Capri Pappas, a graduate of OWU from the class of 2020, agreed to sit down with me for an interview about her time in the AMRS program, her experiences here, and what she’s been up to since graduation. At the moment she is attending one of the premier Graduate programs for Medieval studies at the University of York. I was excited to speak with her, as we first met before I even began attending Ohio Wesleyan; I attended a class with Dr. Arnold during a tour in high school, and she helped me find my way back to Hamwill afterwards! Nearly three years later, I got to speak with her and learn more about her experience and many achievements during her time here.

Capri was first drawn to medieval history in her freshman year of high school, after working on a project on King Richard ‘the Lionheart’ of England. She remarked, amusingly, that she chose him as her subject simply “because he had a cool sounding name!” During the remainder of her high school career, she was drawn more and more into the period and the art, literature, and culture of the Middle Ages. When deciding on a college, she wanted a school that both allowed her to study medieval history and society, and one which was not too far from Chicago. The OWU program was very intriguing, and eventually she decided it was the place for her.

She certainly made the most of her time at OWU, taking advantage of the study abroad program, partaking in a Mellon Foundation summer internship at the Early Print Lab at Northwestern University, where she worked along with other students to curate centuries old texts and digitize them. Among many courses, her favorites were the independent studies and Sexuality and Literature with Dr. DeMarco. The independent studies allowed her to focus on areas of special interest, while her class with Dr. DeMarco introduced her to “the big names of queer studies,” which she greatly benefitted from. When I asked her to choose a favorite professor, she said she just couldn’t choose between her three favorites: Dr. DeMarco, who was also her academic advisor, Dr. Arnold, and Dr. Neuman de Vegvar. 

During her time studying abroad at Westminster, she got to see in person the architecture of the Middle Ages, and her experience led her to fall in love with the richness of history in the UK, “The history was spontaneous, and you could just be walking and find a centuries old church or castle.” It was partly because of her time at Westminster, in fact, that Capri decided to apply for grad school at York, so that she could live among the historical artifacts she wanted to study. Her time studying abroad was one of her favorite memories as an undergraduate at Ohio Wesleyan, though she also really loved the various campus events and guests who would come, especially when people from the Columbus zoo came to visit with plenty of baby animals, and she got to hold a baby kangaroo!

Unfortunately for Capri, COVID-19 reared its ugly head during her senior year, and, as for everyone, it cast her plans into doubt and disarray. That said, she said that she felt “lucky that I only missed the tough stuff” as she still got to experience the fun parts of the OWU experience, like the study abroad program and kangaroo holding, while students now have to put their plans into abeyance during the pandemic. “I feel especially bad for certain majors,” she remarked, “because I can do my work from anywhere but some science majors can’t.” Although she was worried that she wouldn’t be able to go to York this year, she managed to fly over just in time, and she’s been really enjoying her time in England. 

I also took the opportunity to ask Capri about any advice she would have for students at OWU this year, and what she’d recommend those looking at grad school should do. She told me that the number one thing students need to do is make use of the resources available to them, whether they go to the library, talk to professors during office hours, or going to get help with writing papers. She also recommended starting earlier in the grad school search than she did, since it’s such an important decision, and takes a lot of time and effort. In the same vein, Capri says it’s best to ask for help from professors, even if the question may seem dumb, “because they all went through the same process.” 

Because Capri had such a successful four years at Ohio Wesleyan, I asked her to tell me about her proudest accomplishment. She told me that the thing she enjoyed most was working on her capstone project about Richard the Lionheart’s Chateau Gaillard in France. “It was the hardest thing I’d ever done” she related, “but I’m really proud of it.” Capri’s paper was so good, in fact, that it helped her gain admission to the University of York. Her writing ended up greatly improving from her various drafts and edits, and when Dr. Neuman de Vegvar told her it was publication worthy, she knew that she had done something special. She said she still wants to work on it and expand upon what she started, so keep an eye out for a possible book by Dr. Pappas in coming years!

Although we only talked for about an hour, getting to speak with Capri was as interesting as it was fun, and getting to hear about how another AMRS student came into the field and stuck with it is always as refreshing as it is reassuring. Capri is as intelligent as she is friendly, and without a doubt great things can be expected from her in the future.