Ava Tynan for 1st Vice President

I want to elaborate on my plans to promote CAJCL to the wider community. While discussing the role of the elderly in Ancient Rome, Cicero once said that "much greater care is due to the mind and soul; for they, too, like lamps, grow dim with time, unless we keep them supplied with oil." Cicero emphasized the importance of keeping the senior citizens' brains active even if their bodies are no longer able to be. JCL members should follow Cicero's message and oil older adults' lamps by keeping their love of classics alive. Many senior citizens have a classics education from their past that JCL members could revive. At nursing homes, chapters could start a program called "praecepti ob senes" (Lessons for Senior Citizens) that entails Latin language review classes and performances of mythology stories in the hopes of reconnecting people with their classical roots. In order to expand to young children and families in the community, chapters could even perform ...

One problem that I have noticed in my own community is the lack of Latin language options in the San Francisco United School District (SFUSD). Currently, there are seventeen high schools included in this district, but only one of the schools, Lowell High School, offers Latin. As these schools are all public schools, they should offer their students similar opportunities. Therefore, I want to try to make learning the Latin language more accessible for students in my area. Although I acknowledge that this problem will be a challenge because it would require government funding and support, I want to at least bring awareness to the issue in order to instigate change.  I would start this project by reaching out to the World Language Department head at Lowell High School, Mr. John Raya, and ask him how his school started Latin as a course option. I would also reach out to Lowell’s Latin teacher and ask if students would be willing to be a part of a video, in which students explain wh...

Since my freshman year, CAJCL has given me so many new opportunities and introduced me to passions I would have otherwise never discovered. In freshman year, I decided to join the certamen team after playing in class to review for a test. This game gave me my first glimpse into the world of JCL. With my certamen team, I got to experience Carcer and winning 1st place at Convention. My favorite certamen questions are the grammar and pop culture questions. I love connecting Ancient Rome to modern day! Since this introduction, I have become increasingly involved in JCL throughout my time in high school. This year, I am 1st Vice-President of our chapter, which has allowed me to get to know the members of my chapter on a deeper level and taught me leadership and public speaking skills. It has also showed me the importance of listening to students' input on how to work with my fellow board members to keep the love of Latin present in our school community. CAJCL also gave me the opportunit...

How do you plan to find and reach out to new potential chapters? In addition do you have any ideas for how to reach out to schools that do not take the National Latin Exam? In 2018, 544 California students took the AP Latin exam; therefore, I want to reach out to the College Board for a list of schools offering the test. I also want to check the attendance from Crossroads and Stanford’s certamen competitions to see if there are any prospective schools in those lists as well. Finally, I want to contact the various Latin textbooks, such as the Cambridge textbooks, that are used throughout California and see what schools they supply or what schools have asked for textbook information.   To recruit, I want to send an introduction email with a video of students, teachers, and SCL members explaining how JCL has changed their lives. I would provide statistics from a survey I would conduct showing the number of JCL seniors planning on studying classics in college and SCL membe...

In regards to promoting engagement, I also have several ideas that would make our CAJCL community even stronger and more well-known to the public. First, we could have a theme of the month in which each chapter would have the opportunity to create a video celebrating the theme. Then at the end of the month, I would create a recap of what each chapter did. For example, April’s theme could be Rome’s birthday. Each school would have a month to host a birthday-themed event and film it. Then to give each chapter's local community an idea about how great CAJCL is, we could also have a publicity theme of the month. For example, December's theme could be "Saturnalia Service," in which students are encouraged to volunteer or start a holiday toy drive, and January's could be to host an all-things Latin day for non-Latin students to get an introduction into the wonderful world of Roman history, mythology, and the Latin language. With this system in place, CAJCL would be more...

I believe I am qualified for CAJCL 1st VP because of my efforts as St. Ignatius JCL 1st VP to expand Roman culture, recruit new students, and engage the chapter’s current members in a variety of innovative ways. First, I immediately began to create a long-term plan to recruit students before they even start high school. At the middle school attached to my high school, I worked with their principal to establish and teach a mythology elective course, hoping to instill a love of Roman culture in students at a young age. I strive to make the course fun and educational through storytime and games. Since these students are only in sixth grade, my plan for next year would be to teach them history and Latin language basics. Therefore, when these kids are planning for high school, they will be more likely to continue Latin after being exposed to it for multiple years. In addition, I also serve as the Latin Teacher’s Assistant to the sophomore and junior Latin classes at my school. Not only do I...

Hello! My name is Ava Tynan, and I am running to be your CAJCL 1st Vice President. I am currently a junior at St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco, teacher's assistant for Latin 2 & 3, and 1st VP of our chapter's JCL board. I want to be your 1st Vice President because I have the necessary experience, skill-set, and passion to represent you. I have many ideas for how to inspire new schools to join CAJCL, make new members feel comfortable and welcomed, and promote our wonderful community. You can see the details about these ideas in my other posts and my instagram @VoteAvaFor1stVP . Happy reading!

I understand that the main tasks of the 1st Vice President of CAJCL are to recruit new schools and to promote engagement with the broader community. With these tasks in mind, I have many different ideas that could accomplish these goals. In order to recruit new schools, the first task is to prove how impactful CAJCL can be for students and teachers. If I were elected, I would ask each current chapter to send a video of members discussing how JCL has impacted their Latin experience. I would also ask teachers to explain how JCL has helped them teach their students and how it has created a community of fellow teachers who rely on one another. Finally, I would ask alumni from the Senior Classical League community how CAJCL has impacted their lives in college, specifically through their studies, extracurriculars, involvement in research, and career goals. I would then compose these clips into one video that portrays the CAJCL community as a whole. Hopefully this video would show prospec...