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Nico Yardas '18 with his world politics and Classical studies books in Burke Library

World politics major Nico Yardas ’18 spent a summer doing a collaborative research project on the Pink Tide, an era of left-leaning social movements and politics in Latin America. It was great.

“You get a summer to think about one subject and talk about it with your friends and really just focus in on one thing, but also look at all the facets of that thing,” he says.

Yardas the classical language major spends hours absorbed in the intricate challenge of translating ancient Greek. That’s great, too. “It’s this puzzle that you constantly have to be on your toes to figure out and learn from. It’s probably the ultimate problem-solving language, I would say, ” he explains the attraction.

Yardas was drawn to Hamilton in part by its world politics major. Inspired by his summer research, he’s thinking that within the concentration he may focus on the relationship between domestic policies and regional and international institutions. He says he stumbled into ancient Greek.

He’d intended to major in French – until he tried Greek when he’d needed a fourth course for his first-year spring semester. He’d long been interested in Greek history, and Hamilton’s open curriculum gave him the space to take an academic risk. He loved learning the language.

“I would never have taken ancient Greek had I gone to a school that had a core curriculum, I think. That would never have crossed my mind,” he says. Yardas is thinking about going to law school and/or joining the Peace Corps after Hamilton.

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