My Major & Why I Chose it. by Emily

My Major & Why I Chose it. by Emily - April 2025 Scholarship Essay

I have chosen to major in history, particularly history with a teaching emphasis. From a young age, I have always loved history. It was my favorite subject to study in elementary school, and that love has continued through the rest of my education. I remember one particular instance that I believe was one of the most inspirational moments that really sparked my love for history. I was sitting at the back of my 5th grade class when my teacher had us all grab a history book from the bookshelf on the side of the classroom. I grabbed my book, returned to my desk, and waited patiently for further instructions from my teacher. We then proceeded to open the book and read together as a class about the American Revolution. As we read, I became hooked. I fell in love with history, particularly the American Revolution, which is still one of my favorite historical events to this day. Since that first time reading about the American Revolution, I have continued to explore my love for history in Junior Highschool and Highschool. In high school particularly, I have been able to really explore my passion. I have been able to take all the history classes my high school offers, I even took two AP history classes (AP World History: Modern and AP US History) in my sophomore year. As I have continued my studies, I have continued to realize what parts of history I like. For example, my favorite type of history is US History, with some of my favorite events being the Revolutionary War, Westward expansion, and the Civil War. Previously, when thinking about what to major in, I never really considered History as an option. I didn't know what I wanted to do, and was thinking of going into business or art. But one day, it hit me. I realized that history really was a career and college option, and I knew that was what I wanted to do. Another reason I love history so much is because of all of my amazing history teachers. So far, I have not had a necessarily "bad" history teacher, all of my teachers have been so inspiring and have really inspired me not just to pursue history, but to pursue teaching history. Because of their great examples, I have wanted to become a history teacher to be a great example to the future generation and be able to be a good and inspiring teacher to them. I hope that I can continue to pursue my love for history as I major in it in college and hopefully, in a future career.