On Wednesday, November 2, Whitney Young hosted its first Certamen meet of the year. For those who don’t know, according to the National Junior Classical League, “Certamen is a quiz-bowl style game for students of Latin, Greek, and classical civilizations. It allows students to demonstrate their knowledge of the ancient peoples, languages, and cultures, and the relationships between those topics and the modern world.” In other words, it’s a trivia competition on the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome as well as the Latin language.

For one round, there are at least two teams in competition. Each team can “buzz in” to answer questions. There are three rounds of toss-up questions, which are worth ten points and which everyone can answer. If you answer correctly, there are two bonus questions worth five points each. Whoever has the most points after three rounds wins.

Here are the results of the tournament: the Novice team, consisting of Nina Crowe, Daniel Paniagua, Amir Zanzi, Nathaniel Titus, Ashok Kimmel, Akshara Rajan, Wes Wieker, and me, played St. Ignatius. We piled up the points on our opponents, earning first-place blue ribbons.

The Lowers team, consisting of Avery Brandt, Owen Rucins, and others, played St. Ignatius and Payton. They put up a fight, but ultimately came up short, finishing in 3rd place.

The Uppers team, consisting of Leith Mascari, Zara Khan, and the rest of the most experienced players, played the same opponents. They soundly thrashed St. Ignatius and Payton, did not let up on scoring, and earned first-place ribbons and a hefty lead in the standings.

If you see any of the team members, say “Valde Bene” to congratulate them on their awesome feats!