Fall 1967
James Farris: I attended ICCS in the fall of 1967. Bill Anderson and John D'Arms were our professors. I recall some heated table tennis matches with John at the Ulisse Seni site. I went on to teach Latin and English at Jefferson City High School for almost 30 years. My students participated in 10 tours back to Italia and later adult tours began. My 16th and final trip with a group back to Rome will be in the summer of 2011. Seven of my former students are now Latin teachers. I retired in 1999 but still teach some at Westminster College in Fulton, MO. ICCS has provided me and my 1500 students over the years with an inspiring and compelling love for Classical Studies. I will never forget the wonderful adventure that was the fall of 1967. Grazie.
Photo of James taken at the tomb of St. Benedict in Montecassino.
"Si amas me, mandata mea serva."
-Jn. XIV:XV
Spring 1981
David Beaulieu: The road for me from the Centro to where I am now has been a long and convoluted one. But if one is going to travel such a road, one's journey might as well start out in Rome, since the Romans were the greatest road-builders!
When I returned to the U.S., I entered into a master's program, which I completed in '83. I was all ready to pass Latin on to the next generation. There was only one problem: Temperament-wise, I just wasn't cut out for teaching young teenagers. At least it didn't take me long to reach that conclusion. By '85 I had entered my "Green Acres" phase: I moved out into the country to get away from it all, running a greenhouse business with my ex. The idea was to take advantage of the bucolic setting to continue my reading.
But as a long-term plan, that move didn't work out either. "Green Acres" eventually deteriorated into "Funny Farm." Upon my return to the rat race, I landed a job with "The Wall Street Journal." And here's where I caught a break: When the company downsized, I had just enough seniority to qualify for a retraining allowance. I went back to school to take a long-delayed plunge into the world of computers. Building on these studies, I applied for a position with About.com. It has turned out to be my dream job! Responsible for all the content in the Landscaping section, I am able to pursue my two great loves simultaneously: writing and working with plants. Please visit www.landscaping.about.com to see what I mean. It's not the Georgics or De Re Rustica, but I'm the leading voice on the Web for the subject of landscaping and the job more than "puts food on the table."
Fall 1998
Hilary Becker (neé Smith) is presently Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics at Davidson College and Jeffrey Becker is Visiting Assistant Professor of Archaeology in the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World at Brown University. Additionally, Jeffrey is the managing director and a principal investigator of the Gabii Proejct, with which ICCS has just entered an informal agreement.
Spring 2009
Gabe Baker: After my Spring 09 at the Centro I completed my year at Oberlin College. I graduated with high honors in Classical Studies and Comparative Literature, and my thesis was on Plato and textual interpretation. I spent another summer working for the Great Books Summer Program at Stanford, and then got hired to start the Latin department at the Pacific Hills School in Los Angeles. It is hard to exaggerate how much I am indebted to my experience at the Centro, and I enjoy staying in touch with my fellow Centristi as we chart our courses through this vast world.