The NJCL maintains a list of every member who has been on two (or more) teams which won a national certamen championship at any level. Below are the MassJCL members who are in the Hall of Fame.
In 2025, the NJCL also added a second type of inductee – called a merens (see note). This is reserved for teachers and coaches that have given tremendously to the certamen community. Our very own Mr. Howard and Ms. Moguel were among the first merens inductees.
Why is it called that? Well, merens (“deserving”) is the singular present active participle of mereo (“I deserve”). Words such as “merit”, “Emeritus”, and more importantly merens, are derived from this very verb!
NJCL hall of famers
- Katherine Hodge (‘11, ‘12) – Advanced Math and Science Academy
- Christopher Liao (‘11, ‘13) – Boston Latin School
- Timothy Morrissey (‘11, ‘12) – Advanced Math and Science Academy
- Amol Punjabi (‘11, ‘12, ‘13, ‘14) Advanced Math and Science Academy*
- Jeffrey Dubuisson (‘13, ‘14). Boston Latin Academy
- Joana Jankulla (‘13, ‘14). Boston Latin Academy
- Dante Minutillo (‘17, ‘18, ‘20). Boston Latin School
- Michael Howard (Merens-2025). Boston Latin School
- Beth Moguel (Merens-2025). Boston Latin School
Similar to FDR’s 4 terms in office and the enactment of the 22nd Amendment, because of Amol Punjabi’s 4-year tenure in the Hall of Fame, the NJCL certamen authority passed a rule in 2015 (that still stands today) that can be simplified as follows.
If you played for a team at any level that advanced to the finals, with the obvious exception of advanced players and regardless of your level of Latin, you cannot play for a team at that level (or any lower level) at the national championships the following year. If you should fail to adhere by this rule specifically (even accidentally) and the NJCL certamen authority becomes aware, you (specifically) would be removed from play immediately and barred from competing in certamina at the following year’s convention.
For example, if you played for the Novice team after completing Level 1/2 (typically 7th grade) and your team played in the finals, you would have to play Intermediate the next year!
Unless you happened to be just as good as someone like Amol Punjabi, obviously this could make competition incredibly difficult (certamen actually means “contest” or “challenge” in Latin) if you haven’t got up to speed, which is why MassJCL no longer lets anyone below Latin Level I (usually 8th grade) officially try out for the state team.
(Of course, if your team didn’t make finals one year, you could still compete in the same level the following year until you are required to be in the next level by virtue of Latin Level, but this is a gamble MassJCL is unwilling to take on behalf of the 7th grade delegates.)
Even if a player didn’t win two national championships, just making it to the finals round at the NJCL Convention is a huge accomplishment. Below is a list of some Massachusetts teams that have done it. A * indicates that that player was named MVP for their level.
2025
- Novice – 2nd place – Johan Coisman / Ryan Liu / Sahaj Swaroop / Kanav Vashishth
- Intermediate – 1st place – Sid Chopra / Raymond Pan / Meilin Sha / Brian Xu
- Advanced – Tom Pogorelec*
2024
- Novice – 2nd place – Harry Dinh / Ellie Fung / Lana Nguyen / Silas Rosenberger / Meilin Sha / Brian Xu
- Advanced – 3rd place – Brynn Bennett / Micah Cartee / Avery Winder / Joseph Hemr / Andy Yu
2023
- Intermediate – 2nd place – Joseph Hemr / Aspen Johnson / Avish Kumar / Mila Matteson / Tom Pogorelec*
- Advanced – 3rd place – Owen Butler / Zach Chen / Kyler Hoogendoorn-Ecker / Julianna Lee / James McCurley / Alex Xu
2022
- Novice – 1st place – Malvika Dias / Joseph Hemr / Aspen Johnson / Avish Kumar / Mila Matteson / Tom Pogorelec
- Intermediate – 2nd place – Maya Koreth / Andrew Lai / Julianna Lee / Ailin Sha / Mark Snekvik
- Advanced – 3rd place – Creighton Banitt / Biya Brook / Owen Butler / Zachary Chen / Louisa Hemr / Kyler Hoogendoorn-Ecker / James McCurley / Alex Xu
2021
- Novice – 1st place – Andrew Lai / Julianna Lee / Ailin Sha / Mark Snekvik*
2020
- Novice – 1st place – Creighton Banitt / Biya Brook / Joanna Lin / Alex Xu / Jenny Chen
- Intermediate – 2nd place – Owen Butler / Louisa Hemr / Kyler Hoogendoorn-Ecker / James McCurley / Mathew Mabington
- Advanced – 1st place – Luc Azar-Tanguay / Ethan Clark / Dante Minutillo* / Danny Nguyen / Jinwoo Kim
2019
- Novice – 1st place – Owen Butler / Louisa Hemr / Kyler Hoogendoorn-Ecker / Anna Zoltowski / Mathew Mabington
- Advanced – 3rd place -Ashley Chou / Ben Erhman / Clair Fu / Dante Minutillo / Danny Nguyen / Luc Azar-Tanguay / Ethan Clark
2018
- Novice – 2nd place – Alex Chou / Joshua Emokpae / Theresa Huang / Sara Rhouate / Jack Trapanick
- Advanced – 1st place – Anna Aldins / Nestoras Apodiakos / Ashley Chou / Ting Wei Li / Joshua Lomasney / Dante Minutillo / Jonathan Yuan
2017
- Novice – 2nd place – Luc Azar-Tanguay / Ben Ehrman / Xiangan He / Jin Kim / Danny Nguyen
- Intermediate – 1st place – Christy Jestin / Dante Minutillo / Jess Schnitzer / Hanyi Wang
- Advanced – 2nd place – Anna Aldins / Nestoras Apodiakos / Ting Wei Li / Joshua Lomasney / Peter Wang / Jonathan Yuan
2016
- Novice – 2nd place – Ryan Browne / Christy Jestin / Charles Ma / Dave Mansaray / Dante Minutillo / Hanyi Wang
- Intermediate – 2nd place – Ashley Chou / Carina Layfield / Tran Nguyen / Nicholas Weiske / Jairam Rao / Clair Fu
2015
- Novice – 3rd place – Ashley Chou / Carina Layfield / Tran Nguyen / Nicholas Weiske / Jairam Rao / Clair Fu
2014
- Novice – 2nd place – Anna Aldins / Nestoras Apodiakos / Ina Beinborn / Jonathan Yuan
- Advanced – 1st place – Jeffrey Dubisson, Joana Jankulla*, Amol Punjabi, Henry Tsang
2013
- Intermediate – 1st place – Amol Punjabi / Ashwin Varghese / Linda Quin / Michael Gao / William Gao
- Advanced – 1st place – Jeffrey Dubisson*, Joana Jankulla, Chris Liao / Meghana Vagwala
2012
- Novice – 3rd place – Michael Gao / William Gao / Ashwin Varghese / Linda Quin
- Intermediate – 2nd place – Amol Punjabi* / Tim Morrissey / Katie Hodge / Eddie Wang
- Advanced – 2nd place – Derek Booth / Francesca Fontin / Patrick Londa / Jeffrey Dubuisson / Joana Jankulla / Meghana Vagwala / Rahi Punjabi
2011
- Novice – 1st place – Amol Punjabi*, Tim Morrissey / Katie Hodge / Chris Liao
2008
- Novice – 1st place – Derek Booth* / Eda Kaceli / Patrick Londa / Ned Kleiner
- Advanced – 2nd place – James Carroll / Chris Londa / Dylan Drolette / Jacob Meister
2005
- Novice – 1st place – Jacob Meister / Enid Franco / Chris Londa / Zingbo Wang