2019 Major: History; minors in Statistical Science and French
"I had an incredible series of professors at Duke whose incisive perspectives, curiosity, and high expectations forever altered my intellectual and professional interests. In her classroom, Professor Thavolia Glymph kept us students at rapt attention and created a perfect environment for inquiry and exploration. I would turn over the questions she asked in class in my mind and talk about them with my family and friends who weren't even History majors. Her effective pedagogy pushed me along the path towards becoming an educator. Professor Nancy MacLean taught me so much about American history after 1920 and how I formulate opinions. Her arguments were air-tight, well-instantiated, and so well-presented. After her lectures, I would honestly feel a bit in a daze, parsing through all I had learned. Put "simply," my professors taught me that history isn't simple at all, and neither is the world around us. Because they were always asking tough questions and trying to answer them, they gave me permission to do the same. They gave us a chance to ask why our world looks the way it does and how we might change it."
"Take advantage of the unstructured time you have to dive deep into a topic, and take note of the people you connect with while you do it (the archivists at Duke, your professors, people in Durham who are working on solving the issue you're studying, if you study American history). Fortunately, you are likely not the only one who cares about it!"
