USN wins Mid-State Junior Classical League Competition
34 USN Latin scholars competed against schools from across Tennessee in a competition that tested their knowledge in academic subjects such as grammar, Roman history, and Roman life. After two days of competition, USN emerged victorious.
By Richard Rosenthal and Julianna Lewis, Faculty Advisors
Last week, USN won the AA Division (the highest division) of the Mid-State Junior Classical League Competition. 34 USN Latin scholars competed against scholars from schools across Middle Tennessee in the two-day competition at Martin Luther King, Jr. Magnet School and Montgomery Bell Academy.
On the first day, the multi-talented scholars competed in academic subjects such as grammar, Roman history, and Roman life. In addition, the creative scholars produced art, wore costumes, and even created tweets. Who knew that the Ancient Romans tweeted?
On the second day, scholars raced to answer questions on a variety of subjects in Certamen (Latin Quiz Bowl). Ian Drewry ’30, Rose Doyle ’30, Lucas Lupu ’31, and Claire Yu ’30 went undefeated in the novice level.
In the academic subjects and tweets, the scholars competed against scholars in their level of Latin. In arts and costumes, scholars faced all scholars, regardless of grade.
Lucas Lupu won four events. (He also took second in Level 3 Mythology even though he is only in Level ½). Abe Sharfstein ’28 won two competitions. Clio Cherry-Pulay ’29, Lexa Drewry ’27, Matthew Golann ’29, Max Haber ’31, Adeline Miller ’28, Hattie Molvig ’29, Sulaiman Moskinzada ’31, Anand Pastakia ’29, Anand Sherman ’29, and Maggie Weiss ’28 also won competitions.
Scholars who placed in the top five scored points for the school. The following scholars placed in the top five:
Grammar 1 2. Ian Drewry ’30 3(T). Corinna Collier ’30 and Anand Paskakia ’29
Grammar 3 4. Abe Sharfstein ’28
Grammar 5 4 Cody Farr ’26 5 Lin Zheng ’26
Roman Life ½ 1. Lucas Lupu ’31 2. James Keiper ’31 4. Lily Miller ’31 5. Max Haber ’31
Roman Life 1 4. Anand Sherman ’29 5. Barry Chen ’30
Roman Life 2 2. Hattie Molvig ’29 5. Matthew Golann ’29
Roman Life 3 5. Maggie Weiss ’28
Mythology ½ 3. Avi Kerrigan ’31 4(T) James Keiper ’31, Sulaiaman Moskinzada ’31, and Crockett Zieher ’31 5. Lily Miller ’31
Mythology 1 1(T). Anand Pastakia ’29 and Anand Sherman ’29 2(T). Barry Chen ’30 and Matthew Golann ’29 4. Corinna Collier ’30 5. EB Segall ’30
Mythology 2 4. Allen Chen ’29 5. Hattie Molvig ’29
Expect to see an active construction site as students, families, and faculty return to the Edgehill Campus. Progress continues on USN's most anticipated campus improvement of summer 2026.
University School of Nashville is excited to announce the return of curricular travel opportunities. Student applications for the 2026-2026 school year will open Friday, August 21, 2026. Additional details, including, financial aid processes, and application timelines, will be shared with families soon.
Please contact K-12 Director of Experiential Learning Kalee Barbis with any questions, kbarbis@usn.org.
Mother Nature is not cooperating for our annual Popsicle Party. Depending on which weather app you use, actual and feels-like temperatures are 98 to 101 and higher. Under these conditions, we would limit student activities, so, in the interest of everyone's health and well-being, we are going to cancell our gathering at the River Campus. There is just not enough shade and certainly no air conditioning to bring relief to hundreds of USN families. Thank you for understanding. We look forward to seeing you in a few days for the start of our new school year.
USN Mission: University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.