Crown Point High School Latin teacher Angela Taraskiewicz has been awarded the Katherine Keene scholarship to attend the 2024 Summer Session at The American School of Classical Studies in Athens. The Summer Session is a highly competitive academic program open to undergraduate and graduate students, high school teachers, and university professors whose research and teaching involves the study of ancient Greek and Roman archaeology and material culture. 

Taraskiewicz said she applied to the program because she studied abroad in Greece during college, which impacted both her research and career path. “I wanted to get closer to the archaeology I studied in my research but was never actually able to visit in person and learn from other experts in the field,” she said. Her Ph.D. thesis explores how childbirth rituals at kourotrophic sanctuaries in ancient Greece served to help reintegrate the mother and child back into the community following childbirth. “Although I teach Latin at Crown Point High School, not ancient Greek, the two areas of study are not as isolated as they may seem. The program will allow me to revisit a wide range of Greek sites and museums and re-consider the Greek and Roman material, all of which I hope will enhance my classroom teaching and how I coach my Certamen teams.”

Founded in 1925, the six-week program provides a unique opportunity for scholars from all over the world to learn from eminent archaeologists and art historians on-site at various spots throughout Greece including Athens, Thebes, Corinth, Delphi, Olympia, Mycenae, Sparta, and all of Crete. “Greece is a country with a rich cultural and historical heritage: the people are welcoming and hospitable, the landscape is breathtaking, and the food is fantastic,” Taraskiewicz said. “Walking through Athens, one is constantly reminded how waves of historical events and cultural interactions have combined to create our modern landscape.”