Randolph-Macon College student Nadhira Hill ’16 was recently named a recipient of a Society for Classical Studies (SCS) Minority Summer Fellowship for 2016.

“The Department of Classics is proud that Nadhira has won this lucrative, highly competitive and prestigious award,” says Classics Professor Greg Daugherty, the Shelton H. Short III Professor in the Liberal Arts. “We are especially pleased that she will be able to use it to prepare for graduate work in our field. She has already been accepted into several Ph.D. programs.”

The SCS Minority Summer Fellowship
The purpose of the Fellowship is to further students’ preparation in classics or classical archaeology with opportunities not available during the school year. Candidates are judged on the basis of their academic qualifications, especially in classics; the quality of their proposal for study particularly as preparation for plans after graduation; and financial need. Fellowship winners can enroll in classical summer programs or field schools in Italy, Greece, or Egypt, or language training at institutions in the U.S, Canada, or Europe.

Hill has chosen to participate in the Paideia Institute’s Living Latin in Rome program. During the intensive, five-week program, participants will read selections of the most important texts from across the history of the Latin language, including the late antique, Patristic, medieval, Renaissance and modern periods.

The program’s goal is to provide an intensive and continuous period of study of Latin while helping participants form strong emotional connections with Latin literature and culture. Students will experience interactive visits to important historical and literary sites in Rome, lectures in English on different aspects of Latin and its literature, and weekend trips to important sites outside of Rome.

Nadhira Hill ’16
Hill, a classical studies and archaeology major, had been interested in European history since high school, and at RMC she became fascinated by Greek and Roman history and archaeology after taking a freshman course, Irreplaceable Resources, team-taught by Professors Chas. Gowan (biology and environmental studies) and Elizabeth Fisher (archaeology and classics).

“I feel so passionately about my majors because my professors and classmates are passionate about them,” says Hill. “I love being around people who inspire me to continue learning. I wouldn’t be happy in any other field.”

Mentorship
Hill, who plans to earn a Ph.D. in classics or classical archaeology, says her professors have been “phenomenal” during her four years at RMC.

“Professor Fisher is the reason I became an archaeology major, and she encouraged me to participate in Athenian Agora excavations during the summers of 2014 and 2015. I was awarded a Niarchos Fellowship both years.” Each year, qualified RMC students travel to the Agora, which once served as the center of economic, social and intellectual life. Students work for eight weeks at the site, sifting through history and honing their archaeological skills. RMC Professor John Camp II is the director of the Agora dig and holds the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Professorship in Classics. Students who participate in the excavation are known as Niarchos Summer Fellows and are funded by the foundation.

“Professor Daugherty helped me through the graduate school process and is one of the reasons why I fell in love with classics,” says Hill. “I always looked forward to his classes—even though they started at 8 a.m.!”

Hill is also grateful to Classics Professor Bart Natoli, who mentored her when she did research for her senior thesis. Hill used mainstream philology and feminist theory to interpret a 5th century vase and point out its intertextuality with Iliad 3. She presented her paper at the Virginia Undergraduate Research Symposium for Classics in November 2015 and submitted a longer version of it with her graduate school applications.

“I honestly don’t know where I would be today without these fantastic professors,” she says. “Thanks to them, I plan on becoming a college professor.”