I firmly believe that the only way to move forward in life is to never stop learning. I have been an avid history student since the beginning of my academic career. Learning from our fore-bearers is the key to moving our civilization forward as a whole. I achieved a bachelors degree in International Studies at Elon University. My time at Elon was punctuated by a semester abroad in Heidelberg, Deutschland. While there I learned and spoke exclusively in German for six months. Following my return home I went abroad again to London in the United Kingdom. I took my academic career to the next level by earning a Masters Degree in European History at the University College of London. I developed a fierce interest in learning about every facet of a topic that piqued my interest. I visited every Museum dealing with the Military or History I could find. In London it is a quite exhaustive list. RAF Duxford, The National War Museum, National Gallery and the Churchill War Rooms to name a few with my personal favorite being the Imperial War Museum in London with the First World War Trench Line museum in Ypres being a close second.

Not only do I study it, but I also experience it. I have been to the Civil war battlefields of Gettysburg, Antietam and Fredericksburg. I have been to where the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses Simpson Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. I have also been to Omaha beach and Pointe du Hoc and seen the bunkers that allied troops fought and died trying to take during Operation Overlord. I have even seen the town of Ypres and the fields of Flanders beyond it where over 250,000 British soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force died during the First World War. My interest spreads beyond the history of warfare. During High School I took an Art History course and traveled throughout Italy visiting Rome, Florence, Venice, and even Siena to take in the amazing works of art housed within Italys best galleries. I have also been to Berlin, Barcelona, and Paris in an effort to learn more about Europe trying to expand upon my knowledge as much as I could while travelling. How I learned about and experienced history is something I would like to replicate with students. I want to help them develop a love for a subject I have been enthusiastic about throughout my entire life. As George Santayana said, Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. I do not only want to help them learn, but I want to give them some of the wonderful experiences I have had that left a deep impact in my life and aided me in my academic pursuits in the years that followed.

Through my passion in history, I hope to inspire others to similarly immerse themselves in a subject that has defined my life. I want to join those educators who have dedicated themselves to their students and their field. I want to leverage my knowledge and passion for history to ensure that the next generation can solve the problems of the future with solutions from the past.