1) Call to Order

Call to order was at 1:30 pm. In attendance: Jeff, Katherine, Russell, Tiffany, Adam, Amanda, Janet, Jeremy, Lisa, Erica, Kevin, Jennifer, Pfeffernuss, and Fluffernutter (Erica's two adorable kitties!!!) wow, even without the kittens, that's got to be the biggest meeting ever!! we even took a group picture. See how cool we are???

2) Russell's email

Russell did a great thing and sent out an email to people who dropped off the face of the earth. PK & Phil both responded. Thanks guys! See #6 on these minutes!

3) Certamen Wrap-Up"

All of Advanced was still missing at the time of the meeting, but Denis saved it on my hard drive so I sent them to Janet. Lower is all edited, but not formatted. Novice is another story!!! Since they are so late, the editing stage will have to be skipped. If you still have novice questions (VIET, MARK, ADAM, TIFFANY, BRONWEN) send them DIRECTLY to Janet ASAP! Her email address is: rockberries@mindspring.com.

4) NJCL Convention Money

This topic was the main discussion of the meeting. The way the By-Laws stand now, any member in good standing (i.e., paid the $4 dues) who attends Nationals gets a 'cut' of the MASCL $$$ (each year, we give at most half of our budget to this cause). Russell thinks the spirit of the bylaws is to encourage people to attend Nationals and to offer those who do go some financial help. There has been some concern lately whether people whose packets are paid for by either the NSCL (for being an NSCL officer) or by individual states (for chaperoning) should receive money. Also, what about people who have transportation costs to pay (an NSCL officer who has to fly to Convention may be paying more to attend than someone who is from the host state)? Right now, anyone who pays the $4 dues can be included....should there be a section saying that in order to receive money from the Convention pot, you have to contribute to MASCL in some way (s), such as helping to write certamen questions/tests, attending meeting (s), and attending the MAJCL state Convention? If you have an idea for an amendment, please write it up and bring it to the next meeting!

5) Budget

Before writing checks for those who attended Nationals, we had $1169.79. Now we have $904.29. And, we expect to get more money from the certamen questions and tests we wrote/will write. So basically, we are still rich. I suggested that one thing we could do with the money is to get a hotel room($50/night) for the SCL at the MAJCL State Convention. We could meet there, and it would give us a place to leave our stuff and for four lucky MASCLers to sleep.

6) MAJCL State Convention--Friday, May 16-Saturday, May 17

WE STILL NEED PEOPLE TO WRITE TESTS! I am going to try to track down the hot guy (Tracy Moore) and rope him into some test writing, but he took months to get back to Janet's email, so by the time he gets back tome, the tests will probably already be due. Here is how the test-writing signups currently stand:

Tests (25 questions each):
-Latin grammar: Lisa, Jeremy
-Derivatives: Adam, Adam
-Mythology: Russell, Russell
-History: Jennifer, ____________
-Life: Tiffany, Tiffany
-Mottoes/Abbreviations/Quotations: Mark, ____________
-Pentathlon: Viet, Viet
-Vocabulary: Denis, ____________

So, if you (PHIL AND PK FOR SURE!) can write half a history, MAQ, or Vocabulary test, or want to relieve anyone of half of their testing job, please email me! We will love you forever, we promise! And don't fret if you don't have the faintest clue what a test looks like, email Janet and she'll send you a past/sample test. Don't forget, tests should be multiple-choice (a,b,c,d) format with no "all/none of the above" as choices, and have 20 easy, 20 medium, and 20 hard questions. TESTS ARE DUE MARCH 23rd AT THE LATEST! But the earlier Janet gets them, the earlier she can get started, so get them done as soon as you can! Send them to Janet, rockberries@mindspring.com.

The dates of the MAJCL State Convention look good for most people, except Jennifer (Smith College), whose graduation will take place a week before Convention. It may conflict with UMASS' finals, but they don't find out about those until March. Just to get everyone thinking about it, here is the tentative schedule I just received from Janet:

Friday
2:00-3:00 registration
3:00-4:00 General Assembly 1
4:15-5:15 academic testing; art judging
6-7 dinner
7-8:30 creative contests
7:30-10:30 dance and karaoke/coffee house
Saturday
7-8 breakfast
7:30-8 acad. tests and creative winners ribbons awarded
8-9 General Assembly 2 and voting
9-9:45 1st workshop and art viewing contest
9-10:30 certamen and oral academics
9-11:30 olympika and spirit games
11:15-11:45 chariot race
12-12:30 toga parade
12:30-2 lunch and General Assembly 3 and final awards

7) Adjournment/Next Meeting