Travelers

Hello!!! My name is Jared Smith ’17. I am a double major in Biology and Chemistry with a Pre-Med direction. The ultimate goal is to become a pediatrician with my own practice. A couple fun facts: I collect Pokémon cards, I love any and all kinds of music (quite literally anything from opera to screamo), I speak two languages: English and Bad English, and I can juggle. The main reason I want to go on this trip is I have always loved Greek Mythology and/or History. Turkey is kind of an afterthought but, the architecture is beautiful. The most important reason is obviously to eat everything I can get my hands on.

Hi! I'm Nicole Mulready '16 and I'm a junior here at Elmira College.  I am from Weymouth, Massachusetts.  I am a double major in biology and chemistry with a minor in criminal justice.  I plan on attending veterinary school and hopefully owning my own practice someday!  I want to work as a mixed practice veterinarian working with both large and small animals.  I am very excited for the trip to Greece and Turkey to learn about different cultures and to see the amazing sites!

Hello, My name is Adriana Michno '17 I am a sophomore at EC and I am a biochemistry pre-med major with the end goal of being a pediatrician and an obstetrician. I am so excited to be traveling to Greece and Turkey. I can't wait to experience the culture and the food. I am excited to be seeing Olympia and teach my classmates all I learned while researching the city. This is an experience of a life time and I can't wait.

Ya sas! My name is Brandon Payne '17 and I am the Blog Manager for the EC Greece and Turkey Trip 2015.  I am an Adolescence Education major in Social Studies and Math and I am a member of the EC Men's Golf team.  In my spare time, I work with Silent Voices (our ASL performance club) and our Model UN club.  I enjoy learning about different languages and different cultures, so ancient history has been a passion of mine for quite a few years now.  I am most excited to see the ancient Olympic sites as well as how Greek and Turkish people have lived over the past three centuries.

Hi everyone, my name is Fatima Iqbal ‘16. I am from Sidney, NY, but originally i am from Lahore, Pakistan. I am currently a junior at Elmira College and am getting my bachelors degree in Chemistry. I am a very involved human being; I am an officer of Lions Club, Twin Towers Dorm Council, along with a member of ACS Chem Club, Pre-Health Club, Red Cross Club, and College Against Cancer Club. I can fluently speak Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi, and English.  This trip would be my second time travelling to two beautiful and cultured rich countries. I am really excited to learn about Turkish and Greek language, and would love to add it to my languages list.

Hi! My name is Kelly Johnson ’16 and I am a junior majoring in human services with minors in criminal justice and sociology/anthropology. I hope to get a Master’s in social work and someday become a victims advocate. Greece and Turkey have a great history behind them and a strong sense of culture. I am very excited to learn more about the countries and be able to experience the cultural differences!

Hey! I’m Andrew Gage ‘15 and am the only senior going on this year’s trip! I am an Art major pursuing a career in Art Conservation. This summer I will be interning over in Crete at the Institute for Aegean Prehistory Study Center. Special thanks to Heidi for all of her help with that! For that reason, it may seem obvious why I am a part of this trip. However, having never traveled abroad before, I really want to be put into a situation where I’m submerged in a vastly different land and have to acclimate – absorbing as much of the culture as possible while enjoying the many unique opportunities that lay ahead!

Hi, I am Alyson Antone ’18 and I am studying to be a nurse at Elmira College. I have always had a love for traveling, which is why I made the plan to study abroad to Greece and Turkey for Term III. For many years now, I have taken a great interest in Greek history and mythology, so this trip was something I thought would be fun. Some of the sites that I am most excited to see on the trip are Olympia and the Mosques in Turkey. I am very excited about this trip and continue to count down the days until we leave!

Hi! My name is Callan Little ’16 and I’m a Business Administration and Human Services major at Elmira College. I plan on earning my MBA and hope to eventually work in the non-profit sector. I love to read, practice martial arts, and enjoy travelling whenever and wherever I can. I've always been interested in history, and enjoy learning about other cultures and their way of life. I am so excited for the opportunity to experience Greece and Turkey this Spring!

Hi my name is Amy Sullivan '18. I am a nursing major with a Spanish minor. I also play for the Varsity Women's Soccer Team. I am interested in traveling to Greece and Turkey because I have only learned about and experienced the Spanish culture and I am excited to try new foods and see a new way of life! I am also excited to be able to travel with my roommate Dallas.

Hi, my name is Dallas Stagnitto’18 and I am a Nursing major. I’ve played soccer my whole life and played on the JV team here at EC for fun. I love to travel and I am interested in traveling to Greece and Turkey because Greece has been a place I’ve always wanted to go to. Also, Turkey isn’t a place I would go normally so I thought it would be fun to go somewhere you don’t always hear about. What I am most excited about is being able to travel with my roommate as well as my friend, and being able to try different foods.

Hi all! I'm Abby Tourison ‘17 and I am an English Literature major. I have little idea of what my plans are after college; for now, I continue to read, write, and learn new things about camera and video work. I am from Michigan and I love my home state very much (snow is necessary, go Red Wings, and I will call my soft drinks "pop"). What interests me about traveling to Greece and Turkey is that they are not the most popular travel destinations. I want to know what the world is missing out on…and eat great food!

Hey there!  My name is Rebecca Ackerman ‘17, but you can call me Becca.  I’m an Anthropology/Sociology and Psychology major, which is super fun.  My fun fact is that I am an avid traveler.  I have journeyed to six out of the seven continents with my lovely family so our goal is to make our way to Antarctica someday and complete our exploration of the continents.  I’m really interested in traveling to Greece and Turkey because I have always been fascinated by archaeology, by finding something thousands of years old and bringing it into the world once again, allowing what was to become what is.  Anyways, I am truly looking forward to this experience and I can’t wait to get to know you wonderful people.

Hi! My name is Molly Nash '16 and I am a History major.  I am from Ballston Spa, NY. This is the second term 3 trip I'll be going on. I have been in classes about both Greece and Turkey and am looking forward to seeing the places I've learned about in person.

Hi my name is Shelby Kuring ‘18 and I am a freshman here at Elmira College. I am from Ballston Spa, New York, which is a small town next to Saratoga Springs. I am majoring in nursing and would like to get into pediatrics. My goal is to work at Boston Children’s Hospital one day. I used to be a competition dancer and now I dance at Elmira College with Orchesis. I chose Greece and Turkey because I have always wanted to go to Greece. I love to travel and cannot wait to see the other parts of the world.




My name is Heidi Dierckx, and I will be the professor for the 2015 Term III trip to Greece and Turkey. I am a Professor of Classical Studies at Elmira College, where I teach Ancient History, Art and Archaeology as well as Ancient Greek and Classical Mythology.  In addition, I teach

Archaeological Excavation Methods at the 19th century site of Mark Twain’s summer home outside Elmira. I earned my B.A and M.A. from the University of Durham in England, and then continued to receive my Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. My areas of interest include Minoan Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, lithics technology, and raw mineral sourcing. I specialize in the analysis of chipped and ground stone implements from various archaeological sites in East Crete. I also spend my summers at Mycenae as a lithics and small finds specialist and field archaeologist/sector supervisor of the excavations in the Lower Town. I have published in a variety of publications of classical archaeology. I am from Belgium, and have traveled with a Term III class every two years. I also love and enjoy food, the sun, and I look forward to another successful and fun class this spring!!

Yeia sou. I am Michalis.  I am Heidi's husband. I am from Mycenae, Greece, home of the legendary King Agamemnon, who led the Greeks in the Trojan War. I will be assisting Heidi in guiding the students throughout Greece and Turkey. I am still learning English. Since you are learning Greek, the deal is I teach you and you teach me. I am excited to go on this trip and teach you the essence of Greek culture and what it means to be Greek.

Hi! I am Brittney Cirinna '17 and I am a sophomore at Elmira College. I am double majoring in business and history. I am from Dover, New Hampshire, Live Free or Die. I love history and that is why I chose to go to Greece and Turkey to see all of the sites that are written in the history textbooks.

Ya-sas! My name is Liz Buono '17 and I'm an International Studies and Spanish major with a minor in Classical Studies. I've always had a passion for languages, which is why I'm so excited to learn Greek and Turkish. In my free time I participate in Active Minds, SAB, and many other clubs on campus. Since I've always had a passion for Classical history and culture traveling to Greece and Turkey will be checking off so many things from my bucket list! I can't wait to embark on this once in a lifetime experience.

Hi I'm Sara Meyer'16! I'm Speech and Hearing major and my goal is to be an audiologist. I'm involved at Elmira College in several clubs, serve as Judicial Board representative for my class and am I member of the Varsity Game Team. I have always loved traveling and figured this trip will give me a chance to visit Greece and Turkey and experience different cultures!