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My interest in classics started in elementary school, when my mother bought me The Usborne Book of World History. I would spend hours reading about the Greek and Roman civilizations and drawing illustrations of the ancient battles. While taking college courses in high school, a great instructor, Kelly Cantrell, pushed me toward history—which eventually became classics—and made me think this could be a realistic area of study.

My experience at Ole Miss was unique. I came in as a junior by credits since I graduated from high school with an associate’s degree, so I started on a limited timeline. I began taking upper-level classics courses immediately.  

I have fond memories of my first two classics courses: Slavery in the Ancient World and Introduction to Ancient Greek. They introduced me to the field of classics and to the great faculty in the department. Dr. Jonathan Fenno would become my main honors thesis advisor, for which I wrote on the gender dynamics of women in Sophoclean fragments (about which I knew nothing when I enrolled at Ole Miss three years prior), and he would introduce me to the Koine Greek reading group. This group vastly improved my Greek comprehension and challenged me to think critically and academically about primary sources.  

With guidance from Dr. Fenno, Dr. Molly Pasco-Pranger, and Dr. Brad Cook, my participation in the classics department took off. I was involved in Eta Sigma Phi [local chapter of the national honorary collegiate society for students of Greek and Latin], I was taking both advanced Greek and Latin, and I was the Greek and Latin tutor for the department in my final year at Ole Miss. This culminated in my final semester of undergrad abroad in Rome at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies. I was informed about this program by Dr. Pasco-Pranger, for which I cannot thank her enough. The program changed my life: living abroad, being taught by world-class faculty on-site, and meeting lifelong friends. 

I have attended the University of Georgia and completed a master’s in Greek and Latin, for which I wrote a thesis creating a model for ancient genocide. While at UGA, I taught several courses I had taken at Ole Miss, including Greek Culture and Introductory Latin.

I have given talks on my research in classics at several academic conferences. I have had 30+ pieces of literature, such as poems and short stories, published in magazines and anthologies around the world, and am working on my first chapbook of poetry.

Currently, I am a Peace Corps Volunteer teaching English as a foreign language in Kosovo. After my stint is finished, I plan to return to graduate school to earn an MFA or a PhD and then teach at a college or university to continue my lifelong goal of teaching and learning.

For any prospective student at Ole Miss, I would say that be open to trying everything. Plans change, and so do people. The faculty across Ole Miss is inviting and excellent, so branch out and try it all, even those classes you never thought you’d take. You may find a best friend, a mentor, or a completely different pathway in life

I will never forget the contributions of the classics faculty at Ole Miss to my life; they shaped me as a scholar and as an educator and person. The wisdom, patience, and advice they have given me are things I can never fully repay them for, but I’d like to think I’m trying my best whenever I step into a classroom as an educator.

πολλῷ τὸ φρονεῖν εὐδαιμονίας πρῶτον ὑπάρχει
To think is by far the greatest part of happiness.
—Soph. Ant. 1348-1349