College Up Close: Christina Georgiou, religious studies

When recent graduate Christina Georgiou heard that the theme for her religious studies capstone course was “Confessions and Conversions,” she knew she had the perfect topic to explore: her grandfather’s experience becoming a Greek Orthodox monk. 

“I had always been fascinated by his transition to become a monk as it occurred during my childhood, and I got to see the many steps of this process firsthand,” she said.  

Georgiou’s family ties to religion were what sparked her interest and eventual major in religious studies. 

“Coming from a religious background, I was acutely aware of how much my personal beliefs and practices influenced my daily life, behaviors and cognitions,” she said. “Therefore, this was an area I really wanted to explore and understand from the perspective of others – how might their experiences align or differ from mine, and what did that mean about the way they saw the world?” 

Georgiou said that several of her classes furthered this exploration: a first-year seminar that examined the history of the Dead Sea Scrolls; “Religion in Latin America,” taught by Brandon Bayne with teaching assistant Sierra Lawson; and her capstone course, to name a few. 

“Getting so many different angles of religious studies drew me to keep exploring,” said Georgiou, who received the 2024 Bernard Boyd Memorial Prize for excellence in religious studies. “I could never get bored with a topic that offered so many perspectives!” 

For her capstone research, Georgiou consulted academic journals, blogs and peer-reviewed articles to learn more about the “extremely long” process of becoming a monk.  

Her primary sources were especially meaningful. 

“I managed to get my grandfather’s perspective, my father’s and my aunt’s,” Georgiou said, adding that she also dived into a biography of her family, “Whispers from the Georgiou Family Tree,” which was written by her aunt about 20 years ago. 

“I enjoyed getting to learn more about the history of my family and, more specifically, my grandfather’s childhood,” she said. “Being able to bring this to my class as a firsthand account was really special for my senior capstone.” 

Georgiou, who had a second major in biology and a minor in chemistry, said that she found many connections between her fields of study at UNC. “As I became more entrenched in the biology curriculum as a pre-med student, I started to realize how patients’ access to care and their perception of this care can be greatly influenced by their personal religious views.” 

An anthropology course, “Alternative Healing Systems,” and her work as an EMT and training officer for UNC’s Campus EMS also helped her explore the many possible disparities to equitable health care, including language barriers, cultural differences and financial difficulties, she said.  

Now that she has earned her diploma, Georgiou is looking forward to attending medical school after a gap year.  

“This has always been a career interest of mine, even coming into UNC, but my time here has dialectically challenged and solidified that,” she said. 

Looking back at her years at Carolina, Georgiou said that a few favorite memories come to mind: rushing Franklin Street after UNC’s win over Duke in the 2022 Final Four game, midnight Insomnia Cookies with friends, snowball fights in Kenan Stadium and even “sprinting to class while listening to the bell tower ring behind me,” she said.

By Jess Abel ’19

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