The GHS Torch

The official publication of the Greenhill Junior Classical League“Per aspera ad astra”

October 2014

Breaking News:The Walking Dead Spotted at GeorgiaBy Areeba Amer

Groans, moans, and tattered JCL shirts(from that morning’s Olympika) filled Emory Uni-versity as a riot approached the cafeteria at approximately 7:00 am. Creatures lined up to fill their growling stomachs in preparation for a day of contests and tests to prove their worth and faith to the Walking Dead Language, overlord of all NJCL creatures. The National Junior Classical League held its annual convention at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia this year from July 27th-August 2nd. Each day was filled with performance, con-tests, tests, food, assemblies, food, spirit, fellowship, food, and yes-zombies too. Everyday contained a spirit competition between states right before the General Assemblies with specified themes each day. These themes ranged anywhere from “James and the Giant Peach” to “The Walking Dead Language” to “Race Atalanta for the Purple and Gold.” Never will you find people screaming so enthusiastically. Never. Every night, each state would hold fellowship, a state gathering meant to prepare delegates for the upcoming day. This would include any announcements for the next day or officers would teach spirit chants for the next day’s spirit competition. Sadly, the Texas fellowships were not com-pletely successful in making a room of 200+ delegates learn chants with booming enthusiasm until midnight. Needless to say, no delegate left convention without having a bad case of “convention-blues.”

Table of Contents Welcome Back! 2

Pre-Election: The War Begins 2

Announcements 3 Photo Credit : Magistra Romanosky

Salvete, omnes! Welcome back to an amazing new year of JCL. This year we are looking forward to all of the new people joining us in our competitions. We would like to say how thankful we are for all of the students who are competing and representing Greenhill with school pride! We are so honored to have all 48 people who have signed up. A shout out to all the new sixth graders who have decided join us “pros.” We thank you for your cooperation and enthusiasm in JCL and Latin. We are excited to see all the new and sure to be amazing projects that are in store for us this year. Thank you so much for joining JCL and we wish you an amazing and unforgettable year with Latin. Sincerely, NatalieNeimanandVedaVelamuri,MSstaffwriters

Pre-Election: The War BeginsBy Sam Bovard

Page II The GHS Torch October 2014

Withelectionsrightaroundthecorner,onOctober6th,TheTorchwenttofindoutwhythecandi-dates should be elected. There are two positions in JCL, the Scriba, in charge of all written things like thank-you cards, and Consul, organizing movie night, and other fun activities. This year our candidates are consist of six 8th graders and one 7th grader. For the position of Scriba there are two candidates, Jennifer Rojas & Manvi Mittal. Both girls would be great Scribas, because of their great qualities. JenniferisafirsttimeJCLparticipant,butsheisreadytotakeonthischallenge,andhasmanyquali-ties that make her a good candidate for Scriba, like enthusiasm and perseverance. A love of writing and organization are necessities for being Scriba. Manvi Mittal has these qualities, amongmanyotherssuchasgettingworkdonequicklyandefficiently,whichmakesheranotherperfectcandidate for Scriba. The candidates for JCL Consul are Jeb Brown, Christine Wu, Sam Bovard and Mohan Desai. Each ofthesefantasticcandidateshasuniquequalitiesthatmakethemgoodfitsforConsul. Jeb Brown will throw you to the lions if things are out of order when he is Consul. He will plan fun butorderlyactivities.Jebwillrulewithanironfist,andagoldensenseofhumor. Sam Bovard wants to be Consul to give back to the JCL he loves, and he knows that he would be able to be competent in organizing events and any other tasks he might have to accomplish as Consul. He went to Nationals and acquired a second place ribbon in Watercolor, 7th and 8th grade division. Christine is a responsible person who has an abundance of creativity. She will make sure that this year in JCL will be amazing and cannot wait to lead us through it. Christine is dedicated to JCL and will not let you down as Consul. Although he’s a seventh grader, Mohan Desai has lots of JCL experience. Mohan went all the way to Nationals, where he secured second and third place ribbons in academic tests. He is hardworking and would love to be the Consul. Sadly only one person can be Scriba, and only two people can be a Consul. Remember to vote for one Scriba and Two Consuls on October 6th at lunch in Magistra Romanosky’s room.

TheTorchStaff Editor: Areeba Amer

Middle School Contributing Staff:

Veda Velamuri Natalie Neiman Sam Bovard

Upper School Contributing Staff: Lily Pigott

Page III The GHS Torch October 2014

Announcements

Middle School And the moment you have all been waiting for….the exciting information that is held in our hands, waiting to be revealed. October 6th will be our Middle School elections during lunch! Refer to Pre-Elections: The War Begins To all those new MS JCLers, be prepared for your initiation from 4-5pm on October 30, 2014. The theme will be a journey to the underworld. As we have told you before, there will be three competitions: Area C Invitational, which will be held at Jesuit College on February 21st, 2015. The State Competition, which will be held at Amarillo High School on March 27-28th. The National JCL Competition will be held at the Trinity University in San Antonio, TX, during the summer break. Thank you to everyone who joined and good luck in the years ahead.

With Sincerity, NatalieNeimanandVedaVelamuri,MSstaffcontributers

Getting Involved If you would like to submit any material (artwork, poetry, article ideas, et cetera) to be put in the Torch, please email amera@greenhill.org Personals. Yes, they are back and hopefully will be a larger part of the Torch this year. A personal can be a short note to the entire JCL, a friend, a teacher, or anyone. These must be school appropriate or it will not be published. Everyone knows teenagers have a knack for creative vocabulary: don’t show it. If you would like to submit a personal, please email them to amera@greenhil.org. If anyone, teacher or student, has any announcements they would like to be put in, please email amera@greenhill.org. *NB: Middle-schoolers, you may use the Personals box in Magistra Romanosky’s room. She will get them to me. Maximas gratias, omnes. Areeba Amer, GHS Torch Editor

Issue II comes out... November 5th, 2014