- Rome’s Birthday on the Boston Common: Our First State Publicity Stunt - This year we held our first annual celebration of Rome’s Birthday on Thursday, April 21 on the Boston Common. On the day before the stunt, some of the BLACC members met with other MassJCL members at Boston Latin School for a meeting that was hosted by MassJCL 2004-2005 first Vice President Yucong Ma. During this meeting, we collaborated and put together the plan for the following day. The plan was to meet at the Boston Common at 10am, wear our Roman togas, sing ‘Happy Birthday to Rome’, and afterwards have a picnic. Our main goal was to gain publicity points by attracting local radio and television stations. After a friendly Certamen scrimmage, we were free to leave and get ready for the next day.  A group of JCLers at the event. Some familiar faces of the other members of our club were present at the event and had come to celebrate with us, including Tahisha, Audane, Jared, Rachel, Thuy, Meseret, Alex, and Anthony M. We put on our togas and had a great laugh about how silly we looked. Some people were embarrassed to put on their togas, but eventually everyone had dressed.  Audane, Vanessa, and Thuy saying "Salve" to a fellow classics lover. Soon after taking a few pictures, we ventured out in groups and started to sing at the top of our lungs. We walked around the Common carrying candy and singing "Happy Birthday to Rome". Our first encounter was with a pleasant English couple. We told them that we were Latin students celebrating Rome's birthday and we offered them candy, which they kindly accepted. Afterwards, we continued our little parade singing, cheering, and even telling stories about the founding of Rome and how the geese once saved Rome from a secret, planned attack by the Gauls. We continued our journey by walking to a bridge and singing once again to the very stunned people on the swan boats. However, we were surprised when a passerby said "Salve" to us and we were so happy by his greeting that we all shouted back "Salve!" simultaneously. We also encountered a group of tourists, whose guide was a man in attire from the 1770’s. After our marvelous journey, we returned to the others.  Students with the tourists and their guide. Soon, we had our Roman picnic under a tree. Yucong and Isaac M., the 2004-2005 MassJCL editor, soon arrived and put a few blankets on the ground and the other group joined us. We had a chance to catch up on some things that was happening at our schools and our schools’ Classics Clubs. Afterwards, we packed up our things and made our way to the State House as we shouted some MassJCL cheers that are said during National Convention. We then made our way back to the Common where we hung out and played some card games and Latin scrabble. Soon, we ended our stunt and went home.  Students saying hello to a fellow classicist. Many of you are probably wondering why we would do such a thing. But then, ask yourself why we bother to hold all of these events all year round. The reason we do this is quite simple: to spread around the word that the Classics are very much alive. Even though we looked silly and perhaps didn’t get our point across to some people, we still upheld the spirit that the JCL has and showed support for the MassJCL 1st Vice president at her attempt for a publicity stunt. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that this was a great day and a really awesome experience. ~Vanessa D., Grade 10  - Memories - On Friday, January 14, the Advent School came to Boston Latin Academy for a tour, but little did they know what was to come for them. The Advent School is a small elementary school where there are about sixteen students per class. When they first arrived, I could tell that they were a bit nervous about visiting the school. They were also very skeptical about us because they had visited Boston Latin School on Monday. After they had been seated, the five student volunteers, which included BLACC President Annie O’Brien and myself (the BLACC Co-Editor), introduced ourselves. Immediately we began to talk about the certain clubs we were involved in. Annie and I started by introducing ourselves and then spoke about the offices that we held in the Classics Club. Afterwards, we began explaining to the group what the Classics Club was really all about. From memories of the State Convention to the monthly community service that we do at the Prison Book Program, we revealed the secrets and joys of being in such an awesome club. After the other volunteers got a chance to talk about their activities, we split into groups of two and gave them the grand tour of our school. They seemed to be really impressed by the students who did well on the National Latin Exam, especially those who received a perfect score. We showed them different aspects of the school and even got a chance to introduce some teachers to them. At the end of the tour, they seemed to really like the school and us students. Not only were they impressed by the academic achievements of the students, but also by the character, dignity and overall pride that we students hold for this school. It is those things that also are represented by the Classics Club and is what really makes us such a unique, admirable and exceptionable group. ~Vanessa D., Grade 10  Annie and a teacher from the Advent School  Annie giving a tour |