Rebekkah Watkins — 2018 graduate, public history graduate student at Appalachian State University, lead graduate assistant, and College Success secondary teacher
Majors: Journalism, Classics, and History
What sparked your interest in your major(s) or area(s) of study?
- Journalism: I love to write and tell people's stories.
- Classics: I took Latin 101 with Dr. Matthew Loar and he made Classical Studies sound fascinating. I gave it a shot and fell in love with the Augustan Rome era.
- History: I grew up visiting museums and historic sites so it just made sense
What is the value of your areas of study?
"Being able to study classical antiquity gave me such a better view on today's world and getting to take classes like Sparta and Pompeii and Herculaneum really showed that history and the classics affect the world we live in today. That is something I could never get anywhere else."
How did you get to where you are now and how did your education help?
I went straight from undergrad to grad school. I think this is because of the classics professors pushing me to do what I really wanted to do. I also tend to find someone who has an interest or past in classics wherever I go - example: when I was an intern at the Newseum in Washington D.C., one of the important office heads loved to talk about classics with me. It makes for a great networking tool!
Were there any other experiences from your time at UNL that helped you get to where you are now?
Working on the first UNL Homerathon definitely inspired me to get involved in public history. Reaching out to community members and public leadership members was something that I loved doing. Getting to show a large number of people outside of the classics department how important history is struck my passion for my future career. There were so many UNL experiences that shaped me and got me to where I am; but Homerathon will always be number one.
