Latin III pre-AP classes are having a debate over the different types of religion that a Roman might follow during the time of Domitian’s reign. The tournament began last Friday and will continue throughout this week. The best team will move on to compete for an outstanding project grade.

At each round, two teams go against each other explaining the history the religion, what’s required and the pro’s and con’s. The winner of the round moves on to the next competition.

“I’m always looking for interesting ways for the kiddos to learn about the cultural and historical aspects of the ancient world,” Latin teacher Sarah Buhidma said. “It seemed like a way to make the material interesting with competition.”

Domitian was an emperor of Rome, who reigned for 15 years beginning in AD 81 and ended in 96. He was known for the terror that the members of the Senate lived under during his rule. The students are encouraged to learn about what would have been appealing to a Roman.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what the students do with the information they’ve researched,” Buhidma said. “It’s not so easy to interpret the information and use it in a creative way.”

Instead of trying to convince other people to follow that religion, students are judged on how they get the points across and how well they dispute each one.

“The debate is pretty interesting,” junior Ashley Chase said. “In other foreign language classes, you don’t get the same culture exposure as you might in Latin and it’s cool to be able to debate ancient philosophies and thoughts behind it.”