Lytham St Annes CA

Four of the recipients of our 2023 Summer School bursaries, generously funded by our members’ donations and sponsorship from Blackpool Palatine Rotary Club, spent a fun week at Mount St Mary’s College in Sheffield for the JACT Classical Civilisation and Ancient History Summer School this August. They capture their experiences in our blog:

“The 2023 JACT Classics and Ancient History Summer school was one of the most incredible experiences I have had, and I will forever be grateful to LSA CA for such a wonderful opportunity. I entered the week with very little knowledge of the classics or of what to expect and found myself in such a diverse and welcoming community of like-minded people.” (Imogen R)

“Right from the start, I knew the Summer School would be incredible. Mount St. Mary’s College, where the course is hosted, is a wonderful site which is perfect for socialising and exploration if one ever needed to clear their head during a busy day. Upon arrival I was also shocked at just how enormous the college was! The interior was also gorgeous, and it felt perfect for academic study. A special mention about the food. It was amazing! Every day was something new and exciting: chicken, curry, pizza, pancakes.” (Nicholas S)

“The lessons I chose were Latin, Minoans and Mycenaeans, The Aeneid, The Iliad and Ancient Magic. Latin is an amazing language and fascinating to learn and break down; previously in my education I have not had the chance to learn Latin and I was very excited when I found out I could start to learn the basics. The way the lessons were taught were very engaging, using exercises and a few fun games which made the learning process a lot easier than simply staring at a textbook, it made the lessons very fun and something to look forward to first thing in the morning!” (Lauren A)

“I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the summer school. I learnt so much more and went further into depth on my prior knowledge, as well as being able to pick up new perspectives on the culture and literature of the Greeks and Romans. For Greek comedy I learnt about what makes a good comedy. I learnt that subverted expectations are an effective way to get people to laugh, but this differs between old comedy and new comedy. In old comedy a lot of the jokes are more vulgar, whereas in new comedy there are more witty play on words. Old comedy was also more political, but new comedy was more domestic, and about shared human experiences, with stereotype characters and archetype events. This makes it more relatable and understandable to people across time, who wouldn’t have the locational and temporal context needed to understand old comedies. Old comedies in the time they were performed were more accessible across class, as they had a wider target audience” (Levi B)

“My classes were Greek City States, Rise of the Roman Republic, Athens at war, Greek religion and Art and Architecture. Through such enthusiastic teachers – some of whom taught in helmets or through Assassins Creed walkthroughs, I have found a new love for Ancient Roman and Greek history and created friendships that will grow beyond our summer school. Moreover, I can now confidently say that I helped to create battle plans to defeat Hannibal and I know more about Greek columns than I ever I thought I would. A highlight of the week was learning about Herodotus and the Greco-Persian war, as this has given me invaluable further knowledge for A level but also sparked an interest for me in ‘The Histories’ and the comedic side of such historically important writings.” (Imogen R)

“I enjoyed ancient rhetoric because some of the arguments people made were funny, and by having discussions and using techniques we got to see how what we were learning applied in real time. I enjoyed ancient epics because we learnt about epics outside of Homer and Virgil. We learnt the features of what makes an epic an epic, such as invocation of the muses, divine intervention, the tragic hero, a long journey or quest, the length and complexity of the text, the didacticism and the meter – traditionally dactylic hexameter.” (Levi B)

“In the evenings we got chance to take part in putting on either a Tragedy ( The Agamemnon by Euripides ) or a comedy (The Frogs by Aristophanes). Being a big fan of Aristophanes I chose to take part in the comedy, and I can safely say it has been one of the most fun things I have ever done in my life. I played the oh so important part of the, as was dubbed, ‘sassy corpse’ and it was a way to make friends as I met some lovely people who carried me around on stage, we found that my ‘funeral’ really brought us together – who would have thought!

The chorus of Frogs were hilarious to watch, the words ‘Brecececex koax koax’ will forever be in my brain and so will the frog masks, cleverly made out paper plates, green pen, and a lot of green glitter. A lot of our own jokes were added to make it more appealing to our audience and it was very satisfying to see jokes land and people laughing at the performance. We put on this play (slightly shortened however) in 4 days, and we were all very proud of how well it went! There was only one close call with Charon’s boat almost breaking, leading to the poor person who made it holding his head in his hands and he almost couldn’t bear to watch- but all was well, and it added to the overall comedy.” (Lauren A)

“For evening activities, we had a debate on the first night and a quiz on the second. Whilst the plays were being produced, I was in the board games club where I learnt to play pandemic but the Roman Empire and another game about building Greek city states. Unfortunately I didn’t win any games but I had fun anyway.” (Levi B)

“I can’t thank the tutors enough. They were really good at explaining complicated topics in an accessible way. I can say with pride that the summer school has prepared me for college, where I’ll be connecting with so many new people and hopefully making new friends! There would be no way I’d be able to enjoy the summer school if the LSA CA didn’t so generously donate money to fund my bursary.” (Nicholas S)

“I could not be more thankful that I got the experience to attend this summer school, I have made incredible friends and memories and found new interests and appreciations for all aspects of the ancient world.” (Lauren A)

“Overall, I really made the most of my opportunity to come to the summer school. I made lifelong memories and friends, and I’m interested in coming again next year. I learnt so much and widened my perspective, with knowledge I can apply for my A levels, and fantastic bolster for my university application, as well as being able to enjoy my personal lifelong interest with like minded people. I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity which I would’ve never have experienced if not through the association.” (Levi B)

“I found that everyone attended the school for different reasons too – whether hoping to add to their knowledge for exams, find a new passion or merely spend time with fun and hardworking students from around the country. I’ll never forget the experience I have had and will take the new knowledge I gained throughout the week with me to university level and beyond. Thank you LSA CA and JACT for making such a rewarding opportunity possible for all of us!” (Imogen R)