Rhetoric Stage Students Showcase Their Latin Fluency
The Honor Latin V Senior Presentations (affectionately titled “Convivium Pro Mente” – A Feast for the Mind) are a public showcase event wherein students each deliver an 8-10-minute presentation on some Latin passage he has chosen, studied, memorized, and explored. The goal is for each student to share with the community some of the fruits of his or her years of labora et ora. Presentation topics range from Sacred Scripture to Roman gladiatorial battles to Latin poetry.
Students begin thinking about their topic in January, select their topic and passage in February, and memorize their 90-100-word passage in Latin throughout March and April. Passages must have originally been composed in Latin or have a significant historical value as a Latin translation (e.g. St. Jerome’s Vulgate). Students then choose some aspect of their passage to highlight in their presentation (e.g. poetic structure, word choice, historical significance, etc.). Finally, students put everything together in a rhetorically beautiful slideshow presentation.
Donahue Academy has found that project-based learning with a high degree of student choice has succeeded in meeting the needs of second semester seniors, with the ultimate example being the Senior Thesis, upon which this Latin presentation is modeled. Furthermore, the project is a culmination of six years of diligent Latin study where students learn the rudiments of the language and core vocabulary words beginning in Grade 6 and progress to reading fluently the Gospel of Mark. Finally, this project is really the language department’s capstone which shows a student’s 13 years of intellectual and spiritual formation. When a student freely chooses to memorize the opening passage of Saint Augustine’s Confessions and then critically evaluate two English translations of the passage, as Camila Pineros did, the whole Donahue vision is on display.
Although seen through the narrow lens of this particular Latin presentation, when viewed correctly one can see the constituent parts which make such a presentation possible: the memorization and recitation work of the Grammar Stage, the comparing and contrasting of the Logic Stage, and the beauty, rigor, and personal ownership of the Rhetoric Stage. This years’ presenters and their topics are included below to illustrate the project’s scope:
Audrey Fairchild: Perpetua’s Passion
Paul Jahnke: Roma Vicit Omnia: Roman Military Tactics
Mara McDonald: The Melodies of Latin: A Comparison of Hymns
Lucy Graham: Equine Care through the Ages
Sam Mathews: Brutality of Gladiatorial Battles
Ana-Sofia Moran: Caesar’s Tactics
Bella Morgan: Pets from the Past
Nico Baalman: The Labor of Love: An Exploration of the Orpheus Myth
Thara Bazile: Mimetic Divinity – The Greco-Roman Gods
Camille Kelly: Dolorous Dido
Camila Pineros: Confessions of a Convert: Saint Augustine
Cover Photo: Latin 5 students presenting that night gather for a photo; the two students on the right are in Latin 4 and came out to support their friends.
