EC Graduate Receives Prestigious Recognition!

EC alumna, Mary James Capers ’20 wanted the big college experience.  However, when tragedy hit her family, her college plans changed.

“I realized I didn’t want to leave home like I thought I did,” she remembered. “I started attending Athens Tech which was great for me. Having been home-schooled for several years, it eased me back into the classroom.”

After two years at Athens Tech, Jamie had to decide where to complete her degree. Her mother suggested Emmanuel College as an option, and Jamie agreed to apply.

For Jamie, this turned out to be the best decision she could make.

“I came to Emmanuel the same year as Dr. (Bob) Fulton, he was one of my history professors who helped me with classes and figure out where I wanted to go in life,” she said. “I also had my first overseas trip with the Petrovic’s in 2018 to England and Scotland, I had an amazing experience.”

As a History major, Jamie was tasked with writing a senior paper on a topic of her choice. She decided to study the correlation between Art and War.

“The paper was on how art is not always portrayed as a beautiful object,” she said. “It can sometimes be ugly to prove a point. I love studying art and finding out the meaning behind pieces.”

Jamie studied pieces by Jacques Callot, Pablo Picasso, and Francisco Goya and their signature pieces that are directed toward war.

“The process was finding out how these pieces show war as gruesome and dark, and the point they were trying to make about how war doesn’t just affect the military, but society as a whole,” she said.

As a member of Emmanuel’s Chapter of Pi Gamma Mu, Jamie received an email from the organization about an opportunity they were offering students to have their work published.

Jamie submitted her senior paper and heard back relatively quickly that her paper made the Top 10.

“It was rather unexpected,” Jamie remembers. “I thought there would be 100’s of papers that dealt with topics more contemporary than mine.”

Today, a revised version of her paper has been published in a peer-reviewed journal, and her work was recognized at the Pi Gamma Mu Annual Conference, which Jamie was asked to attend.

Now, a Master of History candidate at the University of North Georgia, Jamie hopes to narrow down her research and continue the relationship between art and war in her thesis.

One person who made a tremendous impact on Jamie’s life is Emmanuel’s History professor, Dr. Robert Fulton.

“I would have never considered going onto graduate school if it wasn’t for him,” Jamie said.”I honestly don’t know what I’d be doing right now if he didn’t plant that idea in my head.”

Her dream? To one day teach at the college that helped her grow as a person and Christian.

“I’d love to return to Emmanuel and teach history there,” she said. “As I learned going to EC, the things you plan are often not what comes true. God has a sense of humor. If not teaching, I would like to go into research.”