We often say that what we do at St. John’s transcends time and place, but what you may not have heard is that the Program can also leap language barriers!

Amanda Stevens, our Associate Director of Admissions based in Annapolis, was in Yerevan, Armenia to meet with prospective students when she met this used book seller. He doesn’t speak any English, and Amanda doesn’t speak Armenian, but with hand gestures and a book between them, they were able to strike up a conversation about their mutual love of the Iliad—and Amanda now has a copy of the Iliad in Armenian to add to her collection!

A full 29% of the class of 2020 came from someplace outside of the United States, with students hailing from 28 different countries, from Australia to Zambia. Given the universal pull of the works we study—and the way we study them—it’s no surprise that students from all over the world call St. John’s College home.