Standout Students Win 2021 Awards
June 14, 2021
Caroline and Harrison relaxing at Athienou, Cyprus
For the first time, the department gave the W. Kendrick Pritchett Award in Classics to two seniors: Harrison Dinsbeer from Fleming Island, Florida, and Caroline Webster from Lexington, VA.
The award is named for a Davidson graduate from the class of 1929 who became a distinguished professor of classics at the University of California, Berkeley. The award goes to a senior who shows the characteristics for which Pritchett was known: distinguished academic performance, personal integrity, and love of ancient literature, history and archaeology.
Harrison’s citation reads:
“Harrison Dinsbeer is “all in” for Classics. His career at Davidson and abroad testifies to this enthusiasm: no fewer than twenty courses in Latin, Greek, and Classical Studies. Gregarious, charismatic, and kind, Harrison has served as president of Eta Sigma Phi, organized a classics basketball game, and led the campus in mourning the sudden tragic loss of a dear friend.”
Caroline’s citation reads:
Caroline’s senior capstone paper illustrates the qualities that she has brought to every course in classics— a creative mind and insightful perspectives, clearly and elegantly expressed. Her use of iconography, literature, and history to explore the body of the Roman Vestal Virgin not only models beautifully the interdisciplinarity of the field, but also demonstrates her range of perspective and inquiry.
“We’re so proud of both Caroline and Harrison,” said department chair Peter Krentz. “They represent an unusually close group of senior classics majors, including Isaac Scharbach, who died last summer. We will miss them all.”
Left to right: Grace Gardner ‘24, Jackson Renfro ’24 and Alexa Montgomery ’24
Grace Gardner ‘24, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, won the Outstanding Student Award from the Society for Classical Studies. The award goes to the first- or second-year student who does best in the major gateway CLA 111 class.
Jackson Renfro ’24, from Fayetteville, Arkansas, received a Classical Association of the Middle West & South (CAMWS) Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in Classical Studies. This award goes to the top student in elementary Greek.
A second CAMWS Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in Classical Studies, given to the top first-year student in elementary Latin, went to Alexa Montgomery ’24 from Sanford, North Carolina.
Congratulations to all!
