Lillian Waddill

Stamps 1693 Scholar

Hometown

Newport News, VA (Hampton Roads Academy)

Why William & Mary

I started the college process at the end of my junior year of high school, and William & Mary was on my radar from the very beginning. After all, the campus was only about half an hour away from my house. This proximity, however, caused me to disregard William & Mary in favor of more foreign colleges, but I still could not ignore the influx of friendly and personal mail from William & Mary. Even before I was a student, the Tribe welcomed me with genuine enthusiasm. This welcome was amplified when I was invited to visit for the 1693 scholarship’s finalist weekend, and it was then that I truly opened my eyes to the possibility of attending William & Mary. Everyone at the weekend, both students and faculty, was so friendly and engaging that I immediately felt a kinship with the school and the people in it. The opportunities I had to explore campus were also invaluable, reminding me that the benefits of the small student body coincide with the beauty of an expansive campus. I finally realized that William & Mary had all of the qualities I sought in a college: attainable opportunities, academic excellence, passionate students, approachable faculty, and aesthetic appeal. After that one enlightening weekend of full exposure to the singularity and acceptance of William & Mary, I had no trouble accepting the Tribe in return.

Majors

Classical Studies and English

W&M Activities

Consultant for the Writing Resources Center
Early Women of ΦΒΚ Biographer
Women's Ultimate Frisbee Team
President (senior year), Vice President (sophomore/junior year)
Swem Library Special Collections Volunteer
Honors Thesis, Classical Studies
Student newspaper copy editor (freshman/sophomore year)
Sharp Seminar with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting (sophomore year)
Investigated, wrote, and published an article on refugees in Texas, while mentored by a professional journalist associated with the Pulitzer Center
Dream Catchers volunteer, a local therapeutic riding center for individuals with special needs (freshman year)
Yearbook staff (freshman year)

Summer 2018

I spent the summer at William & Mary continuing the two research projects I had started while studying abroad at Oxford University, UK, in the spring. One was my 1693 project, for which I traveled to European museums, studied artistic representations of Ovidian myths, and wrote a series of creative short stories with feminist responses to and reworkings of those artworks and myths. The second was my honors thesis, which I researched over the summer and continue to write during my senior year.

Summer 2017

I participated in an archaeological field school in Corinth, Greece, where I excavated the ancient harbor site of Lechaion. I learned about archaeological practice and attended lectures on other prominent Hellenic sites and museums that the field school visited.

Summer 2016

I traveled to England for a Fulbright Summer Institute at Durham University. I took a course on “Northern Borders of Empire to the Making of the Middle Ages,” which essentially focused on Britain from Roman through medieval times. The class involved history lectures, field trips, and even a week digging at an archaeological site.

Awards/Distinctions

Phi Beta Kappa
Selby-Corey Prize for Academic Excellence in Classical Studies
High school: Senior Valedictory Award, Service Award, Harvard Book Award, Cum Laude Society, DAR Good Citizen