History

Brian Powers '10 is currently a first year medical student at Harvard Medical School where he also plans to pursue a degree in business administration. Prior to entering medical school, Brian worked for two years at the Institute of Medicine in Washington, DC on a variety of health policy and health care improvement issues.

How has a history degree from Bowdoin prepared you for your current career?

Despite the vastly different subject matter, I believe my history major was the most beneficial aspect of my Bowdoin education in terms of preparing me for my previous job and my future career as a physician. A Bowdoin history major is more about building skills and learning tools rather than remembering facts. These research, writing, and argumentative skills were extremely valuable at my previous position and will continue to be important in medical school. Furthermore, my history courses at Bowdoin instilled a desire to continually ask questions and seek out evidence to prove or disprove hypotheses. These skills are eminently transferrable to the practice of medicine and medical research.

Sean Weathersby '10 is a History major who found himself working a as an investigator for the James Mintz Group in Washington, D.C., a private investigating firm that exposes hidden facts and connects the corporate dots.  At the Mintz Group, Sean specializes in litigation support, as well as transactional due diligence. In his spare time, Sean writes for a local music blog and enjoys exploring D.C.'s culinary offerings.

How has a history degree from Bowdoin prepared you for your current career?

The strength of the Bowdoin history degree lies not in learning specific dates, places and names, as one might think.  It has proved most valuable in teaching me the skills of researching, great attention to detail and the ability to properly frame the question at hand.  Be it the deepest secrets of the Middle Ages, or a modern day Ponzi scheme, the Bowdoin history degree has equipped me with the tools necessary for discovering hidden facts of all kinds.

 
Wallace Scot McFarlane '09 is currently an Urban Scholar at Tufts University where he is taking night classes for a Master of Arts in Teaching. During the day, he works at Codman Academy Charter School where he co-teaches tenth grade humanities and provides inclusion support.

How has a history degree from Bowdoin prepared you for your current career?

Studying history at Bowdoin, prepared me to teach my students the skills and content they need in order to succeed and enjoy history. Perhaps more importantly, learning to understand the complexity of history has allowed me to better value the diverse strengths, needs and perspectives of my students.

Hannah Hughes '09 is currently the Assistant to the Director of Development at Partners In Health, a Boston based NGO dedicated to providing quality health care to the poor in the US, Haiti, Peru, Rwanda, Malawi, Lesotho, Russia and Kazakhstan

How has a history degree from Bowdoin prepared you for your current career?

My history major provided an invaluable foundation for the graduate work I completed after Bowdoin and I believe it will continue to inform the work that awaits me at Partners In Health.  As an African history major I worked hard to better understand how the continent's colonial past has had long term consequences on political, social and economic systems.  I was taught that without this knowledge of the past, one cannot hope to understand or even make a tangible difference in the present or the future. Overall my history major has endowed me with a desire to continue asking questions, a healthy sense of skepticism of my own knowledge that pushes me to search for more, and an ability to communicate effectively. 

 
Emily Guerin '09 is a reporter at The Forecaster, a weekly newspaper in greater Portland, Maine. Previously, she led wilderness trips, taught environmental education and interned at Living on Earth, a public radio show about science and the environment. She majored in History and Environmental Studies.
 
How has a history degree from Bowdoin prepared you for your current career?

I'm a reporter for The Forecaster, a weekly newspaper in greater Portland, Maine.

Being a history major arguably prepared me better for my current job as a reporter than just about anything else I could have studied in college. The ability to interpret primary sources ("documents" in journalism speak), identify and flush out themes in current events, and ask questions are all skills I learned at Bowdoin, but apply to my daily work. Studying history also trained me to think critically about the way events are covered in the media and to look for biases in my and others' reporting.