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On Saturday, March 7, members of the Junior Classical League (JCL) from numerous Massachusetts schools gathered at Winchester High School for Winchester Latin Club’s 2nd Annual Certamen competition, known as CertaWIN.
Certamen is a quiz bowl-style game for Latin and Classics secondary school students who are members of the Junior Classical League.
Assembled on teams of up to four, players are quizzed on the Latin language, culture, history, and Greek mythology. High-school run competitions like to add a couple of pop culture/trivia questions, usually following a specific theme.
Somewhat following in the footsteps of our inaugural CertaWIN’s “Studio Ghibli” theme, we chose “fairy tales” as our theme for 2026.
Question-writing, which began months ago, was mostly done by Latin Club members, from all grades, with some help from another JCL student and teacher. The questions contained your usual Certamen findings: passages; neat historical and mythological tossups, with a heavy dose of Homer for the Admediate (a combination of Intermediate and Advanced) rounds; and intriguing theme questions.
For theme questions participants were asked about a variety of fairy tales: those of Hans Christen Anderson, the Brothers Grimm, Tchaikovsky, Aesop, and any Disney counterpart.
The contest itself went extraordinarily well. I arrived sometime in the middle of prelim round two, and observed the Admediate rounds. Even without having much to do at the tournament, I was thoroughly glad I went: it’s always nice to support your club and the JCL.
Plus, a good Certamen game is always worth watching. I believe this rung true for the March 7 tournament for two reasons.
First, the questions we wrote created a dynamic atmosphere of competition and challenge.
Second, the JCLers who showed up to the competition were eager to lock in to compete, but also to keep smiling, laughing, learning, and having fun.
After 60 questions across three amazing rounds, players moved to the cafeteria for lunch, where they could eat Comella’s pizza, as well as chips and cookies. We had about an hour to eat and relax until finals.
As opposed to prelims, which took place in the language wing, finals took place in the auditorium. There, the whole host of JCLers watched the Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced final rounds.
A special provision was made for the two Intermediate teams that scored highest in finals, that they would play also in the Advanced finals, so they didn’t only have two teams in the final round.
CertaWIN was a long day for sure, but it was also really fun to see everything come together for this tournament. I’m proud of WHS’s Latin Club for this second successful tournament. Here’s to more years of fun questions and good vibes!
Sarah Fromm is a student at Winchester High School and a member of the Latin Club.
