Dominic (Nick) Popielski and Dawn Smith-Popielski are loyal members of the School community whose generosity of time, talent, and treasure is truly exemplary…and whose stories are fun and fascinating! They are both alumni of multiple School programs: Popielski did Summer Session (1992), the Regular Program (1994–1995), and the Agora Summer Volunteer Program (1996), as well as an Associate Member year (1996–1997); while Smith-Popielski participated in Summer Session (1994) and the Agora Summer Volunteer Program (1996, 1997). Here, they share their excavation memories, insights about the discipline, and what drives their passion for the American School and its mission.

 

How did you first become interested in Classics and Archaeology?

Dawn: I was originally an economics major at Denison University. As a requirement my freshman year, I ended up taking a survey of ancient art history that made me think, “this is the greatest thing ever.” I’d always had an interest in archaeology (my dad took me to Egypt for my fourteenth birthday), but I was in denial about it and sticking with my plan to study economics. I interviewed in an accounting department in the bank where my dad worked for a summer job, with hopes to work there after graduating. I had to tell my parents where my passions really lied. It was an emotional conversation; I cried as I told them that archaeology is part of who I am. Then my dad did what I was not anticipating: he was very, very supportive of it. He suggested I apply to University of Missouri-Columbia for a transfer, since they had an archaeology program and Denison did not (Denison did do a study-abroad program in Greece that I went on and loved, but it was more of a Byzantine focus). I had to get the application in to Mizzou within days of this conversation, and sent it off without even seeing the campus.

Thankfully, I was accepted. Armed with a copy of William Biers’s The Archaeology of Greece that my aunt gave me, I was a little starstruck that this was someone who would be my professor. He became a mentor to me, and it was a huge blow when he passed away recently. When he retired, I, along with his colleagues and former students, created a fund at Mizzou in Bill’s name that support the participation of a student in the Summer Session at the American School. I also created a scholarship in honor of my dad that provides travel funds for students at Mizzou to study abroad in Greece, preferably at the American School. It was a birthday present for him to commemorate how supportive he was of my pursuing my dream.

 

How did you first become involved with the American School?

Nick: I had just started a Ph.D. program at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. I needed broader experience with archaeology in Greece, so I signed up for a Summer Session. And from then on, I was smitten. 

Dawn: I was supposed to excavate at a site in China, but the program got cancelled because not enough participants obtained visas. Luckily, I had applied to the American School’s Summer Session as a backup, and got wait-listed. I ended up getting in, and was the youngest participant in our group, having just finished my sophomore year at the University of Missouri-Columbia. 

 

Where have you excavated?

Dawn: My first dig was the Ohio State University Excavations at Isthmia. I did that in 1995, the Agora in 1996 and 1997, and at Assos in Turkey, also in 1997.

Nick: In Greece, I’ve worked at the Agora, Corinth, Messene, and Pylos. But I first cut my teeth excavating in Israel at a site called Beth Shean in Galilee, both on the Roman site and part of the Bronze Age tel. Believe it or not, I excavated there for six continuous months (it was like five years of training in one season!), which is an awful long time to be wielding heavy pickaxes in the field. It was my first experience, and the only one in which I ever found anything: a gold coin, which was really exciting, and seven skeletons, which was extremely labor-intensive. 

In Greece, I also gained amazing experience and learned a lot, but never found anything. At Corinth, Yanni Lolos and I ran a trench in which we found absolutely nothing the entire time we were digging. The second that we left, the team that started excavating the section behind us found TONS of stuff. Likewise, when Dawn and I visited Lekaion, the team there said, “Yeah, there’s kind of nothing here.” The next day, after we left, they found a coin hoard that dated everything! They called and said “That was wonderful! Can you come back??” I responded, “Sure, just tell me what day you want to find things, and I’ll make sure I show up the day before and then leave so you can make huge discoveries.”

 

How did you meet?

Dawn: We first met at the party John Camp has at his house before the Agora dig season starts. I recognized Nick from the flight, but didn’t meet him until that party. The first couple weeks of the dig I remember wondering how he stayed so clean…it turned out he had special permission to do his laundry in Loring Hall!

But we really got to know each other digging a well. It was about 20 feet deep at the time and I was excavating at the bottom with someone else, while Nick and another guy were the winch mill operators, cranking the buckets (and our bodies) in and out of the well as needed. John told them to keep talking to us to make sure we were OK down there. But we were ignoring them, because it was just so pleasant in the dark space and cool mud; a welcome change from the bright sun and 100-degree heat that prompted the volunteers from our year to name the well the “SpAgora.”

So Nick is talking, and I’m not responding. Thinking we’re not listening, he calls down, “If I don’t hear your voice, I’m gonna hock a loogie on your head!” Panicking, I grabbed a nearby bucket and placed it over my head for protection from the phlegm I thought was about to plummet, failing to realize not only that I already had a safety helmet on, but also that the bucket was half full of mud. The photos still survive of me having walked all the way back to the Agora apartments in Kolonaki, arriving a hot, mud-caked mess.

Nick: We always visit that well in the Agora and take a picture of where we met! Every year. It’s romantic and funny at the same time.

 

How have these experiences and your training as archaeologists impacted your career paths?

Nick: A couple chapters into my dissertation at Minnesota, I decided I didn’t want to be a professor, so I took a terminal M.A. Then I moved down to Atlanta because Dawn was still in school at Emory, and took a temporary job to pay the bills. The job was an administrative assistant position in human resources at Atlanta Gas Light. Two months later, they hired me full time, and basically the rest of my career has been spent working in the energy field. 

Now, as VP of Business and Economic Development at Spire, my job is trying to figure out how many houses are going to be built in the city of St. Louis. I’ve always been fascinated by houses, a curiosity that developed at the Agora and that later took me to Delos to study the houses there. I still basically study houses all day—day in, day out—in my job. I’m constantly thinking about how they’re built, how they manage air and water, how and why they are decorated certain ways, and how they’re modified over time…the considerations are the same in ancient and modern times.

Connecting any career back to archaeology is actually pretty easy to do if you think about what you learned. For example, just the other day I was talking with an engineer on my staff about a project for electric vehicles. He made a statement about a particular vehicle and the first words out of my mouth were, “OK, yeah, that’s what the statedmileage is. Do you believe that? What do they really get?” All the engineers in the room looked at me like, “Well, what do you mean ‘what do they really get?’” I responded, “That’s what it says in print. But have you gotten in the car and tested it yourself to see what the range is, or to figure out what the acceleration is?” They replied, “Well, no, why would we?” I said, “Just because someone said it doesn’t mean it’s so.”

Where I learned that, actually, was on the Regular Program. You can read everything you want in the Blegen. But then you take it, you travel to the archaeological site, you look around the site, and think, “Yeah, I know what they SAID. But I certainly don’t see it here with my own eyes.” For me, the School has been the single best academic experience I’ve ever had. I learned skills there that I still use every day at work. I wish everyone could have such experiences that carry over into the rest of their lives.

Dawn: I work in a finance department, for which I also feel archaeology prepared me well, which is funny. I’ve never taken an accounting class and I’m the only person in my group without a business background. But the questions you learn to ask as an archaeologist and the methods of research really translate into so many other things.I think that there’s really not a limit to what you can do with that degree.

 

What drives your passion for the School?

Nick: A lot of what drives my passion for the School is relevance. In an academy obsessed with STEM degrees, the fields of classics, archaeology, and history are easily forgotten. Many don’t see a connection between those subjects and the private sector work environment. That’s a mistake. These are some of the most challenging subjects I’ve ever studied, and I think it’s important to tell the story of their value to people outside the university environment.Those students are the workforce of the future, and there is a lot of potential in their contributions that we in the private sector need to be able to access. Supporting the American School is my way of assisting with that.

 

How have you been able to stay close with the School?

Dawn: We’re lifetime members of the Alumni/ae Association, and have gone on a couple Alumni Trips, which is like Summer Session all over again!We love it. It’s great to be able to meet people who are not from the same decade as your time there and learn about their experiences.

And then staying in touch with people is also a way to stay close to the School. I would have to say that some of my deepest and longest friendships were made there, cemented at the School. There’s nothing like it, not a fraternity or a sorority—we’ve had those experiences, too—but it’s just profound, how deep those friendships from the American School are.

Nick: It’s mostly about everyone you meet. I’m still in touch with all the people I was a Regular member with. Dawn and I also try to visit every summer, and make stops at excavations to see what people are uncovering and working on. Showing up at sites and talking to the people digging them is a lot of what we did when we were there as students.

We also try to attend AIAs [Annual Meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America] every year, and following the social media posts is a great way to stay plugged in to what the School is doing…and it makes my Facebook feed much more interesting!

 

Where have you focused your support of the School?

Nick: The basic core of the School has always been fieldwork and the importance of making that fieldwork as broadly accessible as possible. So we try to support excavations and their publications, first and foremost.That has and will always be the driver for us.

For instance, we were delighted to help fund the publication of the new Corinth Site Guide. The opportunity came up shortly after we led Dawn’s parents around Corinth; despite our explanations, they found it impossible to envision anything. I think my father-in-law’s words were, “It just looks like a huge tumble of rocks.” A dedicated guide book is super important to make Corinth, as the School’s longest continuously-running dig, accessible to people who don’t walk in to the site with all of the Corinth volumes in their backpacks.

But one of the things I always want to touch on is: when we talk about support for the School, everyone always assumes that means certain financial support. But one of the biggest ways to support the School is through your time and energy, which are often in shorter supply than anything else. Ask yourself when the last time was that you actually discussed the American School and what it does with people who aren’t academics. A great deal of funding for the School over the years has come from the private sector, so I think communicating the activities of the School to people outside of its community is an incredibly important form of support; it’s where financial contributions and pro bono work come from. Talking about the School to potential friends of it is an important support function that often gets forgotten.

Dawn: They say there are two paths to immortality: one is organ donation, and the second is planned giving. So if you want to live forever…make a planned gift! We decided to do this and become members of the Edward Capps Society because it will provide for the School long after we are not around anymore.

 

How do you hope to see the School grow in the future?

Nick: I really want the School to get more public exposure. The work the School does—from academic programs to field work to research—is so incredible and valuable.But outside of academia, fewer people know about it. When Dawn and I introduce people to Greece and include a visit to the School, they have been completely blown away by what the School does. They consistently cite the experience of meeting people on campus and hearing about their projects as one of the highlights of their stay in the country. More of us need to encourage friends visiting or living in Greece to give us a few hours of their time for the truly unique experience of getting to know the School firsthand.

Beyond that, I hope we can find a way to package the experience and the emotion of being at the School, and to communicate it effectively. We could also strengthen ties with member institutions in the U.S.

It’s easy to view the school strictly as a research institution that supports an academic discipline.  But it’s more than that. The American School is a steward of a history, and that history only has value when it is shared with others. I think the School has a responsibilityto share what it does outside the field and invite others to participate in its tradition.I’m pretty passionate about that.

 

Where are some of your favorite spots in Greece?

Dawn: Citta dei Nicliani in Laconiais our all-time favorite hotel in Greece. It consists of traditional Mani tower houses renovated with modern amenities. The family that owns it have become phenomenal friends. They are wine aficionados, they do architectural restoration, and they even rescue animals, so it’s like the ultimate family friendship because we share so many interests (we have seven cats, one of whom is named Pandora [like the School cat who just passed away]). They donate stays at their hotel to the School, and have introduced us to a number of archeological sites and hiking areas.

They also introduced us to Melina Tassou, one of the only female winemakers in Greece (there might be one other, but it’s a rare club!). We toured her winery, Domaine Kikones, in Thrace, and it has become our favorite winery. They are so warm and welcoming, and the wine is incredible.

Nick: Generally, I always advise people visiting Greece to rent a car and drive to the Corinth-Nauplion area. There is so much to do and see in such a small area. Archaeological sites, the first capital of Greece, wineries, olive groves, water…Monemvasiais also a favorite. We’ve been multiple times.