Frank M. Snowden Jr. Scholarship winners (formerly known as the Minority Scholarship in Classics and Classical Archaeology), and reports on their scholarship activities:
2024 - Camila Lorenzo Roca
Never in my life did I imagine spending 3 months in New York, but there I was. I was enrolled in the Basic Greek Program at the Latin/Greek Institute, staying in a student housing building, and going every day to CUNY The Graduate Center to learn Greek at a pace I didn’t realize it was possible. I studied Ancient Greek for eight hours a day, doing drills, attending lectures, and translating texts, and after classes, spending 6-7 hours on memorization and exercises at home. In the final weeks, I enjoyed reading Plato’s Ion, and extracts from Euripides’s Medea and the elective Homer’s Odyssey. With the LGI, I learned 1.2 years of Ancient Greek in almost three months. Together with my classmates, we practically breathed and dreamed in Greek all summer. To be honest, I wasn’t fully prepared for the intensity of the experience, but I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. Thanks to this program, I can skip one year of Ancient Greek (having already studied it in three months) and enrolled in intermediate level classes next term. Thanks to the professors who were available 24/7 and their eagerness to help every student, I acquired the knowledge to read and translate Greek authors and enjoy their literature. As a prospective Classics major and transfer student with no classical language courses at my college, this program allowed me to advance toward my degree. This was possible thanks to the generous support of the Frank M. Snowden Jr. Scholarship and the Society for Classical Studies.
2024 - Isabella Huang
2024 - Gale Park
Receiving the Frank M. Snowden Jr. Scholarship allowed me to participate in the Balkan Heritage Foundation’s Workshop for the Conservation of Ancient Greek Pottery. The workshop took place in Debelt, Bulgaria, which is home to the ancient Roman city of Deultum. This experience was incredibly valuable to me and my exploration of careers in the field of Classical Studies.
Participating in this workshop allowed me to work closely with two professional conservators who were incredibly experienced and talented instructors. I was able to work with pottery fragments from the 4th century BCE. Through a combination of lectures and hands-on experience, I learned how to clean, consolidate, and reconstruct the fragments and was also taught how to document the vessels themselves and the process of conserving them. Documentation included photography, technical drawing, and the written recording of treatments applied to the fragments. We also had lectures on the history of the iconography of ancient Greek pottery and the technical aspects of the ancient production of pottery from our instructors as well as from guest lecturers who have experience in local archeology.
In addition to hands-on experience and lectures, the workshop included excursions to the towns of Nessebar and Sozopol, which are both home to important archaeological sites. Nessebar is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and Sozopol (ancient Apollonia Pontica) is where the pottery fragments we restored were found.
Participating in this workshop gave me experience with conservation that I otherwise would not have had an opportunity for and it was also incredibly fun! This workshop also allows for the conservation of less “significant” archeological finds that otherwise would not be restored due to lack of resources. I am very thankful to the Society for Classical Studies for facilitating my attendance.
2024 - Alethea Lam
The Frank M. Snowden Jr. Scholarship enabled me to take an academic year’s worth of online Greek language courses with the Catholic University of America. The at-times hectic pace of the intensives pushed me faster and further than I ever imagined my Greek abilities could reach, solidifying my language skills while exposing me to Greek historiography and drama. I particularly enjoyed translating and analyzing the entirety of Euripides’s Alcestis, as well as the class discussions on staging, mythology, and the underworld building on the play. I never thought I would love Greek the way I do Latin, but those six weeks went a long way toward changing my mind.
Additionally, I was able to explore my interest in post-classical Latin with an online course on the Navigatio Sancti Brendani with the Paideia Institute. I greatly enjoyed following the Irish monk’s medieval odyssey while learning more about Latin’s linguistic development beyond the classical period and its ecclesial usage. I am grateful for the Society of Classical Studies’s generous support this summer.
2024 - Evan Shannon
2023 - Ashley Baines
2023 - Philip Hui
2023 - Meagan Kim
2023 - Shanaiah Payne
2023 - Alex-Jaden Peart
2022 - Charnice Hoegnifioh
I spent this summer in Manhattan enrolled in the Basic Program in Greek at the CUNY Latin/Greek Institute. Experiencing such intensive, immersive language study will prove to be quite useful to me as I continue my research project as an Yale Edward A. Bouchet Fellow. My studies this summer opened a multitude of new resources and texts that I can begin to work through in the original Greek, which will enhance my research on the perceptions of health and cosmetics in the ancient Mediterranean. Without financial support from the Society for Classical Studies, I would not have been able to afford the tuition for the Latin/Greek Institute or been able to support the costs associated with living in New York City without a supplemental income. As a recipient of the Frank M. Snowden Jr. Undergraduate Scholarship, I am very thankful for the generous support of donors who have lightened the financial burdens associated with my summer program by choosing to make an investment in my education, allowing me to focus on learning a language I’ve wanted to study my entire life.
Read Charnice's full report.
2022 - MacAlasdair Uchimura
Opportunities for summer Latin courses in Hawaii are extremely slim, so I was very grateful to the Society for Classical Studies for funding my tuition for an online summer Latin course held by the Catholic University of America. The course was split into two parts, with the first class focusing on Seneca's letters and the second on Vergil's Aeneid. In the first semester, the professor taught the subjunctive mood and its uses, and in the next semester those concepts were reinforced through additional readings. The second semester also included lessons on how to scan and recite Latin poetry written in dactylic hexameter.
Since it was an online course, I was able to work with students from all over the country. Not everyone who participated was a scholar of Classics (I believe someone was an engineering major!), so there were a broad range of backgrounds participating in the class discussions. Getting to read the Aeneid also jumpstarted my advanced Latin reading skills, and scansion became very fun to do once I learned the rules. (The only downside was that I had to start class at 3:30 a.m. Hawaii time, since the course was being held at 9:30 a.m. in Maryland--but it was nothing that a little caffeine couldn't help!)
Please note that several winners of 2021 and 2020 scholarships had to defer use of their awards owing to the pandemic.
2021 - Luis Rodriguez-Perez
This past year, with the help of the Frank M. Snowden Jr. Scholarship, I have had the honor and privilege of spending my last semester as an undergraduate studying with the College Year in Athens program. As an aspiring Mediterranean Archaeologist interested in urban spaces and multi-culturalism in the Hellenistic-early Roman world, I knew this would be the perfect opportunity to not only visit as many sites as possible, but also to understand and appreciate the modern world around them. I also took advantage of the opportunity to network with other archaeologists, professors, and volunteering at the American School of Classical Studies’ (as a librarian assistant at the Blegen, and as a photogrammetrist and 3D mesh editor at the Malcolm Weiner Lab for Archaeological Science). During the fall 2021 semester, I was also applying to graduate programs, and was fortunate to meet with two potential advisors who were also in Athens at the time (Mantha Zarmakoupi and John Papadopoulos). Although USC (my home institution) had only offered to cover the fall semester, I worked closely with CYA to identify other funding sources for staying an extra spring semester. This was only made possible in conjunction with SCS’s Frank M. Snowden Jr. Scholarship and CYA’s William C. Kontes Scholarship.
You can read the full report from Luis here.
2021 - Cayle Diefenbach
2021 - Maia Lee-Chin
2021 - Niles Marthone
2020 - Ye Zhou
Thanks to the Frank M. Snowden Jr. Undergraduate Scholarship, I was able to take part in the Upper-level Latin Program at the Latin/Greek Institute this past summer. The intensive summer program required full-time commitment, leaving no room for even part-time jobs, and without the scholarship as a replacement for my summer income, I would not have been able to join the Institute this summer. And what a summer it was! Throughout the seven weeks of the program, we fully immersed ourselves in the study of the Latin language. Every day, after a full day of class work and discussion, we continued our reading well into the night with the full support of the instructors, and we read from a wide selection of authors and genres, from Lucretius to Suetonius, from philosophy to histories. It was an intense and often time challenging summer, but it was also fruitful and rewarding. Like all good things, however, the summer program must end, and so it did, but after seven weeks of figurative sweat and exhilarating joy, I was not only a better student of the Latin language, but also more determined than ever to pursue graduate studies in the Classics. And all of that would not have been possible without the generous support from the SCS. For that I am forever grateful.
2020 - Alanis Gonzalez
2020 - Aditi Rao
2020 - Camryn Shiroma
2020 - Polyxeni Trikoulis
2019 - Varun Mandi
2019 - Daisy Sicairos
2019 - Pria Jackson
With the generous support of the SCS, I was able to spend my first post-undergrad summer as an assistant square supervisor at the ancient site of Tel Keisan in northeast Israel.
This site, currently being excavated by the University of Chicago, has shown signs of occupation from the early bronze to the Byzantine period. While this was not my first archaeological excavation, this was my first experience with archaeology of the Mediterranean. I spent four weeks picking up and honing a plethora of new techniques for handling and understanding the archaeology of sites that encompass such an extensive span of time.
In fruitful addition to the actual digging, I also got the chance to both take part in group excursions to other sites around northern Israel, providing a survey of the regions archaeological history, and to attend many engaging lectures exposing me to several sub-fields, from A(rchaeobotany) to Z(ooarchaeology). As I continue on into classical archaeology, I am sure to utilize the new skills I gained during my stay in Israel. I give my greatest thanks and praise both to the University of Chicago team and to the Society for Classical Studies diversity committee for helping me to have such an enriching experience!
2018 - Lotukalafi Ahomana
I would like to thank the Society for Classical Studies for their generous contribution to my education, and their assistance to students like me everywhere pursuing their passion for Classical Studies. Their scholarship made it possible for me to attend the Lechaion Harbor and Settlement Land Project, which gave me hands-on experience in the field of archaeology at an active site near Corinth, Greece.
During this field school, I worked to excavate an ancient Roman harbor alongside several dozen other students from all around the globe. There we sifted, sorted, dug, and recorded for six weeks while peeling back the layers of time at the harbor located in the northeast Peloponnese. I was able to pick my way into Greece’s past and brush off the dust to reveal just what the Ancient Romans and Greeks left behind for us. On the weekends we travelled the country, visiting various sites of interest like Mycenae, Epidauros, and Nemea. The field school provided unsurpassed experience for students looking to take lecture-based knowledge and use it in the field, as well as provide the opportunity to visit some of the most iconic places in Greek history. Whether it was walking through the ancient sites, learning Greek to communicate with the locals, or digging trenches in an ancient harbor, Greece was all around us in everything we did. To immerse oneself in so much modern culture and ancient history was an unforgettable opportunity. For many like myself, it was an incredible experience to turn a class course into a reality, and it only deepens one’s love for the classical world.
I would like to thank both directors of the excavation, Dr. Paul Scotton and Dr. Angela Ziskowski and for their work in coordinating the excavation for the last several years. This of course wouldn’t even exist were it not for their tireless work. Further, I would like to thank the SCS again for giving me the opportunity to make a dream come true. To see the beautiful country of Greece and to work in the field of archaeology has been an experience I will never forget. I am determined now to ensure that it will not be once in a lifetime.
2018 - Sneha Adusumilli
During the summer of 2018, I had the privilege of excavating in central inland Tuscany, Italy at the Poggio Civitate Archaeological Project. Before this time, I had little familiarity with classical archaeology as a discipline, or any type of archaeology for that matter. I had studied Latin for most of my life and also found a passion for science and medicine. Having been a student of classics and a prospective physician, I was interested in classical archaeology and the ways in which the discipline could enhance my world view. I extend my sincerest thanks to the Society for Classical Studies for the Minority Scholarship in Classics and Classical Archaeology, without which this truly memorable learning experience would not have been possible.
In learning the basics of archaeology as a first-year student, I was surprised to realize how multidisciplinary the excavation team was. The team included not only those who excavated and supervised on site, but also conservators, photographers, biologists, botanists, and illustration artists. I admired the value that all these people contributed to the accurate discovery, identification, and communication of the information obtained from Poggio Civitate.
Poggio Civitate was the site of a once thriving community, which collapsed in a somewhat mysterious and abrupt manner in the 6th century BCE. The Etruscan site is well known for evidence of particular buildings which suggest its inhabitants were of an elite class. While the way in which the community was disbanded remains to be elucidated, one focus of current and future work at Poggio Civitate concerns how the commoners of the community lived and worked. During my training, I learned much about the character and lifestyle of its inhabitants. For example, I was impressed by the skillful construction of many of Poggio Civitate’s buildings, some having been built with a decorative “lateral sima”, a gutter system to divert water runoff from the roof. The “Workshop” structure on Poggio Civitate is where various types of manufacturing took place and was built in this way. This area is where I spent much of my time excavating.
By stepping into the shoes of an archaeologist, I gained a greater appreciation for both the physical labor and the intellectual curiosity required to be productive in the field. The first-year students rotated among four trenches at the site each week, allowing us the opportunity to learn about various areas of the site and work with people who have diverse experiences and perspectives. At the site, I learned to discern stratigraphic layers, take measurements, and use my trowel for many excavation purposes. I also practiced how to differentiate among types of pottery, including terracotta, slip ware, and bucchero (which was unique to the Etruscan population).
Additionally, each of us spent approximately one day per week in the Magazzino, the conservation laboratory for the excavation. Here, I learned a great deal about how archaeological finds are conserved and catalogued once they arrive from the field. For instance, I practiced properly cleaning terracotta, bronze, and slag in addition to learning different techniques for adhering broken pieces back together. As a life scientist, I enjoyed learning about the chemistry involved in many conservation techniques as well.
As a physician, I ultimately hope to be involved in interdisciplinary approaches to medicine. Medicine is a humanistic practice, and I believe that an understanding of the ways in which different people live and have lived in the past is necessary to practice medicine with compassion and empathy. Not unlike archaeology, much of the practice of medicine involves analysis of the past. Whether in taking patient histories, analyzing genetic risk factors, or even in developing prognoses, physicians must be able to take the past into account and use it to make predictions about the future. During my time at Poggio Civitate, I experienced firsthand how archaeology and medicine are similar in this way.
2018 - Zaidimary Barreto
2017 - Linda McNulty
This scholarship made it possible for me to continue my study of Greek at a level far beyond what I would have access to at my undergraduate institution. Your generosity has made a huge difference to me. Below is a summary of my experience in the Greek class that I took this summer thanks to the support from the SCS.
During the Summer of 2017, I traveled to Washington, D.C. where I worked at an internship and thanks to generous scholarship funds from the SCS, took an upper division Greek course at the Catholic University of America. Under the direction of Dr. William McCarthy, myself and my intrepid classmate Alec began to read Sophocles’ Trachiniae. This was my first exposure to reading Greek tragedy, and careful examination of the play’s metrical variations and metaphors allowed me to more deeply understand the characters in and action of the play. The class was incredibly challenging, but immensely rewarding, too, in that it was the first full work I have ever read in the original Greek from beginning to end. Throughout the length of the class, I managed to triple my reading speed, become familiar with Sophocles’ style and vocabulary, create my own poetic translation of a passage from Ajax for my final exam, and ultimately earn an A in the class.
2017 - Samantha Morris
Quomodo dicitur in Latine, “The five weeks I spent with the Paideia Institute at their 2017 Living Latin in Rome program contained the most enjoyable, educational, and inspirational moments of my life”? “Quomodo dicitur,” (followed by a beautifully long English sentence filled with ablative absolutes and result clauses) began each site visit during my time in Rome. After repeating the English sentence once or twice more, an instructor would then ask students, at random, to render the sentence into Latin. At first, I admit, I was nervous; yet it was precisely this constant exposure to the language that helped me grow immensely during my time with the program. From my first afternoon at the banks of the Tiber to my final evening at Piazzale Garibaldi, I experienced Latin as an unreservedly living, breathing language.
When I reflect on my time in Rome, the wonderful people with whom I lived and learn first come to mind. The 36 students in the program came from a vast array of colleges and universities across the United States. There were undergraduates, graduate students, and even some people who had already begun teaching Latin in middle- and high-schools. There were students studying Latin and Classics, of course, but also students studying Veterinary Medicine, English, and Engineering. Learning each day in such a diverse intellectual environment opened my mind to the many ways that Latin pervades people’s lives and helped me celebrate my unique relationship with the language. In class, we were split into groups of six to twelve students in order to read Latin about the next day’s site visit with one or two instructors. Together, we staged a scene from Plautus’ Pseudolus at the theater in Ostia, organized a debate in the Colosseum on whether the gladiatorial games were good for the city of Rome, and recited poetry at Horace’s Villa.
During most of our site visits both within and outside of the city, we were divided into alternate groups of six students, allowing us to get to know and read Latin with more people than those in our class. These were the people with whom I hiked to the top of Mt. Vesuvius, explored Renaissance literature in Florence, and spoke solely in Latin while within the walls of Pompeii. Additionally, each time we read Latin, one of over ten instructors constantly encouraged and supported our progress, challenging us to rediscover the language in ways we never had before. For the first time, I discussed a Latin text while speaking entirely in Latin, learned the 14 ways to form a purpose clause, and finally starting to conceptualize the language as something that I can make my own.
In my first week with the program, I awoke in the middle of the night, having dreamt completely in Latin. By my final week, I had recited Cicero in the Roman Forum, surrounded by nearly 50 new friends and colleagues. Due to this program, my knowledge of Latin has never been more thorough, and my passion for the language has never been so strong. Thank you to the Society for Classical Studies for giving me this tremendous opportunity by helping me attend The Paideia Institute’s 2017 Living Latin in Rome Program. Not a day has passed that my thoughts haven’t returned to Rome and the life-changing experiences I had there.
2017 - Perla Azucena Castillejos
2016 - Allie Pohler
2015 - Guadalupe Terrones attended the CUNY Latin and Greek Summer Institute
2015 - Megan Esparsa I’m very grateful that I was chosen to receive the SCS Minority Scholarship in Classics and Classical Archaeology this past summer. Because of this generous award, I was able to return to the Villa del Vergigno Archaeological Field School in Montelupo Fiorentino, Toscana, Italia.
The Villa del Vergigno Archaeological Project is a collaboration between Concordia College, the University of Wyoming, Sistema Museale of Montelupo Fiorentino, and the Italian archaeological Coopertiva ICHNOS. The site is a villa rustica in the mid-Arno River Valley of Northern Tuscany inhabited from the late 2nd/early 1st century BCE to the 4th century CE. Last year in addition to being a first time excavator and learning the ins and outs of archaeology from experts, I had the opportunity to process and study legacy data from the site’s first excavations in the early 1990’s, which were in the residential area of the site. For that season, I proposed to the director a specific research project that examined the finds from the foundation levels of the villa to determine whether or not they came before or after the Roman period of northern Tuscany, in order to better determine the continuity and transition between the Etruscan and Roman periods of the region. An additional important part of that project was beginning a catalog of the ceramic evidence for a free, open-source, online database.
This past summer, a fellow student and I finished processing the legacy data from the residential area of the villa. The finds were in boxes which were marked based on the stratigraphic layers in which they were found. I was most excited by the boxes with lots of burnt pottery and ceramic slag. I realized then that I was interested in the technological aspect of daily life in the ancient world. I was also very intrigued when we processed a brick with a worker or shop owner’s name on it. It made me curious about how the production of bricks, tiles, and various types of pottery was organized and about the social statuses of the people who ran and worked in production centers in ancient Etruria. This past field season was very transformative and has helped prepare me for professional level research. The experience has given me ideas to possibly pursue for research when I begin my graduate studies in Classical Archaeology at the University of Arizona next fall.
I want to give special thanks to everyone who ran the Villa del Vergigno Archaeological Project this summer: Dr. McKenzie Lewis, Francesco Cini, Eva Cincar, Lorenzo Cecchini, Andrea Violetti, Giulia Gallerini, Anna Mastofrancesco, and Samanta Santini. You have all taught me so much about good archaeology and our group couldn’t have been luckier than to have you! I also want to thank our wonderful hosts, the Spagni family at the Palazzo del Capitano for making us all feel so welcome and giving us a home away from home.
2014 - Michelle Martinez I want to sincerely thank the Society for Classical Studies for awarding me the Minority Scholarship in Classics and Classical Archaeology for summer 2014. With the award I was able to attend the Kea Archaeological Research Survey and field school on the island of Kea. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to broaden my knowledge of Greek archaeology and contribute to my overall education as a classicist.
The Kea Archaeological Research Survey (KARS) and field school was an amazingly rewarding experience. Directed by Dr. Joanne Murphy from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the KARS project is focused on testing the validity of field survey data in Greek archaeology over time while also digitizing the landscape and increasing the sample size of finds on the island. In accordance with the goals of this project, we were taught about archaeological theory and methodology and how it played into this particular project - differences between intensive and extensive, diachronic and period-specific, surface and subsurface, and phase I and phase II survey, and the history of past surveys and excavations done on the island and in mainland Greece.
In addition to the theoretical aspects of the project, we received lots of practical experience in the field. In phase I survey, we learned how to follow azimuths and spot sherds in areas of low visibility, plunging hands into the extra thorny vegetation to pull out a diagnostic sherd victoriously. We also conducted phase II survey at areas of ceramic or lithic densities, gathering a representative sample of material from our lines and quadrants to turn into our Apotheke counterparts. I spent a week more in the Apotheke than most other students in the field school recovering from an ankle sprain which (although painful) afforded me the opportunity to become more familiar with ceramic material and shapes as well as the appearance and characteristics of obsidian, chert, and slag which helped me spot material in the field all the more effectively. We learned how to wash, catalogue, photograph, label, and sort pottery in the Apotheke under the direction of Natalie Abell, who was always ready to impart knowledge about the finds - from identifying late Bronze Age coarse ware to spotting Byzantine glazes.
My experience on the KARS project not only taught me about Kea itself, but the week of site tours in Athens, Corinth, Isthmia, Nemea, Mycenae, and Tiryns complemented the art and archaeology courses I had taken at my home institution, the University of Cincinnati, while also providing a larger context for the Latin and Greek texts I've studied as a concentrator in Classics. Just a month after I arrived back from Greece, I translated Callimachus' Acontius and Cydippe episode for class - which featured descriptions of Kean countryside and a verse summary of the Kean historian Xenomedes. This experience in class underscored my commitment to archaeology and philology strengthening and informing one another to provide a more complete and contextualized experience of the past.
I am very grateful for the unforgettable experience in Greece and the fantastic people I met both on the project and on the island itself who made the project so rewarding for me. Special thanks to Joanne Murphy, Linda Whitman, Shannon LaFayette, Natalie Abell, Megan Schaeffer, Billy Ridge, Giannakis Timotheou, Maeve McHugh, Dora Lambert, and Kailey Rocker for teaching me on the project. Thanks also goes to my professors and recommenders Dr. Valeria Sergueenkova and Dr. Barbara Burrell for providing me with such a solid foundation in language and material culture.
2014 - Kevin Garcia attended a summer session of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece.
2013 - Mariah Lapiroff This past summer, I used the funds generously provided to me by the APA Minority Scholarship to take an intermediate intensive German course at UC Berkeley. The course has improved my abilities to read, write and converse in German with a fair amount of facility. We spent the 6 weeks of the intensive doing a variety of conversation, culture and reading activities 3 hours per day, and also reading a German play, Der Besuch Der Alten Dame. Thanks to this course, I now possess significant mastery of German grammar, have a broader vocabulary and am able to read real German texts. This new knowledge enables me to read primary German literature, to consult German Classical scholarship and to make etymological connections between Indo-European languages (German, Latin and Ancient Greek). I believe all of these skills will prove useful to me in graduate school and my subsequent career. Currently I am a first year graduate student in the University of Massachusetts – Amherst’s Masters in Arts and Teaching in Latin and Classical Humanities program.
2013 - Briana Marie Reyes In the summer of 2013 participated in an archaeological dig near Orvieto.
2012 - Mahmoud Akeen Samori In the summer of 2012 the generous funding provided by the APA’s Minority Scholarship in Classics and Classical Archaeology allowed me to participate in the Columbia University’s stratigraphic excavations of the Villa San Marco in ancient Stabiae as well to attend the 14th Congressus Internationalis Epigraphiae Graecae et Latinae in Berlin. As an aspiring ancient historian these experiences were invaluable for me.
At Stabiae our team, consisting of graduate and advanced undergraduate students from Columbia as well as students from the Freie Universität of Berlin and the Università degli Studi del Molise, conducted the second season of stratigraphic excavations at the Villa San Marco as part of Columbia’s Advanced Program of Ancient History and Art. The program consisted of four weeks of excavations, weekend field trips to other sites in the Vesuvian area (Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the villas Arianna and Oplontis), and seminars on historical, art historical, and archaeological subjects concerning ancient Campania and the history of its investigation. The work was exhausting and amazing. The training in taking measurements, drawing plans, using trowels, axes, and shovels, handling finds, and interpreting the relationships between various stratigraphical was priceless as was learning to how archaeologists approach historical questions and decide where to excavate.
After the excavation I went with one of my teammates to the Congressus Internationalis Epigraphiae Graecae et Latinae, staying in Berlin for a week a German students who had dug with us at Stabiae. Being exposed to such an international society of scholars at the Congressus was a truly inspiring experience. I left the conference with a newfound excitement for the possibilities of digital epigraphy and a desire to broaden my epigraphic studies, which had previously focused on Italy, to extend to the bilingual inscriptions of the Anatolia and the epigraphic remains of ancient Egypt.
My experiences this summer working and studying alongside professional scholars were invaluable and have brought new energy to my studies while fueling my aspiration to become a professional historian. My deepest gratitude goes to the APA for allowing me these opportunities and I look forward to continuing to engage with the scholarly communities I have had the privilege of working with for many years to come.
2012 - Nicole Gonzalez This summer I used the scholarship that I received from the APA Minority Scholar to participate in an excavation in Crete, Greece. From mid-June to the end of July I excavated with a team of students from Brock University, Wilfrid Laurier University and Trench Master Lee Ann Turner at the site of Gournia. Gournia was first excavated by Harriet Boyd Hawes in 1901 through 1904. She excavated the center of the Minoan town, revealing cobbled streets, houses, a central court, a palace and a cemetery. Of all the Aegean sites on Crete, Gournia is the best site to see what a Late Bronze Age town looked like. I had the opportunity to excavate room 16 located in the palace. Most of the season focused on excavating the site, while others surveyed the site for next year. We produced quite a bit of pottery, some of which had very intricate designs, and stone tools. The pottery that was found in the destruction debris dated to Late Minoan 1B and everything below that dates to Late Minoan 1A. I also had the privilege of going to other sites, museums, and beaches on the island such as Zakros Minoan Palace, Malia Minoan Palace, Phaistos, Knossos, Karfi, Mount Juchtas, Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Via, Agia Triada and a few sites on top of mountains. Not only did this excavation teach me a lot and prepare me for future excavations but it was an unforgettable experience.
2011 - Trisha J. Tolentino This past summer, I used the funds I received from the AIA/APA Minority Scholarship to participate in excavations in Cyprus and Macedonia. From late July to early September, I excavated with a team of students and archaeologists affiliated primarily with the University of Edinburgh at the site of Prastio-Mesorotsos. Prastio has consistently proved itself to be one of the most interesting sites in western Cyprus, if not the whole of Cyprus itself, because it has evidence of cultural material from virtually every period of human occupation, starting from the Neolithic all the way up to its abandonment during modern times in the 1950’s following an earthquake. This season’s work focused mostly on excavations and a brief period of survey, and the trench I worked in showed clear evidence for multi-period inhabitation, at least during prehistoric times.
After digging in western Cyprus for five weeks, I finished off the season by returning to the place where I attended my first field school at the site of Stobi, in the Republic of Macedonia. I chose to dig here last year for my first field school because my interest in Roman provincial archaeology in the Balkans and Central European region, and Stobi proved to be an excellent site with remains from Hellenistic, Roman and early Byzantine periods.
2011 - Sarah S. Malik took an upper-level Latin class at the CUNY Summer Institute
2010 - Mario Morales took an intensive Latin class.
2010 - Timothy Castillo: This past summer I was able to take a summer intensive course in Greek at the University of Texas at Austin. I had just graduated with a B.A. in Ancient Mediterranean Studies at Trinity University back in my hometown of San Antonio, Texas. I had developed an interest in Classics by chance, really. One semester I had room for an elective in my schedule, and I decided to take Latin. “It would be good for me,” I thought at the time. After two semesters of experience with the culture and a few encouraging talks with my professor, I just knew that this was exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. In the following semesters, I took as many Classics course as I could in order to fulfill the major by the time I graduated. Unfortunately with the way the language courses were scheduled at Trinity, I was unable to get much experience with Greek. Given that I wanted to study Classics at the graduate level, this presented a problem. I decided to take the summer intensive course at the advice of one of my professors. The problem here was the simple matter of a few thousand dollars. Through the APA scholarship, I was able to pay for the majority of the tuition costs at UT-Austin. It was intense, to say the least, but I’m really glad I went through it. We read Herodotus, Lysias, Homer, Euripides, and Plato, and to be able to do that over the course of a single summer is quite an experience. I’m really thankful I was able to have that experience. I’m now pursuing my M.A. in Classics at Tulane University in New Orleans and keeping pace with the other students in my graduate level Greek course. After I’m done here, I plan on getting my Ph.D in Classics in the hopes of becoming a college professor.
2009 - Manuel Andino: My time with the six-week Classical Summer School Program at the American Academy in Rome was a delightfully enriching experience that I will treasure forever. It was an honor to be among some of the brightest minds in Classics, from teachers to graduate students to full professors. The course was more than an in-depth focus on the archaeological, historical, and epigraphic world of the ancient Romans. It was also an opportunity to meet with other classicists with varied fields of interest, who helped enhance my understanding of the ancient Roman world. We began with the foundation of Rome and the Etruscan influence, visiting many sites such as the huts of Romulus, and places in Etruria. We learned of the various types of masonry employed in Roman construction, such as ashlar, tufa, and the multiple forms of marble. We trekked through all kinds of difficult terrain, with the hot sun blazing, yet we all woke up each morning with a surplus amount of energy excited to learn what new wonders were awaiting us.
2008 - Issis Palomo: My interest in Classics began in ninth grade when I took Latin, and later expanded to the ancient world in general when I took an art history class the following year. In addition to the almost mathematical precision of the Latin language, I was fascinated by the slides of ancient temples, cuneiform tablets, and long-lost cities that out teacher showed the class. Currently, I am majoring in Classics at Columbia University, and will attend Summer Session I of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. There I hope to expand my knowledge of Greek culture and language by having the immediate, hands-on experience of visiting archaeological sites around the country and living in Athens for six weeks. After graduation, I plan to pursue further study of Classics, as well as of Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations.
2008 - James McCaffery: As an aspiring classicist at Brooklyn College, I have been able to pursue a connection to the ancient world through its history and language. My study of and passion for Greek and Latin convinced me to pursue an undergraduate degree in Classics, and have dedicated myself to developing not only a mastery of the languages of the ancient world but an understanding of the culture of another world.
It is my intention to focus my studies not only on understanding the great movements of history, but the experience of the individual in his day-to-day life. I believe there is as much merit in experiencing the past on the smallest scale as there is in understanding the most significant historical events. To this end I have focused much of my undergraduate work to the study of ancient sexuality, religion, and household life.
After obtaining my undergraduate degree, I intend to continue my graduate studies and eventually pursue a PhD in the field of classical studies. This scholarship affords me an invaluable opportunity to study at the Classical Summer School at the American Academy in Rome, enabling me not only to study in the heart of the Empire itself but to study alongside the youngest and brightest graduates and instructors in the field.
2007 - Krystel Khalid: My passion for studying the classical world began when I took my first Latin class in high school. As an entering freshman, I was uncertain of what the study of Latin entailed, but I eventually discovered a genuine passion for it. This interest in the classical world led me to pursue my undergraduate degree in Classics at UC Davis.
Since I have studied classics at the university level, while pursuing a double-major in cultural anthropology, I have become greatly interested in the anthropological aspects of the ancient world as well. I hope to center much of my graduate studies in Roman poetry and comedy, while focusing on aspects of society such as the cultural constructions of gender, the characterization of "the other," and the ancient institution of slavery.
After completing my Master's Degree in classics, I hope to be able to pursue a PhD in classical archaeology, as I feel that it would best combine my passion for classics and anthropology. In order to make the transition from a classical literature program to an archaeology program, I know that I need to thoroughly prepare myself, and participate in archaeological programs abroad. Receiving this scholarship will allow me to be involved in an excavation in Romania this summer, at the Tropaeum Traiani site; the award has enabled me to gain access to an opportunity I would not have otherwise had, an opportunity that I hope will provide the foundation for a strong training in classical archaeology.
2007 - Christopher Bravo: My major at the University of Southern California was Classics, with a minor in Psychology. My favorite areas of study are the Hellenistic Mediterranean, Interactions between Ancient Greece, and the "Other."
Classics offers a rare insight into a world thousands of years before our time, which in itself is very intriguing. But more than anything, I believe the study of Classics is an attempt to recreate a world that while similar to our own, is in many ways very different. Trying to understand both these similarities and differences is what has grabbed my full-interest as a student.
My most immediate goal is to attend graduate school and eventually obtain a Ph.D. in Classics. After that, my ultimate goal is to become a renowned researcher and inspiring teacher in the field.
2006 - Chika Okoye (Hunter College of CUNY): I attended the summer program of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens' Summer Program. I am finishing my degree in Classics at Hunter College and plan to apply to graduate programs for next fall.
2006 - Anna Gonzalez (University of Texas at Austin): With my scholarship I pursued a directed study at Pergamon Museum in Berlin and studied intensive German at Goethe Institute. I am currently working full time as an Administratie Associate in the Offic eof Sponsored Projects (i.e. grants) at U.T. I plan to teach for a year in high school and then apply to graduate schools.
2005 - Ada Chiaghana (Baylor University): I attended the Baylor in Italy Program. Then I tranferred to the University of Southern California, where I am a junior. My major is Classics.
2004 - Amanda S. Kimura (Creighton University): I attended the American Academy in Rome's Classical Summer School and am now a fourth-year graduate student in Classics at the University of Texas-Austin.
2003 - Albertus Gerhardus Almeida Horsting (The University of Chicago): I attended the Intensive Summer Intermediate Latin Program at the University of Chicago. I was enrolled in the Graduate School at University of Michigan-Ann Arbor but now have transferred to Nortre Dame University, where I am in the program of early Christian studies.
2002 - Allyssa Lamb (University of Washington): Attended Summer courses at the University of Washington, where she earned a B.A. in Classics and a BA.A in Ancient and Near Eastern Studies, 2004
2004 Rhodes Scholar
M.Phil. in Egyptology, Oxford, 2006
Now working on doctorate at University of Chicago.
2002 - Michael Thomas (Louisiana Scholars' College at Northwestern State University): I attended the Intensive Greek Program at theUniversity of California-Berkeley and then took the University of Pennsylvania Post-Baccalaureate Program in Classics. I received an M.A. from Northern Illinois University in Philosophy.
Now I am a doctoral student at the University of Chicago on a five-year fellowship in Philosophy and the Committee on Social Thought.
2001 - Yasuko Taoka (Grinnell College): I took the SUNY-Brockport's Mythological Study Tour in Greece and am now attending Ohio State University.
2000 - Emily Claire Jusino (College of William and Mary): I attended the College Year in Athens Summer Program. I received an M.A. in Classics from University of Chicago, where I am now working on my doctorate in Classics. My special interests are in Classics and Theater.
1999 - Leshawn Smith (Baylor University): I attended the Baylor in Italy program directed by Alden Smith and Timothy Johnson.
1998 - Cecelia Hernandez (UCLA): I attended UCLA's Greek History program in Greece directed by Professor Mortimer Chambers.
1997 - Rachele Fisher (University of Oklahoma): Studied in Egypt under Professor Rufus Fears.
1996 - Kattai Pfeiffer Barrow (Loyola University New Orleans): I studied at the CUNY Greek Institute and received my MA in Classics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
1995 - Emily Tse (University of Pennsylvania): I studied Stylometrics of Latin prose at UCLA with Bernard Frischer, worked on the Philodemus project, won the Pearson Prize, and attended graduate school at Cambridge University.
1994 - Matthew Gonzales (University of Texas-Austin): I studied at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and then earned doctorate in Classics from the University of California at Berkeley. Now I am an Assistant Professor of Classics at St. Anselm College and a member of the Minority Scholarships Committee.