Vol 86, No. 2 Fall 2012 - Monmouth College

Chapter Reports (Continued)
of 70 children grades K-8 two days a week
throughout the school year. As in past
years, we again sold Latin Valentine’s Day
cards made by the children to support their
program, raising money to replace Latin
books the children use as well as to supply
the tutors with new teaching materials.
At each Parents’ Weekend, members
of the honorary staffed an information
booth which displayed pictures from the
year’s events, had copies of the NUNTIUS
for people to look at, and where we sold
t-shirts, pocket protectors, and truffles to
help raise funds for our activities.
Around Valentine’s Day, we had our
8 th annual Date Infliction Auction, where
people bid for the opportunity NOT to
date a Classicist, but rather to inflict them
upon some unsuspecting soul and attend
the Cheese Ball. This year was Olympicthemed,
and in a decision worthy of the
Judgment of Paris, the winning prize for
the couple with the best costume went to
the bobsled team.
As the year wound up, we hosted
Geek Week, a week-long series of contests
and demonstrations by various honorary
societies on campus. The speech honorary
had students perform speeches of famous
persons at their statues along the campus’
Liberty Walk (e.g. Washington, Jefferson,
and Lincoln). The math and science
honorary held a paper airplane contest (for
accuracy, time of flight, and aerial acrobatics).
ΗΣΦ hosted our 13 th annual charity
bowlathon, Honorama, which once again
was won by the Accounting Club. The
Geek Week festivities case to a close with
the honorary putting on a play, Auricula
Meretricula, which played to full houses on
both nights.
Eta Zeta at Truman State
Eta Zeta chapter has had a very successful
year, holding academic, service, and social
events as well as several fundraisers.
This Fall’s Classics “Alive and Kicking”
Series included a homecoming lecture on
the benefits of a classical education for a
career in law by alumnus Jason Kempf,
presentations by our senior Classics majors
at the Classics Capstone Symposium, and
two epic, semi-metrical, oral readings:
Book A of the Iliad (in Greek) and Book
4 of the Aeneid (in Latin). In the Spring,
we co-sponsored a showing of “O Brother
Where Art Thou,” and alumna Lisa Feldkamp
returned to campus to discuss the
life of a graduate student in classics and to
share her research on a puzzling Hellenistic
poem (Theocritus’ Idyll 22).
For service, we assisted with the annual
Missouri Junior Classical League convention,
led sessions on Homeric epic and
historical linguistics at Truman’s Classical
and Modern Languages Festival for area
high school students, and taught Latin
in year-long programs at the local public
schools. Social events included weekly dinners
at our favorite (and only) local Greek
restaurant, movie nights, study sessions,
and informal games of tri-lingual hangman
after meetings. Fundraising efforts
were made through our Homerathons on
the quad, bake sales, our “Non-Authentic
Roman Spaghetti” night, and the sale of
Greek and Roman Valentine’s Day cards.
We initiated eight new members in February,
most of whom were in attendance at
the recent national convention at the University
of Missouri. We were proud to have
one of the largest delegations (thirteen!) at
this meeting.
Eta Kappa at The Catholic University
of America
The Eta Kappa chapter at the Catholic
University of America was pleased to welcome
its first new initiates this past spring
after five years of inactivity. We inducted
22 new members, and presented Dr. Sarah
Ferrario as a candidate for honorary membership
to our chapter.
In April, Eta Kappa held its first annual
used book sale. We collected book donations
from students, faculty, and the community,
and raised over $300 in one day.
The money will be used to fund a scholarship
for future inductees in financial need.
We then donated the remaining books to a
local library.
Finally, all members of ΗΣΦ at the
Catholic University of America are automatically
also members of the Classics
Club. This club was inactive over the same
period as the society. Throughout the year,
through the Classics Club, we participated
in numerous social events ranging from
celebrating classical holidays such as the
Saturnalia to introducing members to the
world of oral Latin. We also fulfilled the
university’s goal for each club to participate
in over 50 hours of community service
throughout the year, in honor of the university’s
125 th anniversary.
Eta Mu at the University of California,
Davis
This year, our chapter balanced work
with play at meetings and events. We
kick-started the year with the traditional
screening of Monty Python’s Life of Brian,
and continued with regular meetings
from then on out. During club meetings,
we played various games, such as Classics
themed picture-telephone, and kept
members up to date on related events.
Additionally, a weekly HBO Rome viewing
was held for students interested in seeing
modern portrayals of ancient history.
The Eta Mu chapter also focused on
community outreach, tabling at Davis
High School’s language fair and UC Davis’
Decision Day for prospective students. We
also held a career workshop for Classics
majors, in which a panel of Classics professors
and career professionals discussed
graduate school, teaching, and other career
options.
Over the year, a dedicated group of
members worked feverishly and tirelessly
to plan and create an ΗΣΦ float for UC
Davis’ annual Picnic Day. This year’s
theme? Caesar and his legionnaires marching
Cleopatra into the Roman forum. The
planning committee created a life-sized
replica of Cleopatra with paper mache, a
lectica to carry her through the parade, and
customized outfits, helmets, shields and
spears for every Roman soldier. The results
were simply regal.
Our last major event of the year was
Classics Day, an intimate gathering of
Classics majors and professors, to celebrate
the year in Classics. We stoked some
friendly competition with an Olympics of
athleticism and wit with competitions such
as javelin-toss, and Jeopardy game. We
also took some time to initiate this year’s
newest members into ΗΣΦ with an elegant
wreath ceremony. To go out with a bang,
we brought back Cleopatra, redubbed
Cleo-piñata. Lacking access to asps, we
instead opted to see her out with a friendly
piñata circle.
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