The hallways were buzzing with Latin students from all over the area as they convened on Feb. 24-25 for the Latin Area F Convention. Students were prepped and ready to compete in a vast number of events, ranging from academic tests to costume contests and field competitions.

Throughout the competition, students were able to interact with people from Latin programs of  a variety of different schools, both public and private.

“It’s pretty interesting because Westwood’s Latin program is small, and it’s a good Latin program and it’s a lot more intimate, like everybody knows each other,” Megan Bruce ‘18 said. “But the other schools in this area that have Latin programs where they started learning Latin in middle school, so at these competitions you’ll see huge crowds from these schools and it’s a big difference.”

To be eligible to participate, all students had to take the pentathlon, a test that covered a number of different Latin subjects. Participants were then able to play Certamen, a group trivia game, take academic tests on subjects like vocabulary and literature, participate in art or oral contests, and dress up in Greek or Roman styled clothing for costume competitions.

“It was really exciting to see other people get really excited about Latin, especially because we were hosting this year, so we got to meet a lot of new people,” Vivian Tran ‘19 said.

The convention was a success, and the list of people who placed and are eligible to compete at the state competition can be found here.