RMS AND RHS LATIN STUDENTS EXCEL ONCE AGAIN!

Suffolk County Latin Certamen
The annual Suffolk County Latin Certamen was held on Monday, March 30, at SUNY-Stony Brook. Fifteen schools (e.g., Commack, Garden City, Huntington, Jericho, Kings Park, McGann/Mercy, Port Jefferson, Port Washington, Stony Brook School, Syosset, Ward Melville, Westhampton Beach, etc.) from Suffolk and Nassau County districts participated in the day’s academic competition.

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At the Middle School level, Riverhead teams took both second and third place. At the High School level, Riverhead Level 3 teams took first and third place, and the RHS advanced students took third place. Of the total twelve awards given at all levels, Riverhead students took five, more than any other participating school.

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"The Certamen is a fun and challenging contest for the best Latin students from Suffolk (and Nassau) County middle and high schools," states RMS Latin teacher Ms. Lorene Custer. "Four-player teams compete in quick-recall matches testing their knowledge of Latin grammar, vocabulary and derivations, Roman life, history, mythology and literature. The competition is friendly and challenging, just like the study of Latin!"

In Riverhead, Level I is for 8th graders and really smart, overachieving 7th graders. (Ttheir competition often includes seniors in high school!) Level II is for 9th graders, who have most recently passed their Latin Proficiency exams at RMS; Level III is for 10th graders, who will soon sit for their high school Latin Regents exams; Level IV is for 11th and 12th graders, who are students in the RHS advanced Latin literature course which offers college credit from SUNY-Albany.

Preparation begins in January but kicks into high gear nearer to the actual event. Once the RMS Roman Banquet is over, the Certamen coaches, Lorene Custer and Jeff Greenberger, devote themselves full-time to the preparation work needed to do well at the Certamen – culminating in a Get Psyched Party at their house in Cutchogue on the Sunday before. Efforts have proven effective once again as the Riverhead Latin program took home 5 of the 12 prizes (more than any other competing school) – RMS winners are as follows:

Level I – Riverhead Middle School

Riverhead IA – 2nd Place (MAGNA CUM LAUDE)
Corey Lilia Giannuzzi (8th)
Carla Felicia  Guthrie (8th)
Daniel Akbar Simonn  Raynor, captain (8th)
Lydia Demeter Keiffert (7th)

Riverhead IB – 3nd Place (CUM LAUDE)
Corrine Carmen Kindya, captain (8th)
Joseph Nero Piro (8th)
Daniel Hadrian Tysz (8th)
Maria Amalia Valdivia (7th)

Level III – Riverhead High School

1st Place
Samantha VanDeurs
Alexa White
Adam Hubert
Tyler Crohan

Advanced – Riverhead High School

3rd Place
Rachel Hagler (Valedictorian)
Katherine Blasl
Colin Palmer
Bria Yazic

Level III – Riverhead High School

3rd Place
Corrinne Matlak
Emily Cardillo
Meghan Davis
Sean Harkin

Classics Society’s 6th Annual Declamatio
Earlier in the year, Riverhead Latinists traveled to Stony Brook University for the Suffolk County Classics Society’s 6th Annual Declamatio, an academic contest for which students memorize and then dramatically recite (or “declaim,” hence the Latin word “Declamatio”) a passage from Latin literature (ancient or modern) to a panel of judges. The Riverhead Latinists maintained their winning record by taking 10 out of a possible 13 places while competing against nine other schools from Long Island, which included Half Hollow Hills, Commack, Mercy High School, Three Village, Port Jefferson, Westhampton Beach, etc. In the first five years of the Declamatio, Riverhead has established itself as the Latin program to beat. >More