Major(s): Anthropology
Minor(s): Archaeology, history, classics
Year in school: Senior
Hometown: Pleasanton, NE
Why did you select your major and minors? Were there any experiences that convinced you to declare?
I've always had a deep obsession with history, a love for learning about people, and a love of the classics. I just want to spend my life learning and answering questions about the past. Anthropology and archaeology provide me with a chance to do that.
What is your favorite course you have taken from your programs and why?
It's a bit difficult to choose just one course. I loved taking "Experimental Archaeology" with professor Phil Geib even if my experiment didn't turn out as I had planned. I will always have fond memories of Greek 101 with professor Anne Duncan. Professor Geib was always available to ask questions and I was never afraid to approach him with issues I was having with my studies, that and all the help he offered to conduct my experiment really made the class. Professor Anne Duncan taught me Greek after I had already failed it once under another professor, and managed to take something that seemed insurmountable and make it pleasant. Now, I am finishing Greek 302 in my last semester, and though I still have a lot to learn, I have made strides I never thought I would.
Who have been some of your strongest mentors or role models here?
Most professors whose classes I took were role models during my time at UNL, and I hope I can emulate in some fashion or another each of them:
- Professor Effie Athanassopoulos, who has been in charge of my undergraduate research project (UCARE) for these last semesters. She introduced me to many elements of archaeology that I might not have found a deep interest in otherwise, and strove to teach me to seek my own answers.
- Professor Phil Geib has been someone who, since my first archaeology field school course with him in 2018, I always felt I could reach out to ask endless questions. He, to a large degree, taught me what I know of how to be an archaeologist.
- Professor Steinacher, a history professor who I only managed to take one class with, still was amazing to learn from and "History of Espionage and Intelligence" reminded me of why I chose to pursue this path, a deep obsession with history, more so history that is convoluted.
- Through Professor Vanessa Gorman, beyond the numerous history courses that I took instructed by her, I learned what I viewed as an ideal history class structure. She always went out of her way to provide students with every tool she could to better learn a subject and was a professor I was always delighted to talk to.
- From Professor Anne Duncan, I learned Greek when I wasn't sure if I could learn it. She was a professor who during my more stressful periods at UNL went out of her way to make sure I was managing, offering unfiltered advice that helped me keep moving forward. I could not have asked for a better professor.
What kind of research are you involved in?
Under the direction of professor Effie Athanassopoulos, myself and another student began working on a numismatic collection.
What are you involved in on campus?
I was semi-active in the classics club, and participated in the Homerathon in my first year at UNL, as well as a few other classics events.
What are your plans after graduation?
I just hope to find a job in Lincoln and finish up some work with professor Athanassopoulos dealing with the numismatic collection. Then I'll probably head on to pursue a graduate degree, though who knows with the world we live in.
