StoryCorps: Professor Bryan Burns and Kaylie Cox '18 Recall How Cox Came to Join the Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project Team

March 21, 2016
Professor Bryan Burns and Kaylie Cox '18 fly a drone in Greece

Over the next several weeks, our Monday Daily Shot story will be devoted to sharing conversations about Wellesley's effect on the lives of its students and alumnae.

Last week, we shared a conversation between Martha Teichner '69 and Milly Cooper Glimcher '61 about how Wellesley prepares women to take risks and enter the public sphere. This week, we invite you to listen to an excerpt of a discussion between Kaylie Cox '18 and her professor, Bryan Burns, associate professor of classical studies. Cox recalled how Burns recruited her to go to Greece to work on the Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project. The team had been experimenting with drone technology and Cox had the "mad digital skills" Burns was seeking.

"I came into your office for this opportunity to go do an archaeological dig in Greece,” Cox recalled, addressing Burns. "And you asked me, 'Kaylie, do you play video games?'"

Burns laughed.

Cox said, "And at first, I was like, 'I don’t know why this is pertinent...'"

"I think you said, 'Just a little,'" Burns recalled.

Cox said, "And you responded, 'I have this opportunity for you.'"

Listen to an excerpt of the conversation.

This conversation, and other stories, will be preserved for future generations to serve as a lasting record about the women of Wellesley. The stories will be posted to the Campaign microsite and added to Wellesley's archives.

StoryCorps, known as "America's oral history project," will also add these Wellesley stories to the national archive at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Some interviews were recorded by the StoryCorps MobileBooth this fall. The StoryCorps team also visited New York City to capture Wellesley alumnae stories and is headed to Chicago in April.

Alumnae are invited to record their own stories by using the StoryCorps app. Alumnae may add their voice by submitting their written stories directly to the Campaign website.