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Annee Lyons (C’18), a classics major and film and media studies minor,聽has won the Beinecke Scholarship and is in the running for the Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships. (Photo: Phil Humnicky/Georgetown University)聽

UPDATE (December 4, 2017):聽Annee Lyons has been named a winner of a 2018 Marshall Scholarship. Congratulations, Annee!

November 10, 2017 鈥�聽Classics major Annee Lyons (C鈥�18) always wanted to be like Indiana Jones. That鈥檚 a tall order, but over the course of her Hilltop career, she鈥檚 come pretty close 鈥斅燼nd prestigious national scholarship organizations have noticed.

Lyons is the 2017 recipient of the , a national award given annually to students who plan on enrolling in a humanities-focused graduate program and require financial assistance. She鈥檚 applying to graduate school now and has just been named a finalist for the and .

Before she was spending her days working on interview skills and weighing her options at some of the world鈥檚 greatest academic institutions, she was a kid from small-town Maryland who loved learning about the classics.

CHOOSING A PATH

When Lyons says she鈥檚 always loved the classics, she really means it.

鈥淲hen I was 13, I learned about the burning of the library of Alexandria, and I was heartbroken for the first time,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 was thinking, 鈥楬ow is that possible? How could we have lost so much? What can we learn from what鈥檚 left over?鈥� I knew from there, that鈥檚 what I wanted to study.鈥�

Georgetown might have seemed a logical choice for Lyons, a high academic achiever from Maryland who valued the liberal arts. But it wasn鈥檛 that simple.

Raised by a single mother on a farm in the small town of Mount Airy, Lyons was nervous about attending school alongside students from more privileged backgrounds.

Still, Lyons wanted stay relatively close to her family 鈥斅爃er mother and grandparents stayed in Mount Airy, and her two older sisters both attended 聽鈥� while striking her own path. So Georgetown made the list.

When she opened her acceptance letter and found her financial aid offer, she knew her life was about to change.

Lyons had received the Peter F. Karches Memorial Scholarship, which includes full tuition, room, board, and a stipend to cover general living expenses. For a 17-year-old who had no idea how she would pay for college, it was a godsend.

鈥淚t was remarkable,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen I asked other universities if they could compete with the offer, they said, 鈥楾hat doesn鈥檛 exist.鈥欌��

TELLING UNTOLD STORIES

With the help of the Karches Scholarship and the , Lyons quickly found her home on the Hilltop.

She became a coordinator of the Preparing to Excel Program (PEP). She started a radio show 鈥� 鈥� that would continue through her entire undergraduate career. She even picked up a minor in film and media studies, eventually working with Associate Dean on the .

The minor helped fulfill a long-held passion for moviemaking that she had never discussed with anyone but her family.

鈥淚 grew up watching Turner Classic Movies with my grandparents,鈥� Lyons said. 鈥淢y friends loved the Jonas Brothers, Camp Rock, High School Musical, while I was wondering 鈥楬as anyone seen Singin鈥� in the Rain?鈥欌��

Lyons found time to continue studying classics, of course. Through the classics program, she got the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream: In the summer of 2015, she traveled to Macedonia and Bulgaria to participate in archaeological digs, excavating ancient coins of her own.

鈥淚 always wanted to be like Indiana Jones,鈥� she said.

Along the way, though, Lyons ran into a conundrum: A class on Alexander the Great had left her fascinated by the Hellenistic period, but she was terrified of attempting to learn Greek. Having exhausted every course on this period that was taught entirely in English, she had to either choose a different specialty or bite the bullet and learn a new language.

She chose correctly.

鈥淣ow, I really love Greek 鈥斅爀ven more than I love Latin,,鈥� she said.

Through her embrace of Greek, Lyons was able to enroll in classes on the histories and ethnographies of great ancient writers like Thucydides and Herodotus. Herodotus, which she eventually translated in a later course, inspired her more than any classical writer she had encountered.

鈥淚t鈥檚 exactly the same reasons I love film,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 telling stories. He鈥檚 trying to piece things together. He sometimes goes all over the place, and it鈥檚 hard to tell where it鈥檚 going to end up. He even has magnificent female characters!鈥�

With the help of the , Lyons completed a summer program at the and visited archaeological sites described in Herodotus. This year, she鈥檚 writing her senior thesis on the portrayal of religious women in Herodotus 鈥� a subject that thesis advisor believes fills a gap in the scholarship wide enough to fit a book.

鈥淲hen the stories are all about the emperors and the gold, we鈥檙e missing a huge part of that history,鈥� Lyons said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e missing the slaves, the women, the illiterate. Now, we鈥檙e training ourselves to see what hasn鈥檛 been seen for centuries, and I want to be a part of that.鈥�

AFTER THE HILLTOP

Lyons planned to continue her education and was still concerned with how she鈥檇 pay for it.

Fortunately, several of her friends were high academic achievers who were plugged into the world of graduate fellowships. When they noticed the parameters of the Beinecke Scholarship聽鈥斅燼 student who needs financial aid to pursue a graduate education in the humanities 鈥� they demanded that she apply.

鈥淚 had no knowledge of any of this stuff,鈥� Lyons said. 鈥淏ut they said 鈥楾hat鈥檚 you. You need to apply. You鈥檙e the perfect candidate.鈥欌��

Lyons鈥� application caught the eye of the , which chose her as Georgetown鈥檚 nominee for the scholarship (each school is allowed only one). In April, she learned that she was one of 20 students from across the nation to win.

At the urging of friends and mentors, Lyons didn鈥檛 stop with the Beinecke win, and it鈥檚 paying off: She鈥檚 just been named a finalist for the Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, with final interviews impending. But regardless of those outcomes, she knows she鈥檚 in a great spot.

鈥淚 look back to when I first started applying to college, and the question wasn鈥檛 鈥榃here do you want to go?鈥� but 鈥榃here can you afford to go?鈥欌�� Lyons said. 鈥淭he Beinecke changes that, just like the Karches did.鈥�