The Meadows students ace Latin varsity quiz

League takes top honors in event with other area high schools

Jim Miller/ViewThe Meadows School Latin teacher Sherry Jankowski, left, and Head of School Carolyn Goodman speak with students about their participation in the school?s Latin League. Advertisement

Don't tell students at The Meadows School that Latin is a waste of time. And don't call it a dead language -- not when college acceptance hangs in the balance.

"There's always been an interest to study Latin at the secondary level, especially when preparing for SATs and college entry exams," said Sherry Jankowski, Latin teacher at the Summerlin private school.

Jankowski's Latin students have reason to be proud. They took top honors at the school's first Latin varsity quiz, held in November. Grades nine through 12 were involved.

The Meadows students are part of the Nevada Junior Classical League, a Latin group that was chartered at the end of the 2006-07 school year.

"It's caused the students to see themselves as part of the greater community of Latin students," Jankowski said. "It breaths new life into what was once considered a dead language."

For their first tournament, 44 Latin students from The Meadows School competed against 24 Latin students from Centennial, Del Sol and Liberty high schools. Each team consisted of four people, and there was a total of 40 teams.

Besides the 20 questions per round, each correct answer afforded the team two bonus questions.

Jankowski spent weeks coming up with the 540 questions needed at the event. They covered topics such as historical events, mythology, public officers, grammar, literature and culture.

"Had it been 540 questions solely on mythology, it would have been a lot more difficult," Jankowski said.

One of them brought up a current film release. The question was: What movie did I see if the Latin title is Leones Pro Agnis? Answer: "Lions for Lambs."

Not all the students were happy to see pop culture come into play.

"One of the questions was on a video game, 'Mario Brothers,' " said Zara Fewsmith, 15. "I had no idea what it was because I don't play it."

Keloy Chung, 14, said he wanted to learn Latin because it would open more job opportunities to him.

For the competition, he "studied everything I possibly could," he said.

Anthony Castel, 16, said, "The best thing to study is vocabulary, because a lot of the questions were on Latin roots."

Ten parent volunteers aided Jankowski. When there were not enough buzzers, for example, students were instructed to use the "slap" method -- whacking their palm down on their desk -- to buzz in. Parents had the unenviable job of determining which child actually slapped in first.

"The parents were invaluable to us because the teacher was usually looking down to read the question," Jankowsi said.

Carolyn Goodman, founder and head of school, said she was most impressed by "the enthusiasm for the language and the excellent job Mr. and Mrs. Jankowsi did creating the format and brought it (Latin) to a point ... where we always thought it should be."

The next Latin League quiz is slated for Feb. 2, when more schools will compete, including Centennial, Liberty, Del Sol, Canyon Springs, Rancho and possibly Bishop Gorman and Alexander Dawson. To learn more, contact the school at 254-1610.