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Classics Department announces award winners

By Kari VanDerVeen
May 20, 2009

ClassicsParthenon
The St. Olaf College Department of Classics has announced that several students won national and regional contests in classical studies. The department also announced the winners of the annual competition for the Loomis Endowed Academic Award in Latin and the Groton Endowed Academic Award in Greek, plus the recipient of the annual Groomis Grant.
  • Hilary Bouxsein '09, a classics and philosophy major from Evanston, Ill., received two prizes in the Maurine Dallas Watkins Contests at the national convention of Eta Sigma Phi. The classics honor society for college and university students awarded Bouxsein second prize in Advanced Classical Greek and second prize in Koine Greek. President of Delta Chi, St. Olaf's chapter of Eta Sigma Phi, Bouxsein will begin the Ph.D. program in Classics at the University of Virginia in the fall. St. Olaf has the best record of any school in the country in the Maurine Dallas Watkins Contests, with at least one winner every year since 1980.
  • During the Eta Sigma Phi convention, Thomas Halvorsen '10, a classics major from Edina, Minn., ran for national office and was elected Megas Hyparchos (Grand Vice-President) for the 2009-10 academic year.
  • The Classical Association of the Middle West and South named three St. Olaf seniors -- Bouxsein, Cory Holec and Nathan O'Keefe -- winners of Awards for Outstanding Accomplishment in Classical Studies. Holec, a Latin education major from Madison, Wis., will teach middle-school Latin next year in Norfolk, Va. O'Keefe is an ancient studies/Latin/history major from Burnsville, Minn.
  • Bouxsein also took first prize in the St. Olaf College Department of Classics' eighth annual competition for the Groton Endowed Academic Award in Greek. Students who entered the contest had one hour to translate an elegy by the Spartan poet Tyrtaeus (7th century B.C.). Second prize went to Peter Moench '09, a classics and English major from Eagan, Minn. Third prize went to David Estle '10, a Classics major from Tybee Island, Ga. The Greek contest is named for Professor of Classics Anne Groton, who endowed the award.
  • Halvorsen also took first prize in the Department of Classics' ninth annual competition for the Loomis Endowed Academic Award in Latin. Students who entered the contest had one hour to translate a poem in hexameters by Marbod of Rennes (11th century A.D.). There was a tie for second place between Bouxsein and Jennifer Easler '10, a classics, English and medieval studies major from Fredricksburg, Va. Third prize was awarded to Martin Shedd '11, a classics and music major from Ashburnham, Mass. The Loomis contest is named for Kenneth and Kathleen Loomis and their son, Stephen Loomis '97, who endowed the award.
  • Elizabeth Creager '12, from Grand Rapids, Mich., won the fourth annual Groomis Grant Competition. Groomis Grants are intended to defray the cost of Classics-related summer projects undertaken by St. Olaf students, and Creager will use the award to attend the 62nd Annual Institute of the American Classical League at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Groomis Grants are funded from the earnings of the Groton and Loomis Endowments.

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.