Photo courtesy of Mountain Brook Schools.
Mountain Brook Latin students at the state Classical League Convention
Mountain Brook Latin students at the state Classical League Convention.
Students from Mountain Brook High School and Mountain Brook Junior High School, led by teachers Drew Lasater and Michael Posey, joined roughly 250 students from 15 schools across Alabama for the annual celebration of Latin and classical studies at Camp McDowell. This year’s theme, “Parvae rēs concordiā crescunt” — “Small things grow with harmony” — comes from the Roman historian Sallust.
Mountain Brook students competed in academic, athletic and artistic events throughout the weekend and brought home awards in all three categories.
In the Athletic Olympiad, Sam Settle and James Puckett won first place in the three-legged race. Joseph Menendez teamed with Hattie Crawford for third place in the wheelbarrow race, while Menendez and Bradley Bales placed second in the blindfolded beanbag toss. Mountain Brook also captured the tug-of-war title with a team of William Tabb, Hill McCluney, Bradley Bales, D.Y. Menendez, Drew Franco, Vincent Schilleci and William Cannon.
Junior high students also earned multiple honors in the Artistic Olympiad, including first-place finishes by Grayson Chapman (black pencil or charcoal), Ilona Somers (colored ink or pencil), Trip Davis (3-D models) and Mary Martha Athanas (decorative stitching and handmade crafts).
Mountain Brook particularly distinguished itself in the Academic Olympiad, winning eight first-place awards — one-third of the state’s total. Standout performances included first-place finishes by Eleanor Couch in Latin vocabulary, John Newman and William Tabb in Latin grammar, Vincent Schilleci in Level 2 history, and D.Y. Menendez in both advanced history and the pentathlon exam.
For Lasater and Posey, however, the most meaningful moment came when another teacher praised Mountain Brook students for their sportsmanship and citizenship during the games — a recognition they said made them especially proud of the group’s conduct.
OTHER NEWS
Five Mountain Brook students were named U.S. Presidential Scholars Program candidates: Emmy Grace Cribbs, Kinleigh Freeman, Sisi Holden, Hill McCluney and Bethany Yin.
Mountain Brook Schools’ four elementary schools were recently named Top City Schools by the Legislative School Performance Recognition program.
Mountain Brook Elementary students participated in the Special Olympics in March. Drennen placed first in the 100-meter dash, and Adair placed fifth in the 50-meter dash.
