Rachel Dubit graduates in Spring 2018 with a major in Classical Studies (Latin) and a minor in Italian Studies. During her time at William & Mary, she has studied abroad in Italy twice and in Greece. In addition to Latin and Ancient Greek, she continues to study Italian literature and German language and will participate in a language program through Stanford University this summer to continue her German studies at the Goethe Institute in Germany and Austria. She most recently wrote an Honors Thesis under the direction of Dr. Swetnam-Burland on the Carmen de Bello Actiaco, a fragmentary Latin epic preserved as a papyrus from Herculaneum, focusing on the cultural dynamic between Rome and Egypt during the rise of the principate. She hopes to continue her research on cultural issues in Latin poetry as a graduate student at Stanford, where she will begin her PhD studies in Classics this fall. She also hopes to promote research that bridges the gap between modern and ancient language studies in higher education through reception studies, comparative literature, and the application of contemporary literary theories (many of which she has been exposed to in her Italian classes here at W&M) to ancient texts. In April Rachel was recognized by Gamma Kappa Alpha, the National Italian Honor Society, for her outstanding undergraduate scholarship in the field of Italian Studies.