2009 National Junior Classical League Convention

Awards won by Northside students

Here are some other highlights of the 2009 NJCL convention:

  • Two of the three state certamen teams made it to the semi-finals. This broke Illinois’s streak of 3 years (the only years in Illinois history) that all three teams from the state made it to the finals. Two members of each of the teams were from Northside. The Novice Team ended up in 5th place and the Intermediate Team ended up in 6th place. Illinois has never placed a team into the finals. The last five years we have come close. The success of the Illinois certamen teams is quite remarkable because many states support their certamen teams much more than Illinois.
  • David Jaffe received a special medal for having the highest score on the Latin Reading Comprehension Test. This recognition is given to any student with the highest score over any level.
  • Northside's Latin Club website took 2nd place in the Local Chapter Website Contest.  Alexandra Rojek and Jacob Gruber were Northside's webmasters.
  • Northside's Latin publication, The Bucephalus, Mary Mussman editor, took 3rd place in the national competition for Latin local school publications.
  • In the Publicity Competition, Northside's publicity entry (compiled by Alexandra Rojek) took 6th place (highest ever from Northside - the only Illinois school in the top 30 places).
  • Matt Brennan took 1st place in the finals of the That’s Entertainment talent competition. This is the 3rd time in the last five years that a Northside student took 1st place in the competition, an amazing feat given that there are close to a thousand schools entered each year at the competition.
  • In the Creative Arts, David Jaffe took 7th place overall.
  • David Jaffe took 12th Place in Overall Sweepstakes points at the convention. This is one of the highest places ever by a Northside student.
  • Martina Bright took 13th place in Graphic Arts, top Northside scorer this year.
  • National Latin Exam winners are recognized at the Convention. Northside had again more Perfect Paper and Four Year Gold Medal winners present than any other school in the state.