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Careers: Other Careers

Medical Intern

Medical school is quite time consuming!! I graduated in May [2003 from Johns Hopkins Medical School] and have recently started my internship at Johns Hopkins. I decided to pursue a specialty in Psychiatry, so I will complete a year of Internal Medicine and then three years in Psychiatry training at Johns Hopkins Hospital. I was fortunate to match for my residency at Hopkins. It has been quite a challenging four years, but I finally made it! . . . I really credit my ability to make it through medical school to the many critical thinking and communication skills I gained as a result of my Latin education at Dickinson!

Molly Cummings Gavin
Class of 1999

Manager, [Golf] Course Rating Services

I was a golf professional for two years following graduation at a small club in South Carolina and at Blue Ridge CC in Harrisburg. While playing in some smaller tournaments during the winter in Florida, I met an LPGA touring professional. She offered me a job as her full-time caddie. During the next three years I traveled throughout the United States and to some other countries caddying for several LPGA golf professionals. A once in a lifetime experience.

In early 96 I felt it was time for a change. I went searching and tried ... several different jobs. I attempted to secure a teaching job, however, after several letters and only a few interviews, nothing of the sort materialized. I returned to Florida to re-start my golf career. During a long afternoon thunderstorm I started "surfing the net" and found a job opening on the USGA's web page. They flew me up to Far Hills for an interview a week later. Currently, I am the manager of Course Rating for the United States Golf Association.

I was first inspired to study Latin my senior year in high school. I began reading Henry David Thoreau with quite an appetite. In chapter 3, "Reading," of Walden, he praises the study of the classics at length -- especially Latin. I had studied French through all four years of High School and was bored with it. I wanted to know what Thoreau was talking about. Plus, for me, Latin possessed a mystique that I wanted to investigate. That is why I chose to study Latin my freshman year -- not to fill the language requirement. (By the way -- there are some great quotes about the benefit of classical studies found in that chapter.)

I chose Latin as a major for several reasons. As I studied the grammar my freshman year, I began to sense that Latin was adding another dimension to my understanding of the English language. As I learned Latin, I communicated more effectively because I had a better understanding of the words I was using. Latin taught me to weigh the words I used, to find not just the right word but the word that most accurately conveyed what I wanted to express. For me, there is no other subject that can do that as well as Latin. My favorite assignments involved etymological research because I knew that I was going to reap immediate benefits. After my freshman year, I was hooked. There is no more practical course of study for a real Liberal Arts student than the classics. The lessons I learned from the wisdom of the likes of Cicero, Virgil, Juvenal, and Catullus will last me a lifetime. What better formula for success is there than to order your ships burned when your army has reached the shores of its enemy. After reading Cicero's account of Hannibal's descent from a frozen mountain range on elephants, one can be sure that where there's a will, there's a way.

An education in the classics at Dickinson reveals lessons that speak to today's generations -- all generations. I have noticed many of today's motivational / self-help authors and speakers are merely echoing wisdom found in the works of the ancient authors. Several authors head their chapters with quotes from Cicero or Virgil. It seems quite obvious that what we learn from the classics is very relevant today. It never ceases to amaze me how often I have noticed that today's problems and questions are so similar to the issues of ancient Greece and Rome that we studied at Dickinson. I am referring not only to the issues of society but the questions that we continue to ask ourselves every day.

My study of the Vulgate with Dr. Sider emphasized what can be lost when Latin is translated to English. But more than that, it spawned an appreciation for the wisdom of the Bible that I never had before.

I also enjoyed ... [Prof. Fitts'] seminars on Roman History and Mythology tremendously. They provided a fuller view of Greek and Roman society. After these two seminars, I felt my Latin major at Dickinson had been completed. And "me thinks" I would enjoy continuing it and perhaps I will.

Kevin Boggs
Class of 1992

Technical Recruiter with a consulting company

I came to Dickinson College not sure what I wanted to do with my life or which profession I would choose. The only thing that was certain in my youth, was six years of high school Latin that I knew I wanted to pursue in my undergraduate studies as the backbone of a liberal arts education. With the convincing conversation of Professor Phil Lockhart, I found myself a declared Latin major in the spring of my freshman year. This was one of the best decision I made about my education!

Studying Latin, Roman and Greek history, and archeology from 1985-1989 was the most special gift I received from Professor Fitts, Lockhart, Moser, and Sider. At that time, there were about 25 declared classics major and we were a tightly-knit group; the department itself served as a substitute family for young adults going through life changes and needing the support of professors who were willing to guide the way. I recall very well being homesick freshman year, ready to mail my transfer application to another college and being invited into Dr. Lockhart's office to discuss the problem for hours at a time -- of course he wouldn't let me leave his office until I tore up the application in his presence! Another year brought on a bad case of the flu resulting in my missing several classes. Professor Moser unexpectedly arrived in my dorm room with hot chicken soup and to review the translations with me-- may her beautiful soul rest in peace. I learned so much from these professors and grew emotionally from the wisdom they provided that my Dickinson experience is invaluable.

Ultimately, upon graduation, I had to think about what I wanted to do and did explore teaching. At the time, unfortunately, not a lot of jobs existed in the Philadelphia area where I wanted to live. I pursued a career in human resource management and earned a Masters degree from Villanova University in Human Organizational Science in 1995.

Currently, I am married and working as a technical recruiter with a consulting company that helps information technology professionals locate full-time positions in the Philadelphia region. While I am not actively translating Latin or declining nouns and verbs in my sleep, I have a rich background in ancient history and am constantly reading to keep up my interest as well as keeping in touch with my fellow compatriots from the seminar room. My husband also has a great appreciation for the classics as well; we chose Greece (Athens, Santorini, and Mykonos) as our honeymoon spot. In five weeks, we are traveling to Turkey to celebrate our third wedding anniversary and plan to visit Istanbul, Ephesus, Thermassos, Mount Olympus, Sardis, as well as other important archeological sites -- Dr. Lockhart helped us plan the agenda since he led a tour there last fall.

I love all that Dickinson provided me with which was a good liberal arts education which I know will continue to serve me in whatever career path I desire.

Randi B. (Fishbein) Grimes
Class of 1989

Full-time mother

On a practical level, having a degree in Latin (I earned my M.A. in Latin at Fordham in 1987) has meant always having a job and, in most cases, even having a choice between several desirable jobs. My very first job teaching Latin at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, PA was obtained solely on the recommendation of Professor Lockhart. There was no application, no interview. All it took was a degree from Dickinson and a word from Uncle Phil.

On a personal level, my Latin degree allowed me to meet my wonderful husband Tom and later to have my darling son, Ethan. Tom and I met at the American Academy in Rome during a summer program. I was teaching at Riverdale Country School in the Bronx at that time, and he was teaching at Morro Bay High School out here on California's central coast. When I made the decision to come west, I got a job teaching Latin at Santa Catalina School for Girls in Monterey. Later, when I had to leave Monterey for San Luis Obispo where the only Latin teaching job was held by my husband, I set up my own business teaching Latin to homeschool students in churches and homes. At its height, my program had over 100 students all across the county.

Now I am a full-time mother and find it to be the best job I ever had. I do teach one homeschool Latin class for one hour per week. Ethan sits in on the class, and his first word will no doubt be agricola.

I don't suppose you can truthfully claim that a degree in Latin will guarantee you a job, a family, and personal happiness, but it worked that way for me!

Sarah McCurdy Weinschenk
Class of 1984

I went into management consulting ... and presently work in Information Technology Strategy for Booz Allen and Hamilton. I still discuss Latin concepts and the occasional pithy phrase or popular mistranslation with my teams. "________ delenda est" is a particular favorite right up there with "Carpe diem quam minime postulam credulam." (I believe the very next line reads "imbibe vinum".) Interestingly, I am told that I tend to put an Italian accent on any language that I speak ... including Japanese. Actually, it is of course, a Latin accent ...

Shannon Sanborn Mada
Class of 1991