The following story is by Bear Creek Secondary School co-op student Bridgette Gilroy.
Bear Creek Secondary School’s Certamen team is gearing up for the spring competition after placing in the top five of 29 southern Ontario schools in the previous match of early November.
Similar to the style of Jeopardy! with its buzzers and categories, Certaman is a fast-paced academic competition run by the Ontario Junior Classical League. Multiple schools across southern Ontario come together and students are quizzed on their knowledge of the classics – Latin language and Greek and Roman history, mythology and culture.
At the south-end Barrie high school, history and classics teacher Tamara Tiemersma has run the Certamen club since its establishment in 2002. She, along with other teachers at participating schools, help organize the competition.
Bear Creek competes twice a year in the fall and spring at various high schools across southern Ontario. Hundreds of the high school’s students have competed in numerous Ontario Junior Classical League Certamen competitions since the club's inception.
“Even though it seems like a lot of studying, it’s worth it,” says team member Marina Albanese. “In the end, we have a lot of fun just going to the competition, meeting different schools and having fun as a group.”
In a recent competition, 24 Bear Creek students participated in a Certamen held at St. Clement’s School in Toronto. The local school’s junior team placed second overall out of 20 teams, while the senior team advanced to the final and placed fourth out of 29 teams.
At Bear Creek, the team is assembled two to three months before the fall competition to prepare. They are given study material by Tiemersma and buzzer systems to practise on. Teams are composed of four students, each specialized in a category of study, that meet after school once a week to test their knowledge.
Certamen lives up to its Latin meaning of “competition,” as even the meetings and practices can get fairly intense, says Sidney Abhilash, who's in his second year on the team.
“The lead-up is just as important as the competition because, as controversial as it is to say, I enjoy the studying aspect,” adds student member Eric Tian. “It’s not just studying, it’s also understanding ancient culture.”
While the competitions can be stressful, students admit there's an exciting side to Certamen.
“I thought it would look really good for university applications, but then I ended up enjoying it so much,” says Grade 12 Micheyla McColm. “I refer to it as the ‘Nerd Olympics.’ The atmosphere is so fun — you’re with so many like-minded people that I was hooked.”
Like many school clubs, it's easy to find community among the members. Certamen is no exception. Members describe the experience as “pure, unfiltered joy.”
“It can be a serious competition if you want it to be, but it can also just be fun,” says McColm.
The benefits don’t stop there. Albanese notes the competition can help build self-esteem with its fast-paced nature and team-building aspects. It creates “confidence in knowing what you study.”
Certamen is recommended to students who are looking for an academic club or have an interest in the classics. Topics of study are on a four-year rotation, so students are always learning something new.
“I like to share my love of the classics with my students,” Tiemersma says earnestly. “I like to see them succeed and like it as well. Maybe one day they’ll become a Latin or classics teacher.”
Bear Creek’s Certamen team encourages students interested in joining to seek out their school’s team. Members find good in all aspects of the club, even the copious amounts of studying.
“Certamen is a great extracurricular activity for students to learn about the ancient world, to meet new like-minded friends and to gain confidence in their academic abilities,” Tiemersma says. “It might sound nerdy to some, but we have a really good time learning and laughing with one another.”
