Gratulationes, from Michael 1.0 to Michael 2.0.

"We'll always be the Menichaelmi!" (note the iambic dimeter)

You’ve been a wonderful addition to our faculty, and a tremendous role model for so many students, some of whom may not have otherwise seen themselves excelling in our discipline.

I’m proud to call you my colleague!💜

Sherry

Let me tell you about the Great Mike Howard

He walks through the halls like a regular guy, But don’t be deceived - his talents run high.

By day he speaks of the ancient ways. By night he’s on the court, making plays.

At Certamen, Mike is king. While others may freeze, Mike answers with great ease.

But wait - there’s more! Mike’s been known to join two hearts, more than once. With his warm voice, he gets the job done.

Mike is a man who wears many crowns. No matter the arena, he always throws it down.

Thank you for always being you! Congratulations on your well deserved honor!

xoxo

Viet

Your 20 consecutive years of presence and impact at the National JCL convention are impressive, but nowhere nearly as significant as the impact you've made on thousands of young people through your rigorous and engaging classroom instruction over the course of your illustrative career. Congratulations on this, and the ongoing difference that you make for BLS students and the classics community at large. -RS

Will we have to wait until 2045 when he receives the Silver Platter to next celebrate his greatness? I don't think so - we should celebrate it everyday by trying to give as much to the classics community as he does.

Though I'm on a different floor and department, it isn't surprising to me that you and your students have had such success - as I'm often lucky enough to see or hear about JCL glory in real time.

Moreover, our school measures accomplishment with Roman Cs and Ls and has such a great culture of pride, community and care, regardless of how Darwinian its reputation is purported to be - and your huge leadership role for 20 years provides consistent of evidence of all three! "No days off!"

To me, THAT is that is most impressive and noteworthy thing as JCL is a team event in which its leaders and student members feel like they belong, want to be there and to help each other succeed. That couldn't be further from "sink or swim" to me!

Again, such a great legacy and congratulations on your deserved recognition!

LS

Congratulations !

I just wanted to share a photo and a memory from the past. When we traveled to Italy in 2010, you were studying Certamen everywhere we went. Here’s a photo of you, reading Tripp’s Classical Mythology on a basketball court, across the street from Lake Trasimene.

But my favorite memory from that trip was when the bus rounded a corner in Rome and you saw the Colosseum for the first time. You turned back to me and said, “Mr. Freed! We’re home!”

Your passion and dedication have always run deep. Here’s to the next 20 years!

ex animo,

Freed

Whether it's working with your students in the classroom or crafting your witty recaps for everything from JCL to NCAA, your passion shines through. Congratulations on your Silver Bowl award, and I hope you celebrate in a true Greek/Roman fashion!

Maggie

Congratulations on getting your Silver Bowl! It is incredible how many years you've attended NJCL conventions, and hard to believe it was almost 10 years ago since I last attended one myself. I am honored to have been among the first group of students that you coached in Advanced Certamen when you had just started teaching. Your passion, dedication, and generosity made us not only better Certamen players, but also more thoughtful and mature people.

William

Congratulations on your well-deserved Silver Bowl! I feel so lucky to have had you as a teacher. 

When I think back to my 2020 senior year, missing out on finishing Latin V Poetry feels like the biggest loss, much more than losing prom or graduation. You always fostered an environment where every student felt valued, safe, and included. It’s that amazing sense of community that keeps it growing each year.

Your teaching inspired me so much that I even ended up majoring in Classics in college (still wild to me!), and even got to study abroad in Rome. Walking those ancient streets and seeing the lessons come alive made me appreciate those many hours of certaman even more.

Thank you for everything you’ve done, not just for me, but for all the students you’ve reached through your teaching and with JCL. You’ve made a huge impact, and I’m so grateful to have been part of it. 

Congratulations on getting your Silver Bowl and the 20 years worth of impact it represents! Though it's been quite a while since I've picked up a buzzer, I still think fondly of the Certamen days -- the inside jokes, the gut-wrenching tournaments, and the late-night practices full of laughter in whatever random room we could find at Convention. So many of those memories are because of you -- your dedication and drive to help us improve, your unending support and guidance, and your reminder to never forget the fun in what we were trying to achieve. I've taken a lot of what I've learned from those days and used it in life since then, and for that, I am eternally grateful.

As one of many people who've had the privilege to call you a teacher, mentor, and friend, congratulations again and wishing you the very best! :) <3

-- Jonathan

Martha

It’s been a long odyssey from those stormy nights at States in the hotel room full of cramming, intensive buzzer resistance training exercises, dramatic interpretation rehearsals, epic gladiatorial struggles for sheets and pillows…

…to being transformed into frenzied, howling beasts during the Toga Parade…

…to the Cave at Cumae—I mean Cape Cod—test scanning, scanner breaking, and sacrificing one of our Domino’s Pizzas to the gods to repair the scanner…

…Then down further still into the underworld depths of Late-Night Certamen….

At times carried only by the words:

Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit!

And now the day has come for all victories, defeats and sacrifices to be repaid with honor.

But I would say there is an even greater honor than the one you’re being given now, and that is the honor of having you for a friend all these years.

Macte Virtute!

Peter

Congratulations on your silver bowl!! It's so exciting to witness this amazing accomplishment. It takes a special kind of dedication to achieve something so great. Everyday I am in awe of the passion and joy you have for your work. You are an inspiration to me, your students, and your colleagues. We are all lucky to have you in our lives. I am endlessly proud of you.

♥️ Danielle

P.S. Here's a picture of you from the day you dragged me around Rome to see all the underrated sites. My feet literally bled for you and your ever curious mind!

I was lucky enough to have grown up in the same era as you in JCL and get to know you a bit more as a late night clicker and world class certamen coach. But today the fact that I can call you a friend, former roommate, and someone I genuinely look up to for how selfless you are and how much you've done for the Latin community in and out of Massachusetts, is something I'm very grateful for. Congratulations on 20 incredible years - you have made an impact on a countless amount of people. I hope you get a Jordan's-last-game-ever standing ovation when he played for the Wizards in 2003 (given you are a much better teacher than he was player at that point!)

You have - for 20 consecutive years now - set the gold standard for JCL commitment. In fact, I might go as far as to say that you've set the gold standard for anyone who wants to commit themselves to any passion. You are an inspiration and a role model to many of us around the JCL - not for your success (impressive as it is), but for the way you carry yourself and treat everyone around you.

This Silver Bowl marks two decades of you showing up with integrity, generosity, humility, and passionate commitment. Year after year, you’ve returned not for recognition, but to serve, to support, and to uplift. You’ve made the JCL a better place by being a part of it and by embodying its best ideals. As long as I've known you, you’ve quietly and consistently done the work that keeps this organization thriving.

Congratulations on this well-deserved milestone, my friend. We’re all better for having walked beside you through some (or all) of these 20 conventions.

Gabriel

P.S. Check out this throwback photo from your 10th convention!

Veronica

Congratulations on receiving your Silver Bowl! It must be the Fates calling that, earlier this month, I did a belated spring cleaning and found my bounded History Resources packet that I received as a gift, and unexpectedly running into old JCL peeps from long ago. I couldn't help but look back fondly at spending after school, buzzing at practice questions in Room 137, sneaking around for rooms to practice at tournaments, or the many times I thought I would certainly get you to snap your clipboard. My time as a JCLer reminded me of how crazy, eventful, and enjoyable the travels, successes, friendships, and challenges were in Certamen, at conventions, and tournaments across the nation.

Ever since I met you at Certamen practice as an 8th grader at BLA, I've admired the dedication and faith you've put into us Certamen players. When I transferred schools, I was glad to have a familiar mentor around while I adjusted to BLS — except maybe for the push-up drills. Your encouragement and (com)passion for all of us made what is a high-pressure situation a fun and valuable experience, from my lowest of lows to achieving the highest in glory. While it has been a while since I last participated in a Certamen practice or round, I'm truly honored to be able to call you a mentor, coach, and friend.

Congratulations again on a remarkable distinction over the past two decades!

Ting

I unfortunately don't have the privilege of working more closely with you throughout the school year, but I cannot think of someone who would put in more work than you when it comes to making the classics fun, accessible, and engaging. Congratulations, you have more than earned this Silver Bowl.

I would like to thank you for the impact you’ve had on me during those years when I was actively going to nationals. Although I was not as skilled as my peers in Certamen, you have always made me feel included during the summer practices and encouraged me to continue honing my knowledge for Academic Testing. As for the years after I graduated from BLA, it was and still is an honor to work with you and the incoming Certamen players.

If I have to summarize the importance of your commitment to JCL it would be with this quote from Horace, when you first encouraged me to study PMAQ: “Exegi Monumentum Aere Perennius”. Within these years, you have created a welcoming environment to all students throughout MassJCL who play Certamen. Not only have they flourished in skills because of you but friendships have flourished and continue beyond JCL because of the importance you place on teamwork and bonding.

May you continue to be a positive presence in all the lives you touch during your time in JCL.

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from you during my six years at BLS, and it has been so exciting to hear about everything you have achieved since. Here's to many more years of conventions, Certamen, and World Series titles!

Gratias tibi ago,

Louisa

The older I get, the more I realized as well how much you contributed to the world of the NJCL beyond just coaching MassJCL and BLS. From organizing MassJCL conventions to helping produce high-quality introductory material and low-pressure events for new players, you really are one of the hearts of the NJCL community. Congratulations on twenty conventions, and I wish you many more. Thanks for everything.

In amicitiā,

Generosa

I still remember seeing Tripp as your phone lock screen and aspiring to be dedicated to Certamen at that level. Thank you for the weekly practices, tournament advice, motivational speeches, summer sessions, and myth-grind inspiration. I really do miss being in your classroom every Thursday, buzzing alongside my closest friends—people I met through this wonderful game we love so much.

Again, congratulations on your Silver Bowl! 

Jin

Congrats on reaching such an incredible milestone! The first time we ever met I was an eager Novice player seeking as much advice as possible. Not only did you give me buzzing tips, you gifted me a 100 page print out of the myth resources packet that had been used by many Mass players before me. As I got to know you better both as your player and a person, I realized that wasn't a random act of kindness. You were, and still are, always willing to help anyone interested in playing Certamen no matter their experience, and that has left an impression on me greater than any tournament we won. MassJCL is lucky that Michael Howard is still enforcing push ups and situational Certamen to this day because we don't win championships without him.

All the best,

Big T

Carina

When I first started my journey into Classics, you were the one who constantly encouraged me and was always by my side! The lessons you have given me have shaped my life, have reminded me to keep going even when I feel down and defeated, and to always have fun and do what I love! I know that you have given these same lessons to many many many others like me.

Thank you for all you do! And remember just because it’s 20 years now doesn’t mean you get to retire!! Keep going!!!!!! See you at 30 years!

Sincerely,

Joana, your first protege but definitely not your last!

I am also so incredibly lucky to have taken Latin V Poetry your first year teaching that course. Even through the boggle games and vocab contests, you taught me how to analyze Latin poetry and more than adequately prepared me for my college Latin courses.

As I turn towards becoming a Latin teacher myself, I can only hope to be half your caliber as an educator and Certamen coach. This silver bowl is so well deserved and represents your commitment to the JCL, your excellence as a teacher, and just an overall extraordinary Classicist.

Congratulations on your silver bowl, Mike! Here’s to more conventions to come!

Fu

Sincerely,

Aspen

Leading by example, you have shown the importance of not only putting in immeasurable dedication but always striving to take time out of your day to offer advice to players and truly connect with people. Your devotion for every area of JCL, Certamen, and Classics have driven us to be the best version of ourselves. Thank you for your guidance so far, and I look forward to many more great memories and National Convetions!

Congratulations on your Silver Bowl!

I used to tell people all the time that you were the best young coach in the game. While you are still young, it is no longer fitting to include that moniker in the story. I am so inspired by your dedication to your students, the countless hours that you give to them, and the standard of kindhearted achievement that you set. Simply put: you are one of the greatest educators I have ever known and I am blessed to call you friend. I’ll be your WSOC wingman anytime. Congrats on your Silver Bowl! See you in 20 more years when you pick up the tray 😉.

-Dave

Whether it was on the bus to Knoxville in 2007 or today in Oxford, you have been a calming, generous presence who has inspired (and continues to inspire) student and teacher alike. It's no exaggeration to say that in any era of history, the correct answer is Michael Howard.

You made my time at BLS so much more fun than I ever could have imagined. You’ve inspired so many people (including myself)—I would not be where I am now without your support. I’m so glad you were my teacher, and I hope you enjoy your 20th National Convention! Congratulations again!

Karen

I’ve always learned so much from being in your presence and learning from your example

That’s where the goatee came from 🤣

I’ve always learned so much from being in your presence and learning from your example

That’s where the goatee came from 🤣

Dear Michael, 

A massive congratulations on earning your silver bowl at the National Junior Classical League Convention! Twenty years of JCL conventions is a huge accomplishment, and it truly highlights your incredible dedication. You've given so much to BLACC, MassJCL, and NJCL, and frankly, there's no one quite like you. This organization is genuinely indebted to your efforts. If I’m being entirely honest, after 20+ years of conventions, the memories start to blur a bit. However, I can say one thing confidently for sure. Since meeting you all those years ago (probably in room 319), you are consistently kind, intelligent, and professional – the very picture of reliability. I'm incredibly grateful for everything you've done. I'm also so glad to call you my friend. While I'm sad I can't be there in person to celebrate this amazing achievement, I'm absolutely delighted to see you get this well-deserved recognition.

Congratulations again!

Karyn

Keep up the amazing work--and I hope that you can bask in this outstanding achievement. We're all so lucky to have worked with you--and how can twenty conventions have already gone by?? Congratulations on your silver bowl!

Congratulations again,

The Hasan family 

Peter

Best,

Andrea Encarnacao Martin