Katherine Bonk, BA Class of 2018

I wanted to go to college to be a teacher, but UB did not have that as an option for undergrads, and because I knew I wanted to teach history, I became a history major. I came to UB because I live in Virginia and did not want to go to university with all the people I went to high school with. UB was definitely a safe bet as no one else from my school except my sister has gone here! Not that I know of… I also have family up here, so it was also something that made me come to UB. 

My favorite experience has probably been working closely with two professors at UB. It’s really cool to get one-on-one time with professors who are genuinely interested in what you have to say and who want to help you. I got to build these relationships through an interest in history and through joining Phi Alpha Theta, which is another fun experience. Overall, just learning a lot about cool topics that I like has been great – when I am being lazy I have to tell myself “you could be reading something you don’t like, so this is okay!”

I hope to either teach high school history or work with history in some way, whether that be at a museum or as a research helper or something. I would like to help people in some way hopefully, and so having a knowledge of history helps give insight into people’s problems. When you know the background of an issue, you can sort of know what the people you are helping are going through. Being a history major gives you insights into the past that you can only get if you look critically at what went on, and so no matter what you do I feel like a history major will help.