08/26/2026
This summer, the Center for Hellenic Studies hosted the Scholars-In-Training Program (SIT), an initiative cosponsored and previously held through Harvard’s Department of the Classics. Seven high school students from the DMV area were selected to participate as scholars-in-training, and for six weeks, they explored Greek antiquity through classes, workshops, and activities.
From Monday to Friday, our scholars devoted themselves to the study of the Ancient Greek language. In addition to their language training, students were led through a workshop on classical receptions every Tuesday afternoon. Informed by our students’ diverse interests, the workshop explored the rich afterlife of ancient Greece in contemporary environments and debates. Topics for the workshop ranged from contemporary reimaginings of Greek tragedy to discussions of race and ethnicity in antiquity. On Thursday afternoons, students participated in a professional development workshop meant to prepare them for undergraduate study in the humanities. Some sessions of this workshop focused on developing specific skills, like the critical reading of secondary literature. Others explored the wide range of methodological and occupational possibilities inherent in the study of Greco-Roman classics.
In addition to our daily activities, students were encouraged to participate in the Center’s summer programming. SIT students found themselves in conversation with Gareth Hinds and Suzanne Lye as they discussed the process of adapting Homer’s Odyssey into a graphic novel. They also participated in an ancient perfume workshop, where they were able to produce their own perfumes using reconstructed ancient recipes. Finally, and in almost poetic fashion, the end of summer afforded students and instructors the opportunity to watch Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey as a group and to discuss it using the tools developed over the course of the program.
