Nationals

I've been to three National Conventions, starting in 2022. My first was in Louisiana, and it was my first time being away from home. I got close with many, including my fellow OHJCLers, and it sparked the connections I still have today. This was also the first time I was exposed to spirit, and it was freaking awesome. My second nationals was at Emory, and on the first or second day, I cried to Mr. Mair (my sponsor) because I had submitted the Regional Leader application and I was nervous about when they were going to release the results. I cried again, later, when I found out that I was the RL for Region IV. That was also where I met Sallee (current FJCL VP) because she was my roommate. My third forum was at Tennessee, and that summer when was when I started to believe that being VP could be something within my reach, and when I began to conceptualize my plan for running. That was also a great Nationals because more of my friends were able to come, and I had a ton of fun. 

Derivs

My main (and favorite!!) area of study is Latin Derivatives. In my humble opinion, derivs are genuinely the best thing the English language has to offer. That's probably really nerdy, but they're a very real manifestation of all the tons of vocab words that you've learned in all the tons of Latin classes you take as a JCLer. You get to see the impact that the Latin language has thousands of years after it was last spoken. That's really awesome to me. 

P.S. If you see this, ask me about my favorite deriv!

State Forum

State is the most rewarding three days and two nights that I get to experience every year. It's filled with the best parts of the JCL (the people, the tests, the ten minutes of spirits that we do at GA, the elections, etc.), and it's where you get to prove yourself and see what all the studying you've done will come out to. It's where you're sitting at Closing Assembly and hoping and praying that your name will be called so you can get a cool trophy. State is the BEST and I'm so glad I've had the privilege of attending for the last three years.