Fall Forum in Classics

The School of International Letters and Cultures’ annual Fall Forum in Classics is an outreach program that brings over 150 students studying ancient Greek and Latin at their high schools to the ASU Tempe campus for the day to discover what ASU has to offer in Classics education through participating in:

• lectures,
• games,
• contests,
• and creative activities

led by ASU classics and archaeology faculty and designed to spark interest in the continued study of Classics after high school. 

The Fall Forum in Classics is co-sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America's Central Arizona Society’s outreach program to K-12 students, Apples + Archaeology, and by School of International Letters and Cultures undergraduate classics club, Solis Diaboli.

Apples + Archaeology was created by the Central Arizona Society to fill the huge void of arts and humanities programs in Arizona K-12 schools due to budget cuts.  It is a volunteer lecture program in which ASU archaeology and classics professors take the excitement of archaeology and international humanities into primary and secondary school classrooms throughout the valley with the goal to amaze, inspire and invigorate children and teens.

Solis Diaboli brings together ASU students with similar interests in ancient civilizations of the classical world. The club also frequently sponsors lectures by classics professors, holds classics- themed movie nights, organizes tutoring sessions, and participates in fun events like the Homecoming block party toga contest.

The Fall Forum in Classics is also supported by the ASU Archaeological Research Institute, a unit of ASU's School of Human Evolution and Social Change, which serves to preserve archaeological artifacts and associated data, Eta Sigma Phi, a nearly 100 year old National Classics Honorary Society, which promotes interest in classical study among university students, and the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

Thanks to these organizations, students have a chance to win prizes in various competitions including a poster contest, impromptu art contest, and the popular "certamen" trivia contest.

The goal of the event is to excite high school students about the classics they are already studying, and to encourage them to continue classics study at ASU after high school graduation.