CPL AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITY IN COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY (2017)

CPL Award For Outstanding Promotional Activity in Schools 2017

Submitted by Dr, Robert H. Simmons
Monmouth College
Monmouth, Illinois

100-word summary of the two Classics Day:  

The Monmouth College Classics Department, in cooperation with many other departments on campus and organizations off campus, put on roughly thirty classically-oriented events for the enlightenment and edification of hundreds of attendees at one Classics Day on April 23, 2016, and another on October 22, 2016.  The first event drew from 200-300 visitors, and the second drew from 300-400, with most of the visitors, in the first case, adults and children from the area (though some from over 100 miles away), and in the second case, that population plus high school students and teachers from all over Illinois. 

More detailed description of Classics Day:

The most recent Classics Day had its attendance bolstered significantly by the attendance of roughly 200 students and teachers from fifteen high schools and grade schools, who bused in from as much as four hours away.  A third of those schools came to Monmouth to take part in the Illinois Junior Classical League South meeting, which Monmouth-Roseville High School was hosting; we adjusted the date of Classics Day, and they adjusted the date of IJCLS, so that those schools could take part in the event.

 

Most of the following events were offered at both Classics Days, both of which were held on Monmouth’s campus. Nearly all of the events allowed interactive participation.

  • Ancient Greek Olympics
    • demonstration of, and separate booths at which people could (safely) try, javelin, long jump, discus, wrestling, pankration, boxing, diaulos race, and hoplitodromia (race in armor)
  • Greek, Macedonian, and Roman military
    • demonstrations, and booths at which visitors could talk to our soldiers and (safely) try out our armor and weaponry
  • Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex
    • an excerpt performed by members of the student troupe, directed by Theatre faculty member Ron Zank, that was putting on the full version of the play on campus the next weekend (Fall only)
  • Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Plautus’ Menaechmi
    • excerpts performed by volunteer Theatre majors, and directed by Theatre faculty member Vanessa Campagna (Spring only)
  • Gladiatorial combat
    • demonstration and full-engagement booth (with safe “weapons”)
  • Chariot races
    • Teams drove Roman “chariots”
  • An ancient Greek-style mud-brick hut
    • the bricks were built over weeks, and construction done at the event, by the Greek Cities class taught by our classical and new world archaeologist, Kyle Jazwa (Fall only)
  • Native American artifacts
    • an interactive display of selections from Monmouth’s archaeology lab’s extensive collection
  • Greek and Roman artifacts
    • a guided display of antiquities held in Monmouths’ Shields Collection
  • Roman Games
    • Brian Lauthen of University High School in Urbana-Champaign and some of his students taught mola and calculi to visitors
  • Oracle at Delphi
    • The priestess of Pythia responded to questions in a prophetic frenzy, and her interpreter delivered a more articulate version of her utterances
  • Roman mosaics
    • made with construction paper and library bookmarks, offered by the Warren County Public Library (Fall only)
  • Face-painting (Fall only)
  • Write your name in Greek
    • Greek students helped visitors learn enough Greek to write their names
  • Dress up and take pictures in Greek and Roman clothing
  • Classical food
    • For no cost to visitors, we offered grapes, olives, apricots, and bread with olive oil
  • Crafts:
    • Theatre mask-making, ceramic plate-painting, and paper wreath construction
  • Classical Japanese incense game (Fall only)
  • Greek-style potter’s wheel
    • Operated by two students
  • Ancient technology:
    • A Roman ballista (catapult) and a dugout canoe (Spring only)
  • Classical scavenger hunt   
    • Ten professors and librarians dressed up in classical garb took on the identity of classical figures, and visitors had to ask them a series of questions to determine their identities
  • Buttons in Latin
    • Brian Tibbets and the Latin Club at Monmouth-Roseville HS crafted buttons for people who wished to make a statement in Latin (Spring only)

 

Documentation of the events:

Below are Google Drive links and hyperlinks to many documents, pictures, videos, and press coverage of the two events.