Latin at Grace Academy
Our mission: "The Latin program aspires to train students to construe original Latin texts in order to decipher the design and intent of the author, thereby enabling them to apply these same skills to the rhetoric of their own language or any other they should choose to study."
Our program:
Students begin their study of Latin in the third grade. Their Latin studies during the grammar stage focus primarily on the memorization of vocabulary and grammatical charts. Students are introduced to the translation of simple sentences and short stories during these early years as well.
In the sixth grade students begin the dialectic phase of their Latin studies with a comprehensive review of everything learned in the previous years. The focus of Latin shifts from memorizing and parsing words to parsing and construing longer more complex sentences. Students also begin reading adaptions from original pieces of Latin Literature. The capstone of the Latin program is the Latin Literature course taken in ninth grade. In this course the goal of our program is fully realized. Students spend the year reading and discussing the works of history's great authors from Caesar to Augustine to Luther in the original language in which they were all written - Latin.
Students who choose to continue their Latin studies beyond ninth grade may enroll in the Advanced Placement course on Vergil's Aeneid in tenth grade. Completion of this course will give students the opportunity to earn college credit through the AP Exam given at the end of the term (see recent AP results posted below). Students in grades ten through twelve may also enroll in our classical Greek courses. This two year program provides students the opportunity to read selections from Greek Literature, the original Greek texts of the New Testament, and the writings of the Apostolic Fathers.
Our curriculum: Our Latin classes use the Latin for Children Primer series in grades 3 -5, and the Latin Alive! series in grades 6 - 8. Both text series are published by Classical Academic Press. The Latin Literature class (grade 9) reads a wide selection of original writings from the text Aeneas to Augustus and the The Osterly Selection from the Latin Fathers. The Advanced Latin Class (grade 10) reads selections from Vergil's Aeneid. Our students continue their foreign language studies in grades 10 - 12 in either Latin, Ancient Greek, or Spanish.
Latin Club: The GA Latin Club is a chapter of the Texas State Junior Classical League and the National Junior Classical League, organizations dedicated to the promotion of classics in secondary schools.
Club membership is open to all students in grades seven and above. The goal of this academic club is to enhance the students' Latin studies by providing opportunities to apply their Latin skills outside the classroom. Club activities have included: certamen tournaments, Latin Christmas Carolling, the Area and State JCL Conventions, a Latin play, and a gladiatorial exhibition. Visit the school calendar for news on upcoming Latin Club events.
Questions: Please visit the Latin FAQ's page.
Quid Novi
(what's new)
BIG NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT :
Grace Academy will host the 2011 Austin Area Latin Convention!
One of our Latin Club officers was elected as Area Chair for 2011. That means that Grace Academy will host the convention in 2011.
Red Poppy Festival - On April 24, Grace Academy entered a float in the parade for the Red Poppy Festival, a big community event held annually in Georgetown. Leading the way were members of the GA Latin Club with their newly constructed Roman chariot.
2010 Texas State Junior Classical League Convention: The Grace Academy Latin Club competed in the TJSCL Convention on March 26 - 27. The state convention is attended each year by approximately 2,000 students from schools both public and private across the great state of Texas. Latin students compete in a wide range of contests including academics, oratory, costume, vocals, art, and olympika. The GA team won the first place Sweepstakes Trophy for Olympika and won the fifth place Sweepstakes Trophy for the entire Novice Division (the novice division contained twenty two clubs from all over the state). Below is a list of the individual awards and honors. Names have been ommitted for privacy.
Academic Contests:
- Grammar: level 1/2A - 1st place
- Latin Derivatives: level 1/2B - 1st place
- Greek Derivatives: level 1/2A - 3rd place; Veteran - 2nd place
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Mythology: level 1/2A - 5th place
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Latin Literature: level 1/2A - 3rd place; level 1/2B - 5th place
- Greek Life & Literature: level 1/2A - 5th place; level 3 - 3nd place
- Mottoes, Quotations, & Abbreviations: level 1/2B - 3rd place
- Ancient Geography: level 1/2A - 5th place
- Reading Comprehension: level 1/2A - 3rd place; Veteran - 2nd place
- Decathlon: level 1/2A - 5th place
Creative Arts Contests:
- Sight Recitation: level 1/2B - 3rd place
- Dramatic Interpretation, Girls: level 1/2B - 1st place
- Dramatic Interpretation, Boys: level 1/2B - 2nd place
- Latin Oratory: level 1/2A - 1st place; level 4 - 4th place
Fine Arts Contests:
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Mosaics - 5th place
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Monochromatic Drawing - 2nd place
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Oil/Acrylic - 1st place
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State T-shirt Design - 1st place (This means the Texas Delegation will wear this original design by this GA student at the National JCL Convention this summer!)
Olympika - First Place Trophy!
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50yd run, Girls - 2nd place
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50 yd run, Boys - 2nd place
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100 yd run, Girls - 3rd place
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100 yd run, Boys - 1st place
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200 yd run, Girls - 1st place
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200 yd run, Boys - 2nd place
- 440 yd relay, Girls - 1st place
- 440 yd relay, Boys - 2nd place
- Frisbee Throw, Boys - 2nd place
- Softball Throw, Girls - 1st place
- Softball Throw, Boys - 2nd place
- Long Jump, Girls - 2nd place
- Long Jump, Boys - 2nd place
Ludi, Open Certamen: Novice, 2nd place; Advanced, 2nd place
We are so very thankful for the opportunity to represent Grace Academy at the State Convention. We are grateful and humbled by the favor that God has shown us. We gladly give all glory to God for the ribbons and trophies received this weekend, for it is from HIM that all blessings flow (even Latin stuff)! Many thanks to all of the parents for their endless encouragement and support. You are such a blessing, and our Latin Club could not do any of this without YOU!
SOLI DEO GLORIA!!!
2010 Austin Area Latin Convention The Grace Academy Latin Club competed in the Area Latin Convention on February 19 -20, 2010. The students did an amazing job. They won the first place Sweepstakes Trophy for Olympika, and came in fourth place overall in their division. Every student who attended placed in the top three in at least one of their events! Below is a list of the individual awards and honors. Names have been ommitted.
Academic Contests
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Grammar, level 1/2A - 1st and 3rd place
- Greek Derivatives, Advanced - 3rd place
- Latin Literature, level 1/2B - 2nd place
- Roman History, level 1/2A - 3rd place
- Roman History, level 1/2B - 3rd place
- Greek Life & Literature, level 1/2A - 2nd place
- Greek Life & Literature, level 3 - 2nd place
- Ancient Geography, level 1/2A - 1st place
- Ancient Geography, level VET - 1st place
Creative Arts Contests
- Sight Recitation, Level 1 - 1st place
- Dramatic Interpretation, Level 1 Boys - 2nd place
- Dramatic Interpretation, Level 1 Girls - 1st and 2nd place
- Oratory, Level 1 - 1st and 2nd place
- Oratory, Level 3 - 1st place
Classical Civlization Contests
- Girls' Costume - 2nd place
- Couples' Costume - 3rd place
- Monochromatic Art - 1st place
- Polychormatic Art - (tie) 2nd place and 2nd place
Olympika - First Place Team Trophy!
- 50 yd, Girls - 3rd place
- 50 yd, Boys - 2nd and 3rd place
- 100 yd, Girls - 3rd place
- 100 yd, Boys - 2nd place
- 200 yd, Girls - 3rd place
- 200 yd, Boys - 1st and 2nd place
- 400 yd Relay, Girls - 2nd place
- 400 yd Relay, Boys - 3rd place
- Softball Throw, Girls - 3rd place
- Softball Throw, Boys - 1st and 3rd place
- Frisbee Toss, Girls - 1st place
Pentathlon Contest: This is an academic test that every student in attendance at the convention takes. Certificates of merit are presented according to the percentile correct.
cum laude - 3 students
magna cum laude - 4 students
maxima cum laude - 10 students
summa cum laude - 9 students
In addition, one of our students earned the HIGH SCORE HONOR for achieving the highest score on the Pentathlon in her level.
In all, twenty six students in grades 6 - 11 represented Grace Academy in the Area Latin Convention. For me it is so exciting to see these young men and women perform so well in several fields of study: academic, athletic, rhetoric, and the arts. What a testament to their classical education. Many thanks to all of the students for their hard work, the parents for the support and encouragement, and most of all to God, through whom all things are possible!
SOLI DEO GLORIA!!!
Now on to STATE . . .
Certamen Pugnatorum: The Grace Academy Certamen Team won 2nd place in the Certamen Pugnatorum, Middle School Division. Certamen is the Latin word for contest. For Latin Clubs it is a jeaopardyesque game that quizzes teams on language skills, history, and culture. This is the first time our Grace Team has made it to the final round. Congratultions, Lions!
Gingerbread Greek Theater Each year our upper school students attempt to replicate an ancient piece of architecture. These replicas are unique in that each model has been created entirely out of edible materials, mostly gingerbread. The construction takes place the week of Thanksgiving and goes on display at the Georgetown Public Library the first week of December. This year the students replicated an ancient Greek Theater. The theme for this year was inspired after a reading of Euripides' play, "Helen."
A closer look reveals some significant details:
Skene - Stage and backdrop, usually with three doorways for entrances and exits.
Parados - Side entrances. Often used for the entrance of the priests of Dionysus and the chorus.
Orchestra - Place for the chorus to dance and sing. The annual tribute paid to Athens is prominently displayed at the front of the orchestra. Such display was tradition at the Great Festival to Dionysus.
Gingerbread Men as Thespians - So called after the first Greek actor, Thespis. Traditional Greek theater used three actors and a chorus. Note the masks worn by the actors.
Since our gingerbread festival takes place during December we have surrounded the theater with trees decorated for Saturnalia, a tradition which inspired our modern Christmas trees.
Scroll down to see the Gingerbread Trojan Horse from 2008. Other past projects have included the Colosseum and the Pantheon.
Zingiberipanis Viri Not to be outdone by the upperclassmen, the sixth graders created gingerbread Romans. The culinary artists took a few liberties on the traditional style of the Roman toga, but it was all in the spirit of the holidays (or the goal to see how much sugar could be piled on a single cookie). You may recognize a gingerbread cyclops or gingerbread minotaur.
National Junior Classical Leauge Convention Members of the GA Latin Club joined thousands of other Latin enthusiasts from across the U.S.A. and Canada at the University of California for the 59th annual NJCL Convention. They received top honors in several events including:
Reading Comprehension Poetry, Level IV - 4th place
Essay, 10th grade boys - 1st place
Essay, 9th grade girls - 6th place
Modern Myth - 6th place
Dramatic Interpretation, Boys - 2nd place
Dramatic Interpretation, Girls - 7th place
Latin Oratory, Level 2 - 4th place
Sight Reading, Poetry - 10th place
Sight Reading, Level 2 - 10th place
Greek Life and Literature, Level 2 - 5th place
Girls' Costume - 3rd place
Acrylic/Oil 7-9 -- 1st
Black Ink 7-9 – 1st
Black Pencil 7-9 – 1st
Cartoons 7-9 – 1st
Chalk/Pastel 7-9 – 1st
Colored Ink 7-9 – 1st
Mixed Media 7-9 – 1st
Watercolor 7-9 – 1st
Colored Pencil 7-9 – 3rd
Impromptu Art 7-9 – 7th
50-yd Breaststroke Jr. Girls – 1st
50-yd Freestyle Jr. Girls – 7th
We also had students medal in the following overall categories:
Creative Arts - 9th place; Graphic Arts - 4th place
Lastly, one of our students won the state t-shirt design contest. This meant that all 262 delegates from Texas represented our state by wearing her t-shirt! The shirt design went on to win 1st place in Best Visual and 5th place for best overall design.
Advanced Placement Honors The students at Grace Academy outperformed their peers globally by a wide margin on the 2009 College Board Advanced Placement Exam. These exams, taken by high school juniors and seniors around the world, offer students opportunity to earn college credit for high school studies. The students must first complete a year of rigorous study translating selections from Vergil's Aeneid. In May the students complete an exam crafted by high school teachers and college professors on the College Board. Due to the challenging nature of these courses they are typically reserved for students in the eleventh and twelfth grades. The students at Grace Academy, however, took this same course in their tenth grade year and earned top scores. According to the AP College Board report our students accumulated an average of 93 out of 120 total possible points on the Latin AP Exam. This is outstanding compared to the global mean who averaged a total of 55 points. We are proud to honor these outstanding classical linguists and to give glory to God for all He is accomplishing in their lives. Soli Deo Gloria!
~ 2008 - 2009 Events ~
Poet Emeritus One of our 10th grade gentlemen has for the past two years distinguished himself by writing award winning poetry. Last year (as a 9th grader) his poem commemorating the heroic exploits of Horatius won 3rd place at the Texas State Junior Classical League Convention. This year he has surpassed that triumph to win first place honors at the state convention with his poem Daphne (Laurels Have No Lovers). It is my great pleasure to share his work of art with you.
Daphne
(Laurels Have No Lovers)
A fair-tongued Muse would I invoke to sing to me of how
A wreath of leaves first came to rest on Caesar’s holy brow.
The foliage that crowns him thus lies steeped in myth of old,
And though the crown seems plain perhaps, the tale yet rings of gold.
For gleaming gold was Eros’ shaft and gold were Ladon’s banks so fair,
And gold was Phoebus’ lyre, they say, and gold was Daphne’s hair.
A tale of scorn the Muse recalls, of insult and of spite,
And woe betide both man and god who choose ‘gainst Love to fight.
The retribution swiftly comes with vengeful gilded dart
Injecting fierce desire into Apollo’s beating heart…
Now sunbeam’s locks and river’s eyes and flower’s face do lyre extol,
But Phoebus’ music ne’er can stretch to Daphne’s leaden soul.
So, as gods do when wooing fails, the sun-god trusts his feet,
And on the banks the chase begins, the runners swift and fleet.
And now on father Ladon’s banks, with sand of shimm’ring grain,
The happy hunter’s caught his quarry by her silken train.
Alas, but Daphne cries aloud, both cold and resolute,
“Now from this bank shall I not stray. ‘Tis here I plant my roots.
Forevermore I’ll stand, unmoving, by the waterside,
For Laurels have no lovers, and branches can’t be brides.”
Apollo watches rough, grey bark enfold her pale, smooth skin,
And weeps to hear the spurning heart which ever beats within.
He plucks a frond from off the tree and whispers, kneeling on the ground,
“If thou wilt not my princess be, then wouldst thou be my crown?”
Academic Contests:
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8th place in Mythology, level 1/2A
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7th place in Roman Life, level 1/2A
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1st place in Mottoes, Quotations, and Abbreviations, level 1/2A
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1st place in Mottoes, Quotations, and Abbreviations, level 1/2B
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3rd place in Latin Grammar, level 1/2B
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6th place in Greek Life & Literature, level 2
Dramatic Arts:
- 1st place in Latin Oratory, level 1/2B
- 3rd place in Latin Oratory, level 2
- 1st place in Girls' Dramatic Interpretation, level 1/2B
- 1st place in Boys' Dramatic Interpretation, level 4
- 1st place in Sight Recitation, level 4
- High Score Trophy for Sight Recitation (highest score awarded for all levels)
Classical Civilization Contests:
- 5th place in 100 yd. dash
- 10th place in Mosaics
- 1st place in Digital Photography
- 8th place in Vocal Solo
- 3rd place in Oil Painting
- 3rd place in Monochromatic Drawing
- 1st place in State T-shirt Design
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1st place in Mixed Media Art
Austin Area Latin Convention - February 20 & 21 The Latin Club has once again had a very successful showing at the Austin Area Latin Convention! I give all the glory to God, and the parents a whole lot of thanks for producing such wonderful young people. Here is the breakdown of awards for this weekend.
Academic Contests
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Greek Life & Literature, level 2 - 2nd place
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Mottoes, level 1/2A - 3rd place; level 1/2B - 2nd place
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Grammar, level 1/2A - 3rd place and 2nd place
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Latin Oratory, level 2 - 1st place
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Dramatic Interpretation, Girls level 1 - 2nd place and 1st place
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Dramatic Interpretation, Boys level 4 - 1st place**
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Sight Recitation, level 4 - 1st place**
**In addition to winning first place in both Dramatic Interpretation and Sight Recitation, this same young man earned the highest overall score of any person in any level of these two competitions. He was therefore awarded the "High Score" trophy for Dramatic Interpretation AND another such trophy for Sight Recitation. AMAZING!!!
Classical Civlization Contests:
- Costume Girls - 4th place
- Vocal Solo - 1st place
- Monochromatic Art High School, 2nd place
- Poly chromatic Art Middle School, 3rd place
- Girls 440 Relay - 2nd place
It was a fantastic weekend. Discupli mi, thank you all for working so hard. Your diligence has paid off with excellent results. Parents, thank you for all your effort in supporting, encouraging, and chauffering Latin students. None of this would be possible without your tremendous support. Now, on to STATE!
Trojan Horse Triumphs! The Trojan Horse has triumphed again; this time with sweets instead of deceits. In November, the GA Latin Club made even the clever Odysseus proud by recreating the Trojan Horse in gingerbread. They submitted this edible version as an entry in the annual Georgetown Library Gingerbread Contest. The horse, which warns spectators to "beware of Greeks bearing gifts," won the contest for best Original Design! Congratulations to the GA Latin Club for their extraordinary classical culinary creativity. Special thanks to chief gingerbread architects, Lacy Murphy and David Tandy, for all of their help. The Trojan Horse will remain on display at the Georgetown Library through Monday, December 22.
MIXING THINGS UP IN LATIN!
"timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" Aeneid 2.49
I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts . .
. . . but as St. Jerome said,
"Noli equi dentes inspicere donati"
Don't look a gift horse in the teeth!
Especially when it is made of GINGERBREAD!