This week the History Department says goodbye to three of our most fabulous and inspiring undergrads! We asked them for their thoughts on being a history major.
For a while, I did not think that this day would come. I was not sure that one day I would be graduating with a degree in History. To be completely honest, my experience with higher education, and with the subject of History in particular have not been all around positive. That lack of positive experiences did change here at St Thomas.(Disclaimer: I Promise, I’m not trying to flatter the department, I pretty much already have my degree). When I returned to education and chose to continue majoring in History, I found once more what ignited my passion for the subject to begin with: It’s relevance in deciphering the present. In this History department I found a passion I had missed and a flexibility that I had never experienced before. Our professors are aware of the need for diversifying our sources of study, and the necessity of contributing original research that helps us reimagine our current situation, with the aim of predicting where we are going (Apparently I like History because I’m obsessed with time). I have gained so many interpretation and research skills in this department, and I don’t claim to have mastered them all, but I know my professors have at least endeavored to provide with some serious tools. I plan to take these skills with me into my Graduate Work, as I am currently applying to graduate school in Gender and Women’s Studies. I am not abandoning history, I am simply looking to contribute my historical background and perspective to current scholarship in this interdisciplinary field, since I believe there is much to explore in it yet. All the schools I am applying to are in the Mid-West (UW Madison. UW Milwaukee, U of M, UNI, Loyola Chicago), so I will be visiting (expect me!). Thank you UST History department, especially to my professors, my advisor –Dr. Cory, my unilaterally appointed mentor –Dr. Zimmerman–, and my fellow Historians. I not only learnt a ton from you, I also enjoyed nerding out about knowing stuff concerning dead people. It’s been tops.
¡Adios!
~Elena Espana-Regan
Elena Espana-Regan presenting her research
UST History 