Hills Students Place Third in Statewide Latin Competition
By Eleanor Mathews
For the fifth year in a row, Watchung Hills Regional High School students have achieved third place in a statewide Latin competition.
Six advanced Latin students of Mrs. Helene Pujari collaborated and earned their laurels in a contest in which 25 schools from across New Jersey participated. The occasion was the Montclair State University Classics Day, held on October 19,an annual event which brings together classics students for a day of lectures, discussions and also competition.
Members of the competing teams are pre-selected for the contest by their classmates to literally put their heads together to answer 99 “very difficult questions,” said their teacher There are questions in three areas: mythology, grammar and civilization/history—all to be answered by the team within thirty minutes.
Watchung Hills was represented by Lu Wang, Irisa Chen and Hashim Chaudry, all of Warren and Luca Battaglia, Kaitlin Fischer and Christina Martinez, all of Green Brook. The team’s score was 77/99, for which feat they were awarded medals.
Watchung Hills Regional was the only public school in this year’s competition to place. The team’s score, a third-place tie with Delbarton (Morristown),was only six points behind that of the winning competitors from Princeton Day School, who achieved an 83 out of a possible 99. Second-place winners, Pope John XXIII of Sparta, had a score of 78.
Officials of the sponsoring organization, the Institute for the Humanities, commended the team for its good record.