RHS Team wins six out of nine at LATIN DECLAMATIO

(November 2007) At the FIFTH ANNUAL SUFFOLK COUNTY LATIN DECLAMATIO, a competition in which students dramatically present from memory passages of Latin literature, the Riverhead Latin Program again won the greatest share of victory. Twelve schools from Suffolk and Nassau County participated; three awards were presented in each of three divisions: Middle School, High School Pre-Regents, High School Advanced. Of the nine total awards, Riverhead Latinists captured six!

Following are the winners from RMS & RHS, with their passages

MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION:
First Place – Juliana “Crispina Laetitia” MARCUCCI – Cicero’s First Oration against the traitorous Catiline

Second Place – John “Odysseus” RIOS – Professor Quirrell’s Agony, a scene from Peter Needham’s Latin version of J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Third Place - Jaclyn “Collyra” GRIFFITH – From the vulgate Bible, the story of creation from the book of Genesis.

HIGH SCHOOL PRE-REGENTS DIVISION:
Third Place – Meghan “Aurora” DAVIS – Cornelius Nepos’ description of Hannibal’s steely hatred of all things Roman. (Be it noted that Aurora, a ninth grader, was bested only by two eleventh graders.)

HIGH SCHOOL ADVANCED DIVISION:
First Place – Allyson “Undine” BUNCH – From Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the sorceress Medea casts a spell to bring Jason’s father Aeson back to life.

Second Place – Peter “Simon” CYBULSKI – From Livy’s History of Rome, the story of “Horatius at the Bridge”, his heroic stand in the face of the attacking Etruscan army.

Thus the Riverhead Latin Program has again confirmed its status as a dominant force in the special, selective subculture of Classical Studies on Long Island.

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