When in Ancient Rome (or Greece) …

For all the talk of Latin being a dead language, you would never know it if you ever encountered the hustle and bustle of the annual Ontario Student Classics Conference.

What started as a local affair in northern Ontario in the late 1960s now attracts approximately 500 participants from close to 20 schools across Ontario for a weekend of competitions focused on all things Classical.

Mary McBride, who teaches Latin at Banting Memorial High School in Alliston, Ontario, and is one of the conference organizers, says that the conference has grown to be a real celebration of Roman and Greek culture and language.

Teams and individuals compete in a variety of areas, from academics and athletics to creative arts and archaeology!

The academic contests include sight translation and quizzes on vocabulary and English derivatives, along with Latin and Greek reading exercises, and tests on mythology, Roman and Greek history, and Roman life and customs. Students strive to become an "academic pentathlete" by achieving the highest score in five areas.

Students also compete in swimming and track competitions, including the 100 m dash, chariot races, Frisbee toss, ultimate Frisbee and slinging. The creative competition sees the students write a short skit on a classical theme (9 to 10 minutes), make the costumes and scenery, and present it to the assembled crowd. Similarly, students put on a fashion show of authentic and handmade classical clothing, jewellery and footwear.

Finally, there is the archeological portion of the program. Some may wonder how this is possible when the conference takes place at a university in Ontario. As it happens, the competition involves manufacturing and digging up artifacts. Students create five realistic artifacts and bury them. Once all the teams have done so, they switch locations and excavate another team's site using the correct methods. In addition to actually finding the artifacts, each team must analyze them and prepare a report about them and the characteristics of a possible site where similar authentic artifacts might be found.

McBride says that the students get engrossed in preparing for the competitions. This is remarkable, given that they receive no marks for doing so. "They do it all for the glory and love of it." And so does McBride, who has hosted the conference more times than any other teacher in Ontario, and developed one of its best-loved contests, a version of Reach for the Top, testing knowledge of Roman life and customs.

For more information, visit the Ontario Student Classics Conference website.