It was worth the high price of gas for 27 members of the Latin Club from Crown Point High School to travel to Indiana University this spring for competition at the Indiana Junior Classical League State Convention.

Crown Point advanced all three of its certamen teams to the final round - the only school to do so, and while the lower (second year) and upper (third and fourth year) teams finished second in the state, the novice (first year) team returned home as state champions.

"As a delegation, we worked hard to show our spirit, placing second in the delegate spirit competition, and to elect our candidates for office," said Latin teacher Jeremy Walker.

The campaigning paid off, as Crown Point will boast three state officers for the coming school year, Parliamentarian James Freeman, State Editor Kate Kukla and State Webmaster Chris Miller.

As a club, Crown Point won the Helen Wampler Spirit Competition based on all club activities for the year. "We placed second with our scrapbook and third in publicity," Walker said.

Individual events included Academic Tests, Graphic Arts and Creative Arts, and Crown Point earned 19 firsts in academics, 11 in graphic arts and seven in creative arts.

"All of our individual, team, delegation and club activities put us into the first place spot overall, earning us the championship trophy again this year. We ended up with 2,302 points, a full 1,000 points ahead of second place."

The next challenge for the Crown Point Latin students is the National Junior Classical League Convention in August, also hosted this year at Indiana University. For more information on this event, visit www.njcl.org.