SOUTHEAST REGION

ANNUAL REPORT

1999-2000

Last September, the Florida state vice president, Hans-Friedrich Mueller, sent out mass e-mailings of CAMWS membership information, application materials, and informational bulletins to the membership of the Classical Association of Florida (mostly high school teachers), to graduate students at Florida State University, and to colleagues in other universities in the state of Florida. He also attended the annual joint meeting of the Florida Foreign Language Association and the Classical Association of Florida in Orlando in October 1999. In the various plenary sessions, Dr. Mueller outlined CAMWS scholarship programs. He also distributed both informational brochures and CAMWS application materials.

Also in fall of1999, Florida State's Latin Bulletin, a newsletter which is mailed to every high school teacher of Latin in the state of Florida, included all relevant CAMWS membership information, application materials, and informational bulletins, as well as copies of the CPL's promotional brochures. During the course of the fall term, Dr. Mueller urged graduate students at both the University of Florida and Florida State University to consider giving papers at the annual CAMWS meeting in Knoxville.

Finally, Florida State University was the site of this past year's National Junior Classical League Convention. Dr. Mueller's colleague, Dr. Justin Glenn, generously donated his time to act as a liaison for this exciting event.

The Georgia Classical Association remains a vigorous organization which holds several meetings a year on its own and in conjunction with other state foreign language organizations, publishes a journal and newsletter, has a Web site, and has its own scholarship, Teacher of the Year, and Student of the Year programs. The 1999 GCA Teacher of the Year, Randy Fields from Harrison High in Cobb County, went on to receive the 2000 Teacher of the Year award from the Foreign Language Association of Georgia. GCA is now planning several initiatives to determine the number of high school Latin programs in Georgia, to increase GCA membership, and to heighten the visibility of Latin and GCA; and GCA will be supporting the Southern Section meeting to be held in Athens in October 2000.

There continue to be openings for Latin teachers in Georgia, as some teachers move or retire and as some high schools even add or expand Latin programs. Latin also continues to get favorable coverage in the state's media. Rebecca McCarthy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (herself a former Latin student at UGA) reported on a program in which UGA graduate students in Classics volunteered to teach Latin to fifth-graders in a gifted program in an Athens elementary school. Individual CAMWS memberships in Georgia have hovered at about 75 for several years. Faculty in Classics at UGA, Emory, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, and other colleges and universities have been steadfast supporters of CAMWS; while there are many faithful members among high school teachers, it is clear that the state must attract more teachers if CAMWS membership is to continue strong and grow. This year's special introductory offer did seem to have attracted several new members in the state.

The shortage of Latin teachers continues in South Carolina this year despite continuing efforts to supply the demand. Kathleen Ross of the French and Classics Department, University of South Carolina (USC), has been asked by the State Superintendent of Education to form a committee of Latin teachers to address the problem. Other activities at USC which promote the study of Classics and connect University with secondary-level teaching include Ward Briggs' plans to offer a summer course for teachers in AP Latin Teaching Methodologies; the formation of a web page for the South Carolina Classical Association by Kathleen Ross, which will be up and running by late May (and will provide another clearinghouse for job vacancies and candidates, and links to CAMWS, ACL, and SCFLTA (South Carolina Foreign Language Teachers' Association) home pages; the Belser Lecture on April 5, which draws some high school teachers and students to the University (This year Prof. Barbara Gold will deliver the endowed lecture, on the topic "Feminism, Transvestitism, and the Atom Bomb: The Struggles of a Classicist to Stay Afloat."); plans for Classics Day 2000, which brings the top high school Latin students to USC for a day of visiting classes, getting to know faculty, and touring the campus, will include a Millennium theme.

Furman University in Greenville will be visited in May by Prof. Gregory Nagy of Harvard University, speaking on Homer. State Vice-President Cathy Castner and South Carolina Classical Association President Kathleen Ross, continuing their efforts to have Latin included in state Foreign Language initiatives, co-presented a session March 18 at the annual South Carolina Foreign Language Teachers' Association meeting, Problems and Issues in the Teaching of Latin in South Carolina." We were addressed by one of Cathy's students who teaches Latin in a Christian academy in Columbia. She informed us of some of the reasons for Christian academies' strong emphasis on Latin in the early grades, and asked us to provide them with more teachers. At the same meeting, Prof. Julia Nelson (Visiting Instructor of Classics at USC) delivered a paper on "Images of Sacrifice in Virgil's Aeneid."

Other activities promoting Latin in the state include the SC Junior Classical League Latin Forum, held March 11 at Berkeley High School in Moncks Corner. The Forum drew Latin students from all over the state and was judged by faculty and students from the College of Charleston and USC. The Forum is one of the major reasons high school students take Latin instead of another language.

Cathy Castner closes with another mention of the dearth of Latin teachers in SC and the almost certain closing of some high school programs with job vacancies. We are attempting to supply names of teaching candidates to high schools where we know of vacancies.