Leaders

  • Soham Shah - President and Founder

    Soham started his JCL journey back in his 7th-grade - 2019. Since then, he has represented his school at the Florida State competitions and also at the National competitions. Currently, Soham holds the position of FJCL President and was a previous FJCL Technology Coordinator.

    In the 2023 NJCL Convention, Soham and his Advanced team was placed 1st in Certamen. In addition, at the 2024 Convention, Soham was been placed 1st in Derivatives, 1st in Literature, 2nd in Mottoes, 2nd in Vocab, 3rd in Reading Comprehension, and many more places throughout his journey.

    Soham has helped coach multiple State champions and three National champions. If you have any questions please reach out to him with the email function.

  • Victor Lupo - Publicity Manager/Derivatives II Instructor

    Victor started his FJCL journey in 2022. Since, then he has played certamen at the regional, state, and national level. At Viva Latina, Victor plans to update the presence of Viva Latina on social networks such as Facebook, and Instagram and create a community for Learning Latin! Additionally, Victor helps run the website and uploads the notes and videos.

    Victor currently runs the Youtube and Instagram of this website this organization. He has also helped Jayden create and run the website.

  • Jayden Ruddock Developer/Website Manager

    Jayden Ruddock is one of the developers of this website. He has heavily contributed to the Buzzo Bot and other aspects of this website. Soham and Jayden plan to update the Buzzo Bot constantly and provide more questions to the community to learn Latin.

    Jayden has years and years of experience with coding and website management. He started at the age of 11 and continues to complete multiple projects with code and websites.

  • Logan Ferris - Classical Geography and Customs Instructor

    Logan joined the JCL in 7th grade because her friends convinced her it would be fun. Since then she has won the 2022 Nationals Intermediate Certamen alongside her Intermediate Florida team. She has also placed 5th in Customs at nationals. She has been to two National JCL conventions, two in-person FJCL state conventions, and two online FJCL state conventions.

    Logan studies Latin Literature, Geography, and Roman Customs for her Advanced Certamen team. She helped to make the Geography and Roman Customs videos and study guides for VivaLatina. She coaches her school’s Novice Certamen team as well.

  • Alex Switt - Greek Derivatives, Hellenic History, and Latin Derivatives I Instructor

    Alex is a senior at Oak Hall School. He has been to 3 State fora, 3 National fora, 4 regional Fora, and several Fall fora. He plays certamen, with main categories of Latin Literature and Latin Language. He used to do myth (shout out to Ellie Riggs).

    Now, he is taking Attic Greek at Oak Hall and has finished AP Latin in the 2023-2024 year.

  • John Mitnik - History of the Empire Instructor

    John is currently a freshman at Columbia. He has been concentrating in the JCL as a historian. He has attended 3 National, State, and Regional Conventions.

    John is an avid Certamen player, captaining Team Florida Intermediate in 2023 and earning 3rd place.

  • Casey Nguyen - Greek Literature Instructor

    Casey is Junior in Latin IV. He has participated in the Greek Literature and Latin Literature contest. He has constantly won 1st place at Regional Forum and State Forum.

    In the JCL, Casey is passionate about service projects and tutoring younger students in class. He is currently a langauge course at his school.

  • Jules Holleran - Mythology Instructor

    Jules started her JCL journey back in her 9th grade year. Since then, she has participated in certamen at the regional, state, and national level. She currently holds the position of FJCL region five leader.

    At the national level, Jules and her novice team won 1st place in certamen and Jules won the novice MVP award. Additionally, in her Intermediate year, she was captain of the certamen team which won 2nd and she placed 1st in mythology.

    Jules is now helping as a certamen coach to the novice and intermediate teams at Holy Trinity.

  • Matthew Nunes - History of the Republic Instructor

    Matthew joined the JCL in 8th grade because of his older brother Jonathan Nunes. He was been heavily involved in Certamen and History. Matthew is the 2022 Intermediate State Certamen Champion, the 2024 Advanced State Certamen Champion, and the UF Invitational Certamen Champion.

    Matthew is currently in AP Latin and is a leader in Holy Trinity as a Certamen Coach for younger students.

  • Caroline Cox

    Caroline joined the JCL in 6th grade. She has since participated in six FJCL state conventions and six JCL national conventions. She has represented Florida at four national conventions on one of its certamen teams.

    Classical Art and Mythology are her primary subject areas. She placed 1st on both the Heptathlon and Classical Art tests at the 2024 state convention, and placed 1st and achieved the highest score on the Classical Art test at the 2024 national convention.