The OJCL Torch Winter 2016 | Page 11

Winter 2016 A Tribute to Mr. Dean Throughout high school, my Latin club was like my family. We had almost every class together, we would stay long after school for club meetings, and we always ended up planning impromptu hangouts over the weekends. In short, they have become some of my best friends. Each year, we are brought together for a weekend during the Ohio Junior Classical League (OJCL) Convention. We grow closer by spending entire weeknights working on our club banners and sharing the embarrassment from shouting Latin cheers accompanied by ridiculous dance moves. Unfortunately, our Latin teacher did not share the same passion for the JCL as the rest of us; he began to withdraw from the club and eventually withheld our payments for the state convention. We were panicked and upset but luckily we knew whom we could turn to: Larry Dean, the Ohio JCL State Chair and teacher from our rival school, Summit Country Day. Our Certamen team always ended up playing Summit in the finals at local matches, and whenever one of our students ran for state offices at the OJCL Convention, it was a guarantee they would face someone from Summit. Despite the intense rivalry, Mr. Dean was always there to make sure we were competing at our best. At a Certamen match, whenever we were confused about a question, he would take the time to teach our team a small lesson about the subject matter, despite the fact that he was our opponents’ coach. He always went out of his way to invite our club to travel along with his school to the National JCL Convention and even offered to chaperone us while Mr. Dean with his son, Tullus, at OJCL there, in place of Convention in 2015 o u r t e a c h e r. Beyond that, when our teacher withheld our registration to the OJCL Convention, he extended the deadline and Mr. Dean motions for cereal while coaching Certamen at the 2015 NJCL Convention even walked us through the process to register a new sponsor before convention. You could say that Mr. Dean was simply doing his job, which was of course true, but he did so in an unprecedented way. Mr. Dean always went above and beyond to help all of the students of the OJCL and did so Mr. Dean having a light bulb moment with his student Patrick Casañas with an incredible amount of dedication and charity. In a way, he became our adoptive Latin teacher, and took our Latin Club family under his wing. In the true nature of a great teacher, he taught me things beyond what was to be learned in the classroom. He was always actively looking to help others and did so graciously with a great sense of humor. Mr. Dean is the reason I have been to fifteen Latin conventions—he makes the Classics community what it is. He keeps me coming back and keeps the organization surrounding a dead language alive. Anonymous XI