Honoring Excellence

My interest in history began when I learned about the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark, and homesteaders in my elementary school history class. My mother, a history enthusiast with Mandan Indian heritage, pointed out a glaring omission: there was no Indigenous perspective or information included. I soon realized history is not merely a chronicle of the past nor a collection of facts and dates. What's left out of history books is important, and this gets at what I find most captivating about history—its dynamic nature.

 History is my favorite subject, mainly because to truly understand the intellectual discipline, we must often reinterpret how it’s been written. It’s something to be challenged and investigated. My interest continued to grow through my AP History classes. I also sought opportunities to deepen my knowledge outside of school. During the summer after sophomore year, I interned for a professor of history from the University of North Dakota. She’d recently discovered new federal records from field nurses in the Dakotas, dating back to when the US government implemented rules and medical reforms over the tribes in the late 1800s and early 1900s. My responsibilities included organizing these records, which gave me a closer look at primary historical documents and their nuances.

 Wanting to learn more about developing a research topic and writing publication-worthy essays, I submitted an application to the Concord Review History Camp in Boston last summer and was accepted. There I learned how to formulate further research questions such as "what medical advice and practices were being introduced to Indigenous populations?", find supplemental primary and secondary sources, examine model historical essays for various analytical and narrative writing strategies and give and receive constructive feedback on problems of structure and organization.

 While there, I furthered my research on federal policies and practices on American Indian assimilation in newly established tribal reservations. This experience was instrumental in influencing my academic and career aspirations. I want to uncover untold stories in history and tell them through film. I am eager to contribute to and benefit from the academic History community while I work toward preserving and sharing stories.