The Magic of History by Elyse

The Magic of History by Elyse - February 2025 Scholarship Essay

My favorite books growing up were the “Magic Treehouse” series by Mary Pope Osborne. In the “Magic Treehouse," a brother and sister would use their treehouse to facilitate time travel to different events throughout history. I was enraptured at the idea of traveling back to places like the Ice Age, the Roaring Twenties, and the Wild West, participating in trials such as fighting with Samurai and riding in a carriage. These entertaining books led me to my passion for history. When I used to think of history, I thought of old dusty books and of ancient dates and ideas that were far too outdated to be applicable to today. However, in my sophomore year, I enrolled in a class by the name of AP World History, and I discovered that history was so much more than numbers in a textbook.

In AP World history, I learned that the world was so much more interconnected than I had previously believed. One thing in one area of the world has a ripple effect that can end up affecting something entirely on the other side of the world. For example, the American Civil War had an effect on England due to the exportation of cotton from America, where a war on one continent could affect the economy of another! Learning about how all of these events are interconnected is a passion that I wish to share with others.

I plan to go to college for education to become an elementary school teacher. Using my love for history, I plan to share my passion for learning about the interconnectedness of the world over time with others, so that the stigma of history being taught out of a textbook and memorizing dates can change to being an experience of placing ourselves in the shoes of the past time periods to better understand our world today. I believe that the study of history is something that can never fully be complete, as we are continuing to discover new things every day due to the tireless work of historians and archeologists, whose discoveries can alter preconceptions on entire civilizations. I believe that the importance of history has been overlooked within my generation, and as a teacher, I will implement interactive learning activities to emphasize the importance and impact that history has on us today to my students. Just like in the “Magic Treehouse” books, history can be a fun and immersive experience that can change the way we see the world around us.