Eta Sigma Phi/Classics Club

Classics Club is open to all interested Truman students and meets weekly with the Eta Zeta Truman chapter of Eta Sigma Phi, the national honorary classics society.
In 2008-2009 they sponsored a number of academic and social events. The fall’s “Classics Alive and Kicking” Series included a Classics Mixer, Quiz Bowl, Oratoria Ciceronia, as well as an event at which students and faculty read Book 9 of the Odyssey aloud in Greek. In the spring, members learned strategies for sight reading at the February event "Love at First Sight: Tips for Successful Sight-Reading in Latin and Greek." This event proved helpful, as many of our members participated in the Eta Sigma Phi Translation Contests the following week. Congratulations to Van Le, who won second place in the Latin Prose Composition contest! They also hosted two guest speakers in the spring: Yasuko Taoka of Southern Illinois University presented a lecture on the ancient world in modern cinema entitled "Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt: Are Those Who Cannot Remember Homer Condemned to Repeat Him?"; Jackie Murray of Skidmore College presented a lecture on Hellenistic poetry and culture entitled “Poetically Erect: Erinna and Nossis in Herodas 6 and 7.” Finally members showed off their Latin reading skills at the Vergil Vigil, where students and faculty read aloud Book II of the Aeneid. Members and interested students alike were invited to all events, and all levels of classical knowledge were welcome.

 
In addition to these events, the students of Classics Club/Eta Zeta chapter also continued some of their own “classic” events, such as the Greek Dinner in the fall and the Italian Dinner in the spring. Members have spent time together informally with movie nights and in vocabulary study groups called “Vocabulary Victory.” They have also continued our semi-annual Homerathon (public recitation on the quad): in the fall, we read 15 books of the Odyssey; in the spring, we read 12 books of the Iliad. This event always reminds the whole campus of how awesome the world of Homer is; they routinely gain new club members as a result. Also in the interest of developing relationships with fellow students of Classics, they made two trips this year: several members helped out at the Missouri Junior Classical League Convention and two members went to the Missouri Senior Classical League Fall Planning Meeting. They designed and sold two different t-shirts as a fund-raiser. Finally they inducted ten new members at a ceremony on April 18.
 

Adviser: Dr. Bridget Thomas

Congratulations to our newest Eta Sigma Phi initiates (April 18, 2009):
    Claire Albrecht
    Christine Anderson
    Alyson Collins
    Grace Culler
    David Giovagnoli
    Carrie Hantak
    Emily Lecaque
    Lauren Milburn
    Sarah Spradling
    Curtis Westbay
 

Link to national Eta Sigma Phi page.