learn about otherwise,” reflects Vyvien. Seela is most grateful for deeper friendships with fellow Latin students and the courage to participate in the Certamen and sight-reading competitions. 

“I’ve gained a LOT, and I mean a lot of history knowledge, as well as applications of grammar and I’ve made new friends,” shares junior William Reimers. He admits that JCL is “the nerdiest club at Pacifica, but… we don’t take ourselves seriously at ALL.” The team shared a lot of laughs, and everyone looks forward to participating in regional activities this coming year. The team hopes to get more students involved and maybe even advance to the national Certamen competition next July. But first, they’ll focus their sights on the state convention next spring, which includes another road trip. “I am unironically looking forward to another six hours in a van,” admits Seela with a smile.

Getty Villa Visit
The Latin 4 class also took their studies outside the classroom with a recent field trip to the Getty Villa in Malibu. The class includes seniors Julia Anderson, Gavin Kelly-Miller, Siyane Said, Matthew Villarica, and Aidan Younger. The museum is built like a lavish Roman estate and filled with artifacts from the Ancient Greco-Roman world, including colorful frescoes, life-sized statues, ornate sarcophagi carvings, and detailed pottery paintings. “It was fascinating to see all of the intricacies of ancient civilization and the depth of artistry and craft that went into creating these magnificent works of art,” shares Matthew.

One highlight was a Romano-Egyptian mummy of a young man named Herakleides. Ancient Romans often had portraits done during their lifetime that would stay with the body after death, and the Getty Villa has several of these funerary paintings. “I thought it was really interesting to see what people in ancient Rome actually looked like and it made the history feel very real,” reflects Aidan Younger. Aidan also enjoyed making sense of Latin inscriptions on artifacts like headstones and sarcophagi. “I knew all of the words but it was fun to put them together in a new way to understand how ancient people wrote.”

Throughout the museum the students got to see things that they’d learned about in class, up close and personal. There was a bronze statue of an Olympic champion that Siyane immediately identified: “Earlier in the year we had a unit on the Olympics where we learned that victors would be given the choice of getting a statue carved of them, a coin with their face on it, or a poem written about them.” This victor had chosen the statue, which was likely made in Greece in the 2nd or 3rd century.

Another highlight was an interactive room where students could wear theatrical masks and create their own pottery artwork using an etching table or dry-erase marker. Meanwhile, the outdoor courtyards contain beautiful gardens and pools which accurately replicate an actual villa in the town of Herculaneum, next to Pompeii. For Julia, the best part was “spending time with my class outside of school and having a nice time exploring a beautiful place.” The Getty Villa field trip serves as the perfect capstone to Latin studies at Pacifica, and Mrs. Scobey plans to make it an annual excursion for her Latin 4 Honors class.

Seven Latin students from various grades will also have a chance to extend their Latin studies at the Getty Villa in June by attending the Summer Latin Academy (Academia Aestiva), along with other high school students from the Los Angeles area. They will spend the mornings speaking Latin and doing hands-on activities, and in the afternoons they will study history and culture by exploring the Getty Villa museum, antiquities collection, and Medieval Manuscripts Department. Senior Logan Roth is an alumnus of the program and had a wonderful experience there last summer.