Anna Barnett is a concentrator on the Greek and Latin track. Her research interests include Jews and Judaism in antiquity, and their experiences under the Roman Empire, as well as Modern Greek studies and language. She has been an editor and contributor for the Brown Classical Journal from 2019-2023. Outside of Classics, she has dedicated (almost) all her spare time to the Ursa Minors, one of Brown’s all-treble voice a cappella groups. She will spend the next year in Athens, Greece as a part of the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Program. Anna would like to thank all her professors for their help and support over the past four years. 

Extra-Curricular Activities

• Musical Forum MFMFF Music Director (2020)
• Musical Forum MFMFF Accompanist (2022)
• Ursa Minors A Cappella, 2019-2023 (Music Director 2021-2, Business Manager 2022-3)
• Brown Classical Journal, Contributor & Editor (2019-2023)

David is pursuing an A.B. with concentrations in Classics (Latin Track) and History, with a focus of U.S. Foreign Policy Post-World War II. At Brown, David specifically enjoyed studying Medieval Latin, Modern Middle Eastern History, and U.S. Interventionism. David also spent his junior year abroad studying Classics and Politics at St. Anne’s College at Oxford University. David would like to thank Professor Pucci—his first-year adviser, five-time professor, and thesis overseer—for his invaluable guidance, aid, and teaching during his time at Brown. In the Fall of 2023, David will be attending the University of Virginia School of Law.  

Extra-Curricular Activities

• Brown Classical Journal, Associate Editor (2019-2023)
• Brown Journal of World Affairs, Managing Editor (2021-2023) & Section Head (2019-2021)
• Brown Undergraduate Law Review, International Section Head (2022-2023) & Associate Editor (2020-2022)

Brett, son of Scott and Ellen, brother to Hope, hails from Williamstown, New Jersey. A dual concentrator in Classics and Applied Mathematics-Economics while an undergraduate at Brown, he was also a starting lock on the college's 2022 National Championship rugby team. After graduation, Brett plans to move to New York City to start a job in finance, where he hopes to explore and absorb the culture, especially the food scene, and continue reading Latin lyric.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

• Men's Rugby

Leyla is a double concentrator in Classics and Health & Human Biology while also pursuing the pre-medical track. Leyla is from New York City and is passionate about women's and children’s health in addition to being interested in global health issues surrounding disparities in the access to and quality of healthcare. She has loved being able to study Classics and Biology, as she has been able to combine her love for ancient history and Latin with medicine. Brown has given her the opportunity to engage deeper with the study of ancient history and mythology and think about the implications of Classics in our modern society. Leyla especially loves to tutor Latin and will hopefully continue to do so after graduation! At Brown, she is a tutor with BRYTE, Brown Refugee Youth Tutoring and Enrichment program, and she has worked in clinical research labs studying the predictors of adolescent obesity and pediatric asthma self-management intervention. In her free time, she is a competitive volleyball player and loves to coach!

Extra-Curricular Activites:

• Brown University Club Volleyball Member/Libero (2019-2023)
• Brown Circle of Women, Project Development Chair (2020-2023)
• Brown Students for Saving Mothers, Vice President (2021-2023)
• Women’s Health Advocacy Group, Vice President (2022-2023)
• Frontline Women's Public Health Magazine, Writer & Editor (2022-2023)

Isaiah Goldsmith will be graduating in December 2023 with a concentration in Classics and a certificate in Data Fluency. Isaiah first fell in love with the Classics while he was in kindergarten and, though the quality of his writing has improved a bit over the last 15 years, his underlying passion for the field has remained the same. At Brown he has particularly enjoyed his classes on Greek and Roman history with Professors Oliver and Russell, respectively, his Eclogues and Georgics class with Professor DeBrohun, and all of his classes with Professor Pucci, to whom he is immensely grateful for four year of wisdom, guidance, and support. Isaiah has had the honor of serving as co-president of the Classics DUG for the last two years and, beyond the Classics, he has served as a head teaching assistant for Brown's graduate and undergraduate data ethics survey courses. Isaiah was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior and, after his final semester, which he will be spending in Granada, Spain, he plans to join Boston Consulting Group in their Boston office.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

• Classics DUG, Co-President (2021-2023)

Roman is a Classics concentrator from Brooklyn, New York. He came into Brown having studied Latin for six years and decided to expand his horizons by trying out Ancient Greek. His favorite upper level Classics courses have included LATN 1110A: Apuleius and GREK 1110H: The Odyssey, and he has also greatly enjoyed the history and reception courses offered in the department. Outside of Classics, Roman is also concentrating in Computer Science - Economics and will be working as a software engineer after graduation. He is grateful for the breadth of his education at Brown and the community of interested, open-minded individuals he has encountered through the Classics Department

Extra-Curricular Activities: 

• Computer Science Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (2021-2022)
• Brown Outing Club Leader (2021-2023)

My world changed once I read the Odyssey in my 7th Grade English class, and from then on, I just fell in love with Greek and Roman mythology with its dynamic characters and intricate stories. I pretty much read any book I could get my hands on (although I never read the Percy Jackson series), being hooked on delving deeper into the vast lore and complex storytelling. After coming to Brown, I realized that while I was way behind in my Latin and Greek, I found that there were others just as nerdy as me when it came to my passion for muthoi and fabulae.  Throughout the past four years, I’ve been learning both languages while constantly having the mythological context always at the back of my head. Everyone from the quirky professors to the incredible TAs have made my time worthwhile. In a weird way, I feel like I’ve personally talked to Cicero, Tyrtaeus, and Lucretius. There have been fun times, busy times, scary times, but it has all been instrumental in creating the classicist I am today. After graduation, I plan to work as an equity research associate at CitiGroup. Everybody always asks me how a classics concentrator fits into a job in finance, to which I always reply that it’s my avid curiosity and critical thinking taught by some of the brightest minds in history that has shaped me into who I am.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

• Brown Classical Journal, Editor (2019-2021)
• Brown Kendo Club [Japanese swordsmanship], Team Captain (2021-2022)
• AlefBeats [Brown's Jewish a capella group], Beatboxer (2021-2022)

Avery Lack is a senior Classics concentrator at Brown University. With a passion for the ancient world, Avery has spent her academic career studying the languages, literature, and history of Ancient Greece and Rome. She has also taken courses in archaeology, mythology, and epic poetry to deepen her understanding of classical civilization. After graduation, she plans to pursue a graduate degree in Ancient Mediterranean History and Archaeology from the University of Pavia.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

• Scholars of Finance (2020-2023)
• Brown Women's Collective (2020-2023)

Opal Lambert is originally from Los Angeles, California. She is interested in disability studies in Classics, Medieval manuscripts, the late Roman Republic, and early Latin literature. In her free time, she likes to read and play with her cat. After graduation, Opal is planning to pursue Classics at the graduate level and hopes to work in education, academia, or a museum.

Edan Larkin is a graduating senior concentrating in History and Classics from Hingham, Massachusetts. Her research interests primarily concern ancient disease, microhistories, gender and sexuality, early Christianity, archaeology, community-building, literature, and politics in the Late Antique and Early Medieval Mediterranean world. Outside classes, she stayed very involved in student organizations, including Brown College Democrats, Meiklejohn Peer Advising, Brown Elementary Afterschool Mentoring, Providence Youth Advocacy, Brown Undergraduate Law Review, and Brown Classical Journal. She will be studying History as a Ph.D. graduate student at the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences beginning in the Fall.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

• Providence Youth Advocacy (2019-2023)
• Brown College Democrats (2020-2023)
• Meiklejohn Peer Advising (2020-2023)
• Brown Elementary Afterschool Mentoring (2020-2023)
• Brown Undergraduate Law Review (2020-2023)
• Brown Classical Journal (2021-2023)

Jimmy Leroux is a Senior in Classics on the Greek and Sanskrit track. Originally from Severna Park, Maryland, he started taking Latin in middle school from a really awesome teacher and never stopped. When he’s not in class, he’s reading, napping, hanging out at the Catholic Center on campus, or staring at a wall trying to convince himself to do homework. His favorite classical writers are Plato (of course) and John Cassian (only the greatest monastic writer of the fifth century). Next year, he’ll be working at charter schools for Seton Teaching Fellows. 

Abby is graduating with a concentration in Classics, on the Latin track. She has always been interested in languages and the Greco-Roman world, thanks to the many Greek mythology books she read as a child! Within the department, she is particularly interested in Latin lyric poetry and reception studies. After graduating, she will be matriculating to medical school.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

• Brown Classical Journal, Editor (2022)
• Chemistry Tutor (2020 - 2023)
• Connect for Health, Advocate and Head Team Coordinator (2020-2023)
• Yajima Lab, Undergraduate Research Assistant (2020-2023)

At Brown I have studied Classics on the Greek and Latin track and International and Public Affairs (Security). In Classics, I have especially enjoyed the study of Greek and Roman historiography. For the last two years I have been one of the editors-in-chief of the Brown Classical Journal, which has given me the opportunity to read and edit some of the best undergraduate work produced at Brown. We are currently working on a rewrite of the editors’ manual, so if anyone has suggestions for how to improve the Journal, I am eager to hear them. Outside of the Classics Department, I recently completed a senior thesis in IAPA on Caribbean insurgencies against U.S. occupation in the early 20th century. I plan to continue this research at the Georgetown Security Studies Program, which I will attend next year.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

• Brown Classical Journal, Editor-in-Chief for Vol. 34 & 35 (2019-2023)
• Brown/RISD Young Democratic Socialists of America, Vice-chair (2021-2023)
• Member of Brown's champion Intercollegiate Poker Association team (2022)

Felix is a Classics concentrator in Greek and Sanskrit. He plans to attend graduate school at Harvard University in the fall, where he will study Classical Philology.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

• Brown Classical Journal, Editor & Contributor (2019-2023)

Catherine Nelli is a graduating senior who studied Sanskrit Classics, Comparative Literature, and International and Public Affairs. She will be completing a Fulbright-Nehru Open Study/Research Award in India in 2023-2024 before attending graduate school to continue studying Sanskrit.

Colin has absolutely loved his time studying Classics at Brown. As an excited first year student, Colin was sure that Latin literature would be his exclusive area of focus. An enthralling series of courses with Professor Pucci (where Colin met his girlfriend, Kate!) and a fantastic course on epistolography with Professor Bodel reaffirmed his love for Latin, yet the breadth of the department offerings encouraged him to venture into Greek History (with Professor Oliver), Achaemenid History (with Professor Olvier), Late Antiquity (with Professor Conant), Roman History (with Professor Bodel), and Greek Literature (with Professor Nieto and Professor Scafuro). At every turn, Colin has felt supported by a deeply caring faculty and by passionate peers, and he is so thankful to have been a part of such a dedicated community. Colin, leaving high school, could have never imagined that, by the end of his time as an undergraduate, he would be writing a thesis on Hellenistic History (he did not know what "Hellenistic" meant). Along with everyone at the Brown department to whom Colin is extremely indebted, he would like to thank Professor Matthew Leigh and Dr. Jonathan Katz, two influential tutors from his year at Oxford, for their extreme hospitality and rigorous encouragement. The support of Colin's parents means the world to him, and he is very grateful for their willingness to humor his objectively annoying and surely incorrect theories about Greek history. Studying Classics has always been an "easy sell", but only because he has loved it so much. After graduation, Colin plans to work as an investment analyst at Insight Partners.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

• Brown Classical Journal, Editor & Contributor (2019-2022) & Editor-in-Chief (2022-2023)
• U.S. Epigraphy Project, Contributor (2021-2023)

Achievements

• Visiting Student, St. Anne’s College of the University of Oxford (2021-2022)
• UTRA Grant Recipient (2021)
• Lafayette Sabine Foster Prize Exam 1st Place (2023)
• Lucius Lyon Thesis Prize Award (2023)
• University of Georgia Undergraduate Classics Conference, Presenter (Canceled due to COVID)
• University of Tennessee Undergraduate Classics Conference, Presenter (2021), Repurposing Luttwak: Interrogating the Actions of Persia during the Corinthian War

After graduation, Cassandra plans to work outside of academia.

Sophia will be graduating with a double concentration in Applied-Math Economics and Latin. She completed an honors thesis—“From Piranesi to Pieces: the Cultural History of a Roman Epitaph”—based on research she had done for Brown’s U.S. Epigraphy Project. She is especially grateful to her professors in the Classics department, who have continuously supported her ambitions. In her free time, Sophia likes to draw and eat with friends. She will be leaving Providence to pursue a Master’s in Library and Information Science at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

• U.S. Epigraphy Project, Research Assistant
• Library Special Collections, Student Assistant

Srinaath is concentrating in the Sanskrit track of Classics, alongside Chemical Engineering. His main interests are translation, Sanskrit poetry, and Indian classical music. Srinaath is planning on attending graduate school to continue studying Sanskrit as well as other Indian languages.

Riley is a graduating senior from San Francisco, California studying Classics and Political Science. She has been involved with many different organizations at Brown, including UCS (student government), Model UN, and Brown Political Review, among others. In Spring 2022, Riley studied abroad in Athens, Greece. Riley has also done research on campus in the Political Science department about European countries and their viability for a green transition, and this spring was a TA for a Classics course about the role of classics in comparative contemporary literature. She wrote a Classics thesis, which interrogated the use of identity-based definitions and categorization in the Ottoman Empire and its aftermath. On campus, Riley has won multiple fellowships, including the Edward Guiliano fellowship to conduct an ethnographic study in her ancestral Greek village, and the Taubman Fellowship from the Watson Institute, in which she studied Rhode Island’s immigration policies from a comparative perspective. She has wide-ranging academic interests, but – aside from Classics – is broadly interested in politics, history, and philosophy, and the intersection between these disciplines. After graduation, Riley will be moving to London to work in finance.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

• Classics & Comparative Literature, Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (2023)
• Brown’s Watson Institute, Research Assistant for Professor J. Nicholas Ziegler (2022)

Kate Van Riper is extremely grateful to the Classics department for providing such an intellectually exciting, welcoming, and engaging home for her over the past four years. She would like to thank her parents Ran and Kristie for supporting her educational journey, her high school Latin teachers Ms. Wu and Dr. Lisowski for introducing her to the world of Latin, Professor Pucci for mentoring and encouraging her from the first day of freshman year to today, Professor Debrohun for guiding her in studies of Latin literature and especially Virgil, and Professor Bodel for illuminating Roman art, culture, and history for her. She is also graduating with a concentration in English, and she hopes to bring her love of literature to her work as an elementary school teacher next year at the Lower School at Greenwich Academy. She looks forward to keeping in touch with the Brown Classics community in the future and returning for as many Latin Carols as possible!

Extra-Curricular Activities:

• Brown Classical Journal, Editor & Contributor (2019-2023)
• The Brown Noser, Staff Writer (2019-2023) & Editor-in-Chief (2023)

After graduation, Matthew hopes to explore industry before deciding whether or not to return to academia. 

Helen Zhou is a concentrator in Classics and Neuroscience, with a particular interest in Homeric poetry, ancient medicine, and the philosophical works of Philo of Alexandria. After graduation, she is teaching pre-kindergarten in Miami, FL as part of an Americorps service year.

Extra-Curricular Activities:

• Brown Classical Journal, Editor & Contributor (2020-2023)