挑战经典

If you’re going to talk to dead poets 和 orators, it helps to speak a dead 语言.

但对于23岁的萨凡纳·沃尔格林来说, the tongues of ancient Greek 和 Latin have never been more alive than they are today at 圣赌博平台网站大全, 他们刚从哪里毕业 古典语言 主要. 来自休斯顿的明星研究员，喜欢挑战, 他们的工作让他们阅读了奥维德的作品, 荷马, 和西塞罗.

“I like a challenge, 和 Greek 和 Latin definitely give me that,萨凡纳说. “我喜欢我可以在经典中做的事情的广度:历史, 社会学, 文学, 语言, 把所有这些都纳入到研究中. 并且能够阅读他们的母语文本, which gives you an insight into people who lived so long ago but had such similar, 人类的经验.”

萨凡纳, who eventually wants to teach at the university level 和 plans on pursuing a Master of Arts degree 和 Ph.D. 在赌博娱乐平台网址大全, says they're ready for this next challenge thanks to four undergraduate years of challenging academics spent in a flexible liberal arts environment, 在研究方面有很强的实践机会, 并得到了敬业的教职员工和亲密的朋友团体的支持.

寻找人文学科 

It was 萨凡纳's love for another type of classics—classical music—that initially led them to 赌博娱乐平台网址大全. “我吹笛子, 想演奏长笛, 但也要去一所学术优秀的学校.” 

即使在爱上了之后 古典学系 第一年，萨凡纳还能继续在学校里吹长笛 赌博娱乐平台网址大全交响乐团 在他们的赌博平台网站大全中. 这就是一所灵活的文理大学的生活, where the vast 主要ity of musicians aren’t required to be music 主要s to be part of such ensembles.

“在大一的时候，我选修了一门人文学科的课程, 因为我听说这很难, 我想做最难的那个,萨凡纳说, 笑. “我记得我们的一位教授能做到这一点让我印象深刻, 你知道, 读希腊, 我就说, “I 我希望能够做到这一点!”

在学习经典(和音乐)的时候!)在赌博娱乐平台网址大全, 萨凡纳 spent the 主要ity of their time grappling with the big questions asked of students in the humanities, 研究人类经验的核心学科的集合.

“I feel like it's important to study the humanities because I feel like that's the creation of art 和 history. That's kind of what gives life meaning 和 what makes humans special,萨凡纳说. “你学习它是为了在我们前进的过程中记住过去发生的事情. I think studying the humanities also gives us different ways of looking at things than you might get coming from a [STEM] perspective. 这是观察世界的不同视角.”

关注教师

萨凡纳从一个专门的, undergraduate-focused set of 赌博娱乐平台网址大全 faculty who emphasize h和s-on opportunities in 和 outside of the classroom.

“我学的所有古典文学课程都很棒，”萨凡纳说. “我们这里有一个很棒的部门，尤其是[博士]. 蒂姆]奥沙利文. 我和他一起上了很多课，做了很多研究, 和 he's just really great at interacting with students 和 creating a dynamic environment in his classroom.”

萨凡纳 (left) worked closely with classical studies professor Tim O'Sullivan on various research projects during their time at 赌博娱乐平台网址大全.

萨凡纳 says not many people associate cutting-edge research with the classics: “When you think of research, 你会想到科学实验室和试管, 这可能有点令人困惑, “好吧, 如果你研究的是希腊语或拉丁语，你会怎么做呢?’”但是在赌博娱乐平台网址大全, students in the humanities get to approach their subjects with the same rigor 和 support as any student in a white lab coat.

“我很幸运能在校园里参与很多研究, basically as soon as I started classics my first semester that I started taking Greek,萨凡纳说. “I mostly heard about it through older students that were helping me learn about our classics program, 我就是这样发现了这些不同的机会.”

Although they began as a first-year with zero experience, 萨凡纳 quickly 太k flight. 从已故古典文学教授科琳·帕奇博士开始.D.关于翻译和抄写古代诗人荷马的中世纪手稿 《赌博平台网站大全》 和 奥德赛萨凡纳随后加入了奥沙利文的独特 "罗马世界实验室" where they analyzed some speeches by classical orator Cicero creating a database of all the metaphors he used. 

实验室工作

O’Sullivan’s “Roman World Lab” is a perfect example of how students like 萨凡纳 get to research the classics in a unique, 赌博娱乐平台网址大全的支持性环境.

不像很多一次性的, 一学期经典项目, this lab fosters long-term partnerships between students like 萨凡纳 和 faculty like O’Sullivan. 这段经历给萨凡纳带来了好处, who ended up doing further summer research (和 their senior thesis) with O’Sullivan as a mentor.

2022年夏天，萨凡纳是赌博娱乐平台网址大全的一员 梅隆大学暑期本科生研究奖学金, which provides not only housing 和 stipends for faculty-student research teams to work over the summer but also travel funds for them to present their work at national conferences.

萨凡纳说:“我真的很感谢有这个机会. “I was able to stay at 赌博娱乐平台网址大全 over the summer 和 have eight or nine weeks to just do research, 为我可能需要的任何东西筹集资金, 也可以去旅行. And it was also great that we had meetups once a week with the Mellon students because having that support with other students 和 faculty who were also doing humanities research was really nice. We all unders太d what kind of stress or struggles there were in doing this type of research. 大家都很支持我.”

萨凡纳 和 O’Sullivan’s work culminated in a project called The Portrayal of Mothers in Ovid's 变形记这本书考察了奥维德在这首有名无实的诗中对母性的描绘. 这个项目反过来又导致了萨凡纳的毕业论文，Felicissima Matrum奥维德笔下母性身份的建构 变形记.”

“I looked at how motherhood is portrayed in poems that were written during a time of political change under Rome’s first emperor,萨凡纳说. 罗马刚刚从共和国过渡到君主政体, 有很多新的控制 固定 对女性施加压力，迫使她们回归传统角色.”

这是古代人类的经历和现代的影响.

“我看了这些诗，想知道怎么做 这一观点 正在受到(当时)其他艺术家的挑战，”萨凡纳继续说道. “我认为这也很重要，因为, 在一般情况下, 尤其是在经典作品中, 有一段非常厌恶女性的历史. So, I think it's really important to draw focus to women in the histories that we study 和 especially on mothers.”

支持系统

即使面对具有挑战性的话题和毕业论文的截止日期, 萨凡纳 says they drew energy from their tight-knit group of friends 和 family.

“I have a lot of friends in 和 out of my department who are all similarly ‘wired,很多时候，我们都因为学业而感到压力和不知所措,他们说. “每当我感到不知所措时，这些朋友总是能理解我, 我们互相支持. My family is also very supportive of me, 和 they were really great during my time here.”

萨凡纳 (center) connected with a tight-knit group of fellow classical studies students 和 researchers at 赌博娱乐平台网址大全.

除了他们真正的朋友和家人, 萨凡纳 had faculty members who filled these roles as well during challenging times.

“过去的一年, 申请研究生院和完成论文都非常困难,萨凡纳说. “老师们真的帮了我很大的忙, providing the support 和 help in courses 和 在一般情况下 with coping with everything else.”

萨凡纳’s next big challenge might be the hardest one of all: leaving their friends 和 faculty mentors at 圣赌博平台网站大全.

然而，这是他们在四年后准备好的一场比赛.

“我觉得我已经成熟了很多，开始有了自己的风格,在教室内外都有,萨凡纳说. “赌博娱乐平台网址大全 has helped me 和 taught me to value my own ideas 和 contributions not just within the classroom but to my community.”

有一天，当他们的铭牌上写着“Dr.在前线, 萨凡纳 says they want to help the next generation of classics researchers ask big questions, 太.

“我在赌博娱乐平台网址大全遇到了很棒的教授,他们说, “所以我想努力为未来的学生做到这一点, 太.”