Hillsdale College Students Receive Top Honors at National Eta Sigma Phi Convention
Current and former students exhibit their talents in Greek and Latin studies
Hillsdale, Mich.— Hillsdale College celebrates the accomplishments of current and former students who received top honors at the 91st Annual Eta Sigma Phi Convention.
“The study of classics lies at the heart of a liberal arts education, and so it’s a vital part of the academic life of Hillsdale College,” said Carl Young, visiting assistant professor of classics and faculty advisor for Eta Sigma Phi at Hillsdale College. “We are so proud to see our students’ efforts recognized nationally. Their talent and dedication to the study of Greco-Roman antiquity is quite impressive.”
Eta Sigma Phi is a national collegiate honor society for students of Greek and Latin classical studies. The first convention was held at the University of Chicago in 1925, and each year since a local chapter has hosted the convention, which features presentations by students and faculty from across the country.
At the 2019 convention, held March 22-24 at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, Hillsdale College juniors Emma Frank, Dalton Sala, and Emma Clifton were honored for their academic accomplishments. Sala won three awards for translation: first place in advanced Latin, second place in Latin prose composition, and third place in intermediate Greek. Frank presented a paper, “What We Leave Behind: Catullus’ Use of Vestigia in Catullus 64,” and won the Theodore Bedrick Travel Scholarship to the Vergilian Soceity’s Summer Program. Clifton’s paper, “Lucretius’ Legacy in Mathematics: Past and Present Resonances,” was one of four papers accepted nationally for presentation at the Eta Sigma Phi panel during the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Classical Studies.
In addition, Hillsdale alumnae Cate Larsen Bryan and Hannah Dixon McConnell were recognized for writing and performing an original composition with Christian Sanders, a young artist with the Minnesota Opera. The piece, part of a song cycle titled “Aeneid Series,” was inspired by scenes between Dido and Aeneas from Virgil’s Aeneid, a Latin poem written between 29 and 19 B.C.
For more information about Eta Sigma Phi and the annual convention, click here.