First, the Beta Psi chapter apologizes for
being a bunch of losers and not sending
any students to the national convention
this year. Otherwise we had an excellent
year and inducted six new members. In the
fall, we hosted an all-night reading of the
Odyssey in conjunction with the freshmen
humanities program. The chapter
also hosted several events with our sister
club, CA‘ESAR, the Classical and Hellenic
Society At Rhodes, including a viewing of
the recent version of Clash of the Titans,
afternoons of “Roman” games, and a
chapter outing to visit the Egyptian exhibit
at the University of Memphis. In addition,
we hosted weekly Mensae Latinae, an
hour-long meal, with conversation entirely
in Latin. In November, we also organized
and hosted “Festivus,” a celebration of
the classics for middle- and high-school
students in the Memphis area. We had
several classically-themed contests, both
academic and more entertaining. These
included certamen, as well as art, costume,
video, and “classical food” contests. As
part of the entertainment we showed the
Festivus episode from Seinfeld with Latin
subtitles. The subtitles were written by
two of our members Michelle Currie and
David Adams with the help of our adviser,
David Sick. We ended the festivities with
the world’s only Latin carol for Festivus,
“O Festive, O Festive, feriae pro ceteris,
grege…” The event was a rousing success,
with over 100 students from several local
schools attending. We hope to make it an
annual event.