The following are student contests, some of which offer cash or scholarship rewards to their winners. Exams and related information are listed in the chronological order that they will be administered. Students interested in entering one or more of these contests should let Magister Jacobs know so that he can register. BONA FORTUNA!
This is another NJCL sponsored online exam. The format is very similar to the National Classical Etymology Exam, except this time focusing on Roman history, daily life, and culture through the reign of Constantine the Great. Visit the exam's page (linked above) for a suggested list of study resources.
This is one of several online exams offered by the National Junior Classical League. Students will be tested upon their knowledge of Greek and Latin roots, and related English derivatives. Visit the exam's page (linked above) for a suggested list of study resources and complete extra-credit assignments to prepare. Previous exams are also available to practice via Quia.com (visit the NCEE page for more info). This exam can be a little more challenging than some others due to the fact it is offered so early in the year, but worth the effort since learning classical roots is one of the major reasons Latin students perform better on the SAT's and other standardized tests. Use the resources below to study and practice.
Topic: multa, quae impedita natura sunt, consilio expediuntur - many things which are naturally difficult are solved with ingenuity -- from Livy's Ab Urbe Condita 25.11.
Life and the environment presented countless struggles and difficulties for ancient people, just as they do now. However, humans take pride in engaging with those problems and solving them in creative ways.
Tell or retell a story, set in the ancient world, that highlights natural difficulties being solved with ingenuity. Your story may take place either in a mythological realm or in historical realism. You are encouraged to be creative and innovative in your storytelling, especially when there are gaps in the story that you are retelling. Major elements of the original story should be recognizable in your work. This contest is open to all members of the Junior Classical League. All students who submit stories must be registered members of the NJCL.
The National Hellenic Civilization Exam (NHCE) is designed to test a student's knowledge of ancient Greek society. This is a test on the history and culture of the ancient Greeks from the Minoan period (c. 2000 BC) to the death of Alexander the Great with a focus on the Hellenic period (776 BC-323 BC). Study Resources: Study Guide
This NJCL exam tests students on their knowledge of level-appropriate vocabulary. Each level of Latin will be assigned a specific list of vocabulary to study. Use the resources below to study and practice.
Pegasus Mythology Exam (Available only to 8th-grade students) Cost to Student: $5.50 Registration Deadline: January 31, 2024 Exam Date: March 8, 2024
The Pegasus Mythology Exam is an introductory exam about Greco-Roman mythology. Each year presents a new theme for the exam. The 2023 theme is "Hercules."
National Latin Exam Cost to Student: $6.00 Registration Deadline: January 26, 2024 Exam Date: March 14, 2024
The National Latin Exam is co-sponsored by the American Classical League and National Junior Classical League. It has been offered to Latin students in the United States and internationally since 1978. In 2012 alone, more than 136,000 students participated in the exam. In 2012 & 2013, New Jersey had the fifth most participants. In addition to medals and awards, the NLE offers scholarships to gold medal winners.
TOPIC: Olympians as Olympians, Achieving in Unconventional Ways
2024 is an Olympic year, which brings into many people’s minds not just the athletes from around the modern world who compete against one another at the highest level, but also the original Olympians, the various immortal dwellers on Greece’s Mt. Olympus. One of the things that makes the modern Olympics interesting is the highlighting of athletes and sports that do not normally receive the most coverage on networks like ESPN, and on skills that make people great that do not always bring them great acclaim.
This year’s Fox Contest asks you to think of dwellers on Mt. Olympus, including not just those labeled “Olympian gods,” but also those (like Heracles) who are apotheosized, those (like Hebe or Ganymede) who do important jobs for the Olympians, and others who are purported to reside at least part-time on Olympus, such as the Muses. It wants you to think about them using skills that are attested in extant depictions from the ancient world, but that are DIFFERENT from the first ones of which people are likely to think. That is, please steer away from depictions of Zeus as a thrower of projectiles, Athena as a general, Artemis as an archer, etc.
Focus, instead, on these Olympians’ secondary or complementary skills that extant myths attest, and create a tale of eventual achievement of these individuals (either in their own characters or in characters recognizably adapted from them) based on such skills. Place your focal figure(s) in the midst of a situation (ancient or modern) in which a secondary or complementary skill of theirs contributes to their overcoming an obstacle and achieving notably in some way. This achievement may be athletic, but it does not need to be. There WILL, though, need to be recognizable reference to the story/stories in which the secondary/complementary skill(s) is/are apparent in ancient sources.
Medusa Mythology Exam (Available only to 9th through 12th-grade students) Cost to Student: $6.50 Registration Deadline: January 31, 2024 Exam Date: April 5, 2024
The Medusa Mythology Exam is an in-depth exam about Greco-Roman mythology. Each year presents a new theme for the exam. The 2024 theme is "WHAT HAPPENS IN TARTARUS..."