Two Students Take National Honors at Translation Contest

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 2, 2016) — Two University of Kentucky students in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures received high honors at the recent Maurine Dallas Watkins National Greek and Latin Translation exams, sponsored by the Eta Sigma Phi honorary society for classical studies.

Sophia Decker, a classics and linguistics freshman, placed first in the Advanced Latin division, second in Advanced Greek, and first in Latin Prose Composition. Drury Bell, a classics and mathematics sophomore, received an honorable mention in Advanced Latin.

Decker, who took Latin classes in high school and taught herself Greek, came to UK with the career goal of becoming a professor of the classics. “UK's classics program is, in my opinion, the very best in the country,” she said.

“Thanks to professors Terence Tunberg and Milena Minkova, UK is the only university in the entire country that offers classes with Latin as the language of instruction. There are even several informal opportunities to speak Latin and ancient Greek every week.”

“Sophia Decker's achievement is unparalleled since no classics program nationwide can boast to have placed a single student in the top positions in all three competitions for the last five years,” said Valerio Valeri, assistant professor of classics and Eta Sigma Phi advisor.

He added that the students’ achievement “is no mean accomplishment given the national scope of the contest. In the past, we have had other students who did quite well … but our students' latest feat is on a different scale; it was nearly a clean sweep of all the advanced competitions for UK and the classics program this year.”

Eta Sigma Phi sponsors the annual translation contest for students of Greek and Latin at schools with active chapters. The contest has been conducted for over 60 years and is named in honor of American playwright Maurine Dallas Watkins. The general mission of the society is to develop and promote interest in classical study among college students; to promote closer fraternal relationship among students who are interested in classical study, including inter-campus relationships; and to engage generally in an effort to stimulate interest in classical study, and in the history, art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome.

Valeri added that students must be enrolled in an ancient Greek or Latin course at the intermediate or advanced level to be eligible to compete in one or more of these categories: classical Greek (intermediate or advanced level), Koine Greek, Latin (intermediate or advanced level), or Latin prose composition (advanced level). After students take the written exams at UK in late February, their papers are mailed to a distribution center and sent out from there to be evaluated anonymously by judges at universities elsewhere in the country. The winners receive monetary awards as well as national recognition.

“Both Sophia and Drury are gifted students who have been taking courses in Hellenistic poetry and Latin composition,” Valeri said, adding that in Latin composition, instructors and students speak Latin exclusively.

The Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Kentucky is integral to the goals of the College of Arts and Sciences. The mission of the department is to advance the understanding and appreciation of language and cultural study through fundamental research and education domestically and abroad. The department seeks to fulfill this mission through comprehensive teaching and training at the undergraduate and graduate levels, original research advancing knowledge in the study of language and a vast array of cultural products (art, film, folklore, literature, music, mythology, religion, theatre), service to communities within and outside the Commonwealth and outreach in the schools to fulfill needs with respect to language instruction and cultural awareness.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Gail Hairston, 859-257-3302, gail.hairston@uky.edu