Nathaniel Agnew

10 August 2021

I am currently reading for a Masters in Classical Philology at the University of Bologna, Italy. I graduated from the University of New England Australia, Australia with Honours (Class 1 with University Medal) in Classical Languages in 2019.

I lived at Wright for five years from 2014. I was Resident Fellow and Deputy Senior Resident Fellow in the years 2017 and 2018 respectively and was actively involved in my faculties, too. I taught PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) in chemistry for two years, was involved in tutoring first-year Greek during intensive schools, worked for the PALS programme in Humanities department, and was an active member of both the UNE Science Students Association and UNE Classics Association. I was a founding member of the latter and served as treasurer on the committee for two years.

During my time at College, I was also a member of the Armidale pipe band, with which I often performed in major events around the New England region and beyond, going as far South as Aberdeen, and as far North as Grafton. Our major gigs were the Armidale show and the ANZAC Day commemoration. In my capacity as a piper, I also served the wider UNE community. During my five-ish years at UNE I piped in four commencement ceremonies, five Wright formal dinners, four ANZAC services, several Robb College rugby matches, and various other functions such as the 2014 Earl Page Politics Lecture which hosted former Australian Prime Minister, The Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser AC CH. I taught bagpipes privately, too. One of my students, Hayley, went quite far and her talents were even recognised in parliament by The Hon. Adam Marshall, which earned me a mention, too, I might add.

After graduating with First Class Honours in Classical Languages with a thesis on the nature imagery in the tragedies of Euripides, I moved to Ancona, Italy, where I worked in a language school teaching English as a second language. In this time I applied for most English universities but was unable to win a scholarship. I then thought I’d try my hand at an Italian university.

In September 2019 I started a Laurea Magistrale, the Italian equivalent of a MPhil, at the Università di Bologna. Thus far I have completed my coursework and will work on my thesis until March. I hope to commence doctoral studies at the end of next year, continuing on my journey into academia.

I often think fondly of my Wright experience. I was in the Village for almost all of my time there, with the exception of about six months in the then-brand-new College. The major aspect of Wright living that appealed to me from the outset was independence without solitude.