History Has Its Eyes On You by Kieran

History Has Its Eyes On You by Kieran - April 2025 Scholarship Essay

For a while, I struggled to decide on a major. I was caught between so many areas that I loved and school and wanted to continue studying. Would it be English - a subject I’ve loved consistently, throughout each era of my life? Would it be Art History - an area that I developed an affinity for my sophomore year when I took humanities? Would it be Graphic Design - a dream that middle school me held for so long? I was stuck between so many options, but at the end of my junior year, I made my decision. When I went to college, I would study History.
History is a subject that we’re all taught in school. I’ve spoken to friends who dreaded their history classes, friends who couldn’t differentiate one era from another, and friends who also loved history. For a while, history wasn’t my favorite subject. It was a subject that I could excel in, one that I never had to worry about, but never one that stood out. However, my junior year changed that perspective for me.
At my high school, the class that hypothetically follows Humanities is called “American Studies” - or as we affectionately call it, AMSTUD. What made AMSTUD different from other history classes was a few aspects. One: AMSTUD focused on how literature and the arts impacted history, and vice versa. Remember that hankering to major in English or Art History? I still study these subjects but now under a historical perspective. AMSTUD allowed me to realize that what drew me to English and Art History was viewing them through their historical circumstances. Two: the teachers. It may sound silly, but Mr.Cone and Mr.Boyd are two large aspects that made me want to move forward as a history major. They never doubted us once, and uplifted us and supported us in any way possible. They made me want to be a history teacher - to provide that same level of support for future students like myself. Third (and final): It focused on other aspects of history. Yes, the class looked at history through a humanities lens at times, but the core of American Studies was focusing on marginalized groups in history. Seeing how the Revolutionary War impacted the Black population, how the Civil War impacted women, how World War II impacted Asian Americans fascinated me far more than what the white men were doing. AMSTUD allowed for history to be viewed through fresh eyes for me - and through that I realized my passion for women’s history. History was no longer about blankly reciting the same names and dates - but instead was about looking at what groups who weren’t focused on in most classes were doing.
I want to major in history because I want to inspire the next generation of students - I want them to realize that history goes past the same ideas we’re always taught. I want to major in history, because I want to see other people realize the richness that learning history has to offer us. There’s so much that goes past what we’re taught, and I want to help someone else realize that same thing. History is so much - there’s comedic aspects to it but there’s also terrifying ones, history is so much more than just names and dates on a paper. If two teachers helped me realize that, and one class taught me that - I want to do the same for another student. Someone like me, who’s unsure of what they want to major in and who feels so stuck about what to do in the future. History gave me a path to realize what I want to do, maybe it can do the same for someone else.