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Juniors Burke and Millican Place in Latin Competition

The two students' essays earn medals in international composition contest. 
SCRIBO, which derives from the Latin verb meaning “I write,” is also the name of the Ascanius Youth Classics Institute’s international student Latin composition contest. Two GPS students placed in the top 20 percent of entrants with their original prose written in Latin. Juniors Astra Burke and Katie Millican, students of Dr. Ralph Covino, lead teacher for Latin language, entered the competition in December 2017 of last school year. At the time, Burke was a Latin III Honors student; Millican was in Latin III.

As part of their prose composition exercise, all Latin III students wrote original stories in Latin.

“Truly excellent Latin prose composition is no easy task,” says Dr. Covino. “It requires you to think and express yourself as the Romans did, rather than merely translating from English to Latin mechanically. Both of our girls did this beautifully in their entries for last year’s SCRIBO contest.

Dr. Covino praised their use of the subjunctive mood. “That they both took home medals is a testament to the level of competence and mastery their work displayed,” he says. “I am immensely proud of them for putting themselves out there and competing in the contest as well as for their achievement.”

While there is only one class of award in the SCRIBO contest—all in the top 20 percent earn medals—Burke also received a Best in School ribbon inscribed “Fabula Optima Tuae Scholae” for her composition “The Alchemist and the Creature of Gold,” which she also illustrated as a part of her submission.

Congratulations, girls!
 
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