Celebrate the Past!

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It took me thirty years to find my calling, but there were hints of what I would become. Maybe it was my pre-school passion for the U.S. Presidents or getting lost among the encyclopedias in elementary school. Perhaps I caught a glimpse of my future self when my father took me to my first battlefields at The Cowpens and Petersburg one marvelous summer.

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Being an Army brat further exposed me to much of Western Europe at an early age. I was particularly inspired by the castles of Italy and the Swiss Alps. I went on to compete in History for the regional Academic Olympics. My senior trip was a visit to Washington D.C., my nation's capital. By the time I was twenty, I was a soldier stationed in Turkey, and I could boast of seeing both Rome (at a distance) and Constantinople.

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Fast forward about ten years, after a stalled journalism career and a period of soul-searching. Encouraged by my wife, I took a summer history course at Western Carolina University under Dr. Gerald Schwartz. It changed my life and I became a major in History. It was like rediscovering an old friend who patiently awaited me by the roadside. Soon afterward, I became a graduate student in History and began researching on the foundations of my first two books. I had found my calling!

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Today, I have my doctorate and I am actively pursuing my dream of being a historian. Ten years of teaching for West Virginia University has taught me the most important lesson about the classroom. Each time I stand before my students, or post a weekly forum to my online class, I have been given another opportunity to celebrate the past. No matter where my journeys take me, I am one with History.

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