This year for the first time, the generosity of donors made it possible for Medieval Studies to award the Richard F. Gyug Prize to two students enrolled in Study Tour: Medieval Spain to subsidize their travel costs on the Camino de Santiago. This Study Abroad course is a beloved fixture at Fordham, as the students (generally Juniors and Seniors) take a spring course at Fordham on pilgrimage, medieval and modern, and then spend two weeks from May-June walking the last 300km (200 miles) of the Camino Frances in northern Spain from León to Santiago de Compostela.
While this is the first year the Study Abroad course has run since the pandemic, in past years (2007-2020) the course has tended to attract students who either cannot afford a full semester of Study Abroad, or who have family or work obligations that make it difficult for them to go abroad for a semester. This prize is intended to further subsidize the trip, and Medieval Studies hopes to raise additional funds for the future. This year, prizes went to Ashley Martinez (FCLC ’25) and Riley Dominianni (FCRH ’24).
Ashley Martinez is a New Media and Digital Design major at Fordham College Lincoln Center, and a rising Senior.
I was surprised to see to what extent people can be kind to one another. For some reason I have forgotten to simply be kind when someone you don’t know is having a hard time. I’ve always had to guard myself against strangers since it’s a habit in NYC. Once a couple came up to me asking if I needed any medicine because they’d been seeing me limp for a while. I thought how selfish of myself to not offer these things to other people. That’s one of the kindest things I have had happen to me so far. In this Camino we care about each other and we’re all there for a common goal…. to get to Santiago and come back home as different people.
Ashley Martinez, FCLC ’25
Riley Dominianni graduated this spring as a History/ Anthropology double major at Fordham College Rose Hill.
In my interview for this course, I remember Dr. Bruno telling me that it is often said that a pilgrim meets Saint James on the way to his remains. Months later, I wrote in both my essay for the Gyug prize and my letter to myself that I hoped to understand what this meant by the time my Camino was through…I saw Saint James’ charity and compassion for the poor in everyone who provided food, drink, or a place to rest for me and other pilgrims on the way, asking nothing or for a small donation in return.
Riley Dominianni, FCRH ’24
For more information, or to donate to the prize fund for next year, please contact medievals@fordham.edu