The languages the Baker University Lifeless Language Association are studying may be dead, but the group is far from it.
The club, more commonly known as BVLLA, held its second annual Circus Maximus event on Saturday.
“We had chariot races, toga contests, gladiator fights and other activities,” sophomore member Lauren Yonkey said.
Senior James Bunker attended the event previously and said it was very entertaining.
“For the chariot races, we used Red Rider wagons and had one person pull the other around the parking lot,” he said. “That was pretty funny, and so was the toga competition.”
Attendance at Circus Maximus was up from last year, but Yonkey said BVLLA would still like to see more students come to the event in the future.
“Most people who showed up were from BVLLA,” she said. “We were able to get some of our friends to come out too, though.”
Assistant Professor of History John Richards, who is the faculty sponsor for the group, said the club is not very concerned with attendance because that is not its ultimate goal.
“We don’t measure success by making a big splash,” he said. “The idea of this group is not to get everyone to learn Latin. This is just for people who are interested in the languages.”
Yonkey said Baker students interested in learning Latin in the classroom setting will soon have the opportunity to do so on campus. BVLLA sponsors lessons in Latin, but right now there are no Latin classes for credit.
“We will have an actual Latin class here at Baker in two years,” Yonkey said. “It is pretty exciting for us.”
Other than Circus Maximus and weekly Latin readings, the group also hosts a few other activities on campus.
“We focus on keeping these languages alive on campus,” Richards said. “We do different fundraisers, and we also hold a Halloween bonfire.”
Richards also said there are many benefits for students who choose to study dead languages.
“Students who have had at least three semesters of Latin score higher on standardized tests,” he said. “Plus, 90 percent of our words are derived from Latin, so it helps you understand English better, too.”
Yonkey agreed about the benefits of studying dead languages.
“It has really helped me with my grammar,” she said. “I am doing better in my literature classes because of this.”
The group meets at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays in Mabee Hall 302.