Certamen (ker - TAH - men) is Latin for "contest" or "struggle". It is also an academic competition for Latin students who answer questions on the Latin language, literature, culture, history, and mythology. Tournaments are usually held once a month at schools and colleges across Virginia.

RHS home from the 2011 Kickoff Certamen with two trophies in tow; Jannah, Taylor, and Sarah, SCLers from RHS, lend a hand at the 2011 Kickoff Certamen
 

NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS  | SCHEDULE AND RESULTS FOR 2010-2011  |  THE RIVERBEND CERTAMEN  |  PAST CERTAMEN RECORDS

NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Virginia Certamen Page (posted on the VJCL website)
Catherine Price's Article about Virginia Certamen at National Convention in The Washington Post Magazine

>>> Flint Hill, Classical Cottage, and St. Stephen's & St. Agnes Big Winners!

RESULTS FROM THE 2011 RIVERBEND CERTAMEN

MS Word | PDF

2011 RIVERBEND CERTAMEN QUESTIONS (pdf)

Latin I | Latin I-ADV | Latin II | Latin III | Upper Level

_____ _____ _____ _____ _____

RIVERBEND WINS STATE CHAMPIONSHIP!
Latin II Certamen Team Defends State Title

Kelsey, Eric, Jannah, and Amir proudly display their Latin II state championship trophy

 
LEFT: All RHS certamen teams, including Mason, Paige, Megan, and Morgan who finished in 4th place in Latin III, pose for a shot
after the 2011 VSCL State Certamen Tournament; RIGHT: Team members enjoy a stop at Carl's after returning victoriously to the 'Burg

Taking It On The Road

Amir, Kelsey, Eric, and Jannah prepare for competition at the 2011 Harvard Certamen

Riverbend certaminatores proudly display their trophies after the TJ Certamen

Latin II finishes 2nd in finals: Flint Hill 160 - Riverbend 105 - Oakton 60
Latin IIIA finishes 2nd in finals: Classical Cottage 105 - Riverbend 50 - Flint Hill 45
Latin IIIB finishes 5th out of 15 after preliminaries

RHS teams finish the tournament with a combined record of 17 wins, 4 losses, and 1 tie!

Latin II Finishes First at Kickoff Certamen!
Final Score: Riverbend 105 - Flint Hill 75 - Thomas Jefferson Sci/Tech 40

Amir, Eric, Kelsey, and Jannah proudly display their first place trophy!

LATIN I STATE CHAMPIONS! (2011)

Congratulations to the Latin I certamen team of Jannah Babasa, Kelsey Becker, Eric Devilliers, Heather Jackson, and Ashley Miller for their runaway victory at the 2010 Virginia Senior Classical League State Finals Certamen. The team battled its way into the final round of competition in first place and then defeated teams from Herndon High School and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology by an impressive score of 175 - 50 - 35. This championship crowns the end of a truly impressive season in which the team never finished less than second at a tournament and often battled the venerable Flint Hill School for first place. The tournament was held on "home turf" hosted by the Latin Club at Spotsylvania High School.

Congratulations to the Upper Level certamen team of Ashley Cahall, Sarah Keith, and Taylor Locks for their 4th place finish out of a field of nine teams; and congratulations also to the Latin II team of Morgan Locks, Cody Lyon, and Megan Wells, for their 6th place finish in a field of twelve.

The teams celebrated the end of a very successful season at Vinny's Pizza. Ite, Ursi!

Riverbend Certamen Scores at Kick-Off (2010)

Bears Bring Home the Gold from TJ (2010)

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CERTAMEN SCHEDULES AND RESULTS FOR 2010-2011
* designates that the team placed in competition!

• Saturday, October 23: VJCLVSCL Kick-Off Certamen, St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School, Alexandria

  • IIA (Jannah Babasa, Kelsey Becker, Eric DeVilliers, and Amir Raja): 1st*/15 (7-1)
    Round 1: Flint Hill 110 - Riverbend 85 - Spotsylvania 0
    Round 2: Riverbend 145 - Herndon 10 - Filler 0
    Round 3: Riverbend A 185 - Woodson 15 - Riverbend B 0
    Finals: Riverbend 105 - Flint Hill 75 - Thomas Jefferson 40

  • IIB (Ashley Miller and Savannah Norbeck): 7th/15 (3-3)
    Round 1: Riverbend 90 - Episcopal 60 - Spotsylvania A 20
    Round 2: Thomas Jefferson A 150 - Riverbend 40 - St. Stephen's & St. Agnes 0
    Round 3: Riverbend A 185 - Woodson 15 - Riverbend B 0

  • III (Chris Black, Morgan Locks, Paige Receveur, and Megan Wells): 5th(tie)/12 (4-2)
    Round 1: Woodson 205 - Riverbend 85 - Massaponax 0
    Round 2: Riverbend 95 - Thomas Jefferson 85 - Episcopal 0
    Round 3: Flint Hill 105 - Riverbend 35 - Courtland 15

  • Upper (Ashley Cahall and Sarah Keith): 8th/12 (1-4-1)
    Round 1: Flint Hill 260 - Riverbend 10 - Thomas Jefferson B 10
    Round 2: Madeira 80 - Riverbend 65 - Courtland 10
    Round 3: Classical Cottage 150 - Thomas Jefferson A 45 - Riverbend 20

• Saturday, November 6: Classical Cottage Certamen, Powhatan School, Boyce

  • IIA (Jannah Babasa, Rachel Cabeza, Eric DeVilliers, and Amir Raja): 1st*/15 (7-1)
    Round 1: Flint Hill 125 - Riverbend A 100 - Riverbend B 0
    Round 2: Riverbend A 155 - Thomas Jefferson B 40 - Spotsylvania A 0
    Round 3: Riverbend A 110 - Herndon 15 - Madeira 0
    Finals: Riverbend A 80 - Flint Hill 60 - Thomas Jefferson 15

  • IIB (Savannah Norbeck): 11th/15 (1-5)
    Round 1: Flint Hill 125 - Riverbend A 100 - Riverbend B 0
    Round 2: Thomas Jefferson A 120 - Riverbend 25 - Holy Family Academy 20
    Round 3: Episcopal 65 - Spotsylvania A 55 - Riverbend B 20

  • III (Chris Black, Morgan Locks, Cody Lyon, and Megan Wells): 5th/9 (1-5)
    Round 1: St, Stephen's & St. Agnes 120 - Woodson 85 - Riverbend 0
    Round 2: Flint Hill 160 - Riverbend 35 - Hayfield 0
    Round 3: Thomas Jefferson 100+ - Filler 95 - Riverbend 20

  • Upper (Sarah Keith, Zobia Raja, and Paige Receveur): 5th/9 (2-4)
    Round 1: Fairfax 70 - Riverbend 35 - Spotsylvania 10
    Round 2: Flint Hill 145 - Riverbend 40 - Episcopal B 10
    Round 3: Thomas Jefferson 85 - Episcopal A 80 - Riverbend 15

• Saturday, December 11: Riverbend Certamen, Fredericksburg

• Saturday, January 8: Flint Hill Certamen, Oakton

• Saturday, February 26: Thomas Jefferson Certamen, TJ Sci/Tech, Alexandria

  • II (Jannah Babasa, Kelsey Becker, Eric DeVilliers, and Amir Raja): 2nd*/18 (6-1-1)
    Round 1: Riverbend 165 - Woodson 50 - Episcopal 35
    Round 2: Riverbend 125 - Flint Hill 125 - West Potomac 15
    Round 3: Riverbend 225 - Oakton 20 - Trinity Christian 15
    Finals: Flint Hill 160 - Riverbend 105 - Oakton 60

  • IIIA (Morgan Locks, Cody Lyon, Paige Receveur, and Megan Wells): 2nd*/15 (6-2)
    Round 1: Flint Hill 105 - Riverbend 80 - Classical Cottage 50
    Round 2: Riverbend 120 - Maggie Walker Governor's 60 - Woodson 35
    Round 3: Riverbend 155 - Fairfax 50 - Massaponax 0
    Finals: Classical Cottage 105 - Riverbend 50 - Flint Hill 45

  • IIIB (Mason Davis, Wes Gobar, and Savannah Norbeck): 5th*/15 (5-1)
    Round 1: Riverbend 70 - Filler 40 - Maggie Walker Governor's 30
    Round 2: Riverbend 85 - Paul VI 35 - Trinity Christian 25
    Round 3: Episcopal 55 - Riverbend 25 - Courtland 20

• Saturday, March 12: Woodson/Frost Contextum Certamen, Fairfax

  • II (Jannah Babasa, Kelsey Becker, Wes Gobar, and Amir Raja): 3rd*/9 (5-3)
    Round 1: Riverbend 120 - Hayfield 85 - Fairfax A 10
    Round 2: Thomas Jefferson B 130 - Riverbend 90 - Oakton 15
    Round 3: Riverbend 220 - West Potomac A 45 - Fairfax B 15
    Finals: Hayfield 140 - Thomas Jefferson 60 - Riverbend 55

  • IIIA (Mason Davis, Morgan Locks, Cody Lyon, and Paige Receveur): 2nd*/6
    individual scores not available

  • IIIB (Chris Black, Sean Lowry, and Daniel Sequeira): tied for 5th/6
    individual scores not available

  • Upper (Ashley Cahall, Tia Conkright, and Sarah Keith): 9th/12
    individual scores not available

• Saturday, March 19: Classics Day, University of Virginia, Charlottesville

  • II (Jannah Babasa, Kelsey Becker, Wes Gobar, and Savannah Norbeck): 3rd*/12 (2-6)
    Round 1: Thmoas Jefferson B 135 - Riverbend 60 - Filler A 15
    Round 2: Thomas Jefferson A 120 - Riverbend 105 - Fairfax 25
    Round 3: Massaponax 90 - Riverbend 80 - River Bend Middle 10
    Finals: Flint Hill 185 - Thmoas Jefferson B 75 - Riverbend 50

  • III (Mason Davis, Cody Lyon, and Paige Receveur): 3rd*/6 (3-5)
    Round 1: Flint Hill 120 - Riverbend 50 - Massaponax 20
    Round 2: Flint Hill 125 - Riverbend 60 - TC Williams 0
    Round 3: Flint Hill 125 - Riverbend 75 - TC Williams B 15
    Finals: Flint Hill 70 - Rockbridge 60 - Riverbend 40

  • Upper (Sarah Keith and Megan Wells): 6th/12 (2-4)
    Round 1: Classical Cottage 110 - Riverbend 35 - TC Williams 0
    Round 2: Rockbridge 50 - Riverbend 45 - Filler 0
    Round 3: Phillips Exeter 100 - Hogwarts Preparatory (sic) 55 - Riverbend 20

• Saturday, April 9: VJCL/VSCL State Certamen Finals, Flint Hill School, Oakton

• TBA: Virginia State Team Tryouts, TBA

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THE RIVERBEND CERTAMEN

• Questions from the 2009 Riverbend Certamen

• Results from the 5th Annual Riverbend Certamen: MS Word or pdf; Questions: Latin I: MS Word or pdf; Latin I-Adv: MSWord or pdf; Latin II: MSWord or pdf; Latin III: MSWord or pdf; Upper Level: MSWord or pdf

• Results from the 6th Annual Riverbend Certamen: MS Word or pdf; Questions: Latin I, Latin I-A, Latin II, Latin III, Upper.

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This page has been created and is maintained by Mark A. Keith for the Latin program at Riverbend High School in Fredericksburg, VA. The content herein is solely the responsibility of the website editor and does not imply promotion, sponsorship, or endorsement by Riverbend High School or Spotsylvania County Public Schools.
Created: February 24, 2005. Last revised: December 29, 2011.