Texas Junior Classical League

The Texas State Junior Classical League (TSJCL) is a branch of the National Junior Classical League (NJCL), an organization dedicated to the study of Classics, namely Latin and Greek. Formed in 1936 and sponsored by the American Classical League (ACL), NJCL is the largest classical organization in the world, encompassingly over 50,000 junior and senior high school students.

History

The TSJCL is notorious for many things, among which are the magnitude of its delegation, a penchant for being somewhat less than spirited, an extremely competitive and advanced Latin program, and many talented Certamen coaches and players, giving rise to many notable individuals and scholars within the National Junior Classical League. The current National Certamen Chair, Tom Reed, actually hails from James Madison High School of San Antonio, Texas, and often attends the annual State Convention to help out. Additionally, William Lee also from San Antonio is the current Communications Chair on the NJCL Executive Board.

The Texas Certamen program is among the best in the nation, and Texas Certamen teams frequently perform extremely well each year at the National Convention, even so far as the World Series of Certamen (WSOC) is concerned. At the 2007 NJCL Convention held at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Texas teacher Adam Williams (formerly of Ohio) and his WSOC team dubbed "JAKT" won the first ever World Series of Certamen competition, earning the coveted prize of the Schearer stick and a case of red bull per team member. This past year at the 2008 NJCL Convention held at Miami University, Texas teachers Jennie Luongo of Area F and William Lee of Area B competed with former TSJCLers Andrew Rist and Lauren Dill on team "Cornua Longa," advancing to the finals and winning the 2nd WSOC competition ever held.

Chapters

The Texas Junior Classical League is divided up into five areas by geographical location, due to its large size. Each area hosts its own area competition prior to the annual state competition, which is hosted by a different high school each year. The five Areas are as follows:

  • Area A: Southeast Texas (Houston and surrounding areas)
  • Area B: South Texas (San Antonio, Uvalde, Corpus Christi)
  • Area C: North Central Texas (Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco)
  • Area D: North West Texas (Lubbock, Amarillo)
  • Area F: Central Texas (Austin)

State Officers

Present

  • President:
  • 1st Vice President:
  • 2nd Vice President:
  • Treasurer:
  • Secretary:
  • Historian:
  • Parliamentarian:
  • Webmaster:
  • Editor:

2008-2009

  • President: Abraham Hashmi
  • 1st Vice President: Kristin Adkison
  • 2nd Vice President: Omar Ahmed
  • Treasurer: Julie Chang
  • Secretary: Alex Wiechmann
  • Historian: Candice Bradford
  • Parliamentarian: Stephanie Cruz
  • Webmaster: Julie Lim
  • Editor: Sammi Robles

State Chairs

Present

  • Shawn Jennings
  • William Lee
  • Jennie Luongo
  • Cindy Ong
  • Andrea Stehle

2008-2009

Previous Convention Locations

  • 2008: Atascocita High School
  • 2007: Sandra Day O'Connor HS, San Antonio
  • 2006: Pflugerville HS, Pflugerville
  • 2005: Marcus HS, Flower Mound
  • 2004: Warren HS, San Antonio
  • 2003: Pearland HS, Pearland
  • 2002: Cedar Park HS, Cedar Park
  • 2001: University of North Texas, Denton
  • 2000: Amarillo HS, Amarillo
  • 1999: MacArthur HS, San Antonio
  • 1998: Kingwood HS, Kingwood
  • 1997: Westwood HS, Austin
  • 1996: University of North Texas, Denton
  • 1995: Amarillo HS, Amrillo
  • 1994: Winston Churchill HS, San Antonio
  • 1993: Cypress Creek HS, Houston
  • 1991: North Mesquite HS, Mesquite
  • 1990: UT *San Antonio, San Antonio
  • 1989: Westwood HS, Austin
  • 1988: Caprock HS, Amarillo
  • 1980: Austin HS, Austin
  • 1979: North Mesquite HS, Mesquite