Boston Latin School @ Lunenburg High School on 03.27.10

Certamen Competition


FIRST PLACE !

Photos by Magistra Sheri Hausey
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Congratulations to our Novice and Intermediate Academic Certamen teams that placed first in a statewide competition hosted by Lunenburg High School on Saturday, March 27. The students answered questions designed to probe their knowledge of Latin, Roman History and Classical Mythology.

Lunenburg High School's annual certamen tournament is one of the main opportunities all year for our students to have a full day of competition that mirrors the format used to determine the official State champions at the Massachusetts Junior Classical League's State Convention in May. Moreover, since early in the fall students that are members of the certamen teams have met after school once to twice a week to deepen their knowledge of Classics. Dr. Cohee coaches the Intermediate team while Ms. Hausey coaches the Novice.

The competition itself consisted of three preliminary rounds from which the three top scoring teams qualified for the finals. During each round the moderators asked twenty toss-up questions with two follow-up bonuses. At the end of these three rounds the intermediate team's point total surpassed the nearest competitor by more than one hundred points. This dominance continued into the finals where BLS took and maintained the lead throughout.

Meanwhile the Novice team faced a strong set of competitors, especially the team fielded by AMSA. Although BLS scored higher than AMSA in the preliminary round in which the two teams faced off, after all three preliminary rounds barely twenty points separated the two schools. The final round was gut wrenching as the two teams battled back and forth. After the nineteenth question, they were tied. When the moderator asked the final question, AMSA anticipated the question too soon, ringing in with an incorrect answer. BLS, ready with the correct answer, took a hard won and well-deserved first place.

Congratulations to all these hard working students and continued good luck in their quest for the State Championship in May.