History

Photo: Valeria Fimbres

Eve Ashkar HST '19

Eve Ashkar originally hails from Portland, Oregon. She attended Portland Community College for two years, before transferring to OSU this past year. History has always been her favorite subject, and she reads history books and watches history TV shows for enjoyment. Eve’s grandfather, who is a big history buff, inspired her to pursue a History degree. In the spring of 2017, Eve was inducted into the very prestigious Phi Alpha Theta, which is the National History Honors Society.

What are some extracurricular activities that you are involved in and what do you like about them?

This year, I joined the holocaust memorial committee. It has been really great working with the group of professors who operate it, other students, and people from the community. I did a lot of work this year in fundraising for our week of events. It is really great to give back and provide the OSU community with the opportunity to hear a holocaust survivor speak. We are losing them very quickly, and I think it is really important that everyone hears at least one survivor speaker in their life time. I also helped to recruit volunteers from our local fraternities and sororities on campus to help with some of the evening events when we needed extra hands. I had the opportunity to talk to the authors and speakers after the event and get their more personal in-depth perspective.

What skills do you feel that you are gaining in your classes that you feel will help you in your future plans?

So much critical thinking and analysis of concepts. Pretty much all we do in my History major courses is analyze the how and the why and the results of that. Critical thinking and analysis are useful in any field that you could possibly go into. I know people who have majored in history who now work at Intel and the skills they learned are really valuable.

Have you had the opportunity to do any research?

For the History of Religion class, I went to the town of Aurora, OR, which was actually a protestant commune in the mid 1800’s during the whole religious revival that was sweeping across the country. I got to go there and actually look at the houses, the buildings, talk to people and look at their museum. That was really cool field work.

When I have time in the spring and summer, I have volunteered at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland helping with their special events. Last year, I had the opportunity to spend two months doing some research in to historical protests in PDX and Salem over the last 30 years. Some of the research I did was published in their quarterly journal.

What would you advise other students who might be considering a major in history?

If you like reading and writing big papers this is the major for you. I would also advise students to pick a field or a specific area like the middle ages or specific region and focus in on that. You can find more opportunities when you really focus in on a specific subject.

What do you hope to achieve in your future career?

I am really passionate about keeping stories alive and not letting small historical events or certain people and their stories and their memory fade into the abyss. For my career, I am looking at actually working at the Oregon Historical Society. I would be happy in their museum doing curatorial work, or in their research library, or planning events. I am also considering staying in school and getting a doctorate in History, and then perhaps teaching at the college level.