|
|
|
|||||
Love of languages inspires salutatorian
Jennifer Greenstein Altmann Princeton NJ -- When Josephine Dru reflected on how she ended up as a classics scholar and the class of 2002's salutatorian, she recalled the way her eighth-grade history teacher introduced his subject during the first class of the year.
That observation -- and four years of studying Latin in high school -- has shaped Dru's interest in the classics department since she arrived at Princeton four years ago from Lansdale, Pa. As salutatorian, Dru will continue the Princeton tradition of delivering a speech in Latin at commencement June 4. In her senior year of high school, Dru won the National Latin Exam Scholarship, which required her to continue with classical languages at Princeton. But addressing that requirement was merely the start of Dru's study of languages. She began by taking Greek, which she loved, and studied the language for two and a half years. During her second year, she added Chinese and returned to Latin in her third. She started German this year. And this summer she will begin a three-semester intensive program in biblical Hebrew at the Westminster Theological Seminary near her home. Next year, she plans to study the Scriptures in Greek and Hebrew on her own. "During the year I hope to develop a more thorough reading knowledge of several languages I have studied but am still far from mastering: first Greek and Hebrew, then Latin and German," she said. "I also hope to continue deepening relationships with my parents and sisters and learn practical lessons of serving at home and in the wider community." She is considering attending graduate school, but she didn't apply this year because "I didn't know which direction to go in. But I've realized that whatever I do will have to do with biblical texts and biblical languages." Dru credits the strong Christian community at Princeton with making a large contribution to her undergraduate experience. She has been active in Bible studies and prayer meetings with the Princeton Evangelical Fellowship, and served as its secretary last year. She also has been involved with the Student Volunteers Council as a tutor, as a helper at a soup kitchen in Philadelphia and as a pianist in a program that brings music to the elderly. She was awarded the President's Award for Academic Achievement in 1999 and 2000, and for the last four years was chosen as a Bakke Scholar by the Mustard Seed Foundation, which provides scholarships to Christians pursuing advanced education. Her thesis examined the metaphor of clothing in two sets of New Testament readings, the epistles of Paul and the Apocalypse of John. She described the process of selecting her thesis topic as a combination of "prayer and blundering. After you try certain methods of working and discover scholars have already made the same mistakes, there's a sense of comfort and regret. But then you realize it wasn't really a waste. You've moved from your starting point to a clearer perspective," she said. Fritz Graf, the Andrew Fleming West Professor of Classics, served as Dru's thesis adviser. He was impressed by her perceptive selection of a topic, her keen insights and her hard work. "She has a terribly patient eye for details, and she took something that nobody had seen and made observations that turned out to be highly relevant and interesting," he said. Dru's experience at Princeton has enabled her to flourish both academically and personally. "I've gotten to learn through books and through relationships here," she said. |
June 3, 2002 Contents Commencement Page one Inside Sections
Deadline. In general, the copy deadline for each issue is the Friday 10 days in advance of the Monday cover date. The deadline for the Bulletin that covers June 17&endash;Sept. 8 is Friday, June 7. A complete publication schedule is available at deadlines or by calling (609) 258-3601.
Editor: Ruth Stevens |
|||||
