The Sol and Esther Draznin Endowed Scholarship is given each year for outstanding work in the study of ancient Greek, with some preference for Cowell College students (as the donor is a Cowell alum). Because the award is intended to encourage students to pursue the major, strong preference is given to underclassmen.
Skylar Widmann is a junior transfer student in Cowell College at UCSC. Fall quarter was her introduction to Classics, specifically Ancient Greek, so she was surprised to find herself prioritizing Greek over all other coursework when it was intended as a ‘fun’ elective. Over a somewhat lengthy academic career sampling several different majors, Skylar found her home in the Classics department and finds the challenge of Ancient Greek translation both humbling and addictive; the UCSC mascot of a banana slug reading Plato feels like a suspiciously apt depiction of the time it took for her to finally find a major she loved. Prior to this year her life goals included being a publications editor or stay-at-home dog mom but the study and translation of Ancient Greek has her wanting to instead pursue a teaching credential in order to introduce a love of classical studies to young and impressionable minds.
