SALVETE ET KAI XAIPETE! The Gamma Omicron chapter had a rather exciting year! We kicked off the year in early September by helping to sand and attach shields on our Roman and Greek shields for Classics Day in April. In August, we first celebrated the Bimillenium of Augustus’ Death Day with a birthday cake and further celebrated his special anniversary with a mock battle of Actium and our signature squirrel augury at Homecoming. We held our annual movie nights with showings of 300 and Troy. We had members of our chapter help with military demonstrations, led by Prof. Simmons, at the meetings of the Illinois Junior Classical League North AND South.
At the beginning of the winter semester, we initiated five members (Kathleen Brown ’17, Mackenzie Davis ’18, Rachel Masch ’17, Joy Myer ‘15, and Jovan Petrovich ’18) and two honorary members (Dr. Victor Martinez and Dr. Robert Holschuh Simmons). We sent six students out to Atlantic City, NJ for a wonderful convention, where Timothy Morris ’15 presided as Megas Prytanis. There we sported some of the lovely Roman wear, crafted and donated to us by Matthew Katsenes ’04 and his mother. Rachael Laing ’15 won the award for best-dressed femina and Morris the award for best-dressed vir; Emma Vanderpool ’17 was elected as megale hyparchos. We are eagerly looking forward to hosting everyone at the 2016 convention, April 1-3. We ended the year with a successful first Classics Day with over twenty booths, which focused on military demonstrations, Roman clothing, ancient magic, archaeology, and more. Some 200 people from campus and from Monmouth proper came to learn more about the Classics. Dr. Simmons won the CAMWS CPL Promotion of Latin Award for his planning efforts.
We had two students present papers at various conferences this year. Vanderpool presented first at CAMWS-SS in October, at APA in January, and at the ΗΣΦ convention in April. Morris presented at CAMWS one weekend and at the PCA (Pop Culture Association) the next weekend. Morris and Vanderpool also had the opportunity to go to Latin Pedagogy Workshop entitled “Technology in the Classroom” and hosted by the Illinois Classical Conference. Several students won awards for the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS) Translation Contest Prize: Morris won a book prize for the advanced test, Vanderpool won a certificate of commendation for the advanced test, and Kathleen Brown ’17 won a book prize for the intermediate test. Vanderpool was also fortunate enough to receive a CAMWS Manson A. Stewart Undergraduate Award. Several students also earned awards for the National Latin Exam: Vanderpool, summa cum laude (Latin VI); Morris, magna cum laude (Latin VI); and Brown, cum laude (Latin VI).
