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Two history majors Olivia Mann and Caleb Owens were named Plastino Scholars and honored at the annual Plastino Scholars dinner on May 2. The program provides support to undergraduate
students interested in pursuing self-designed, off-campus experiential
learning opportunities. To be considered, students must propose an
experience that will allow the pursuit of a passionate interest that
goes beyond the scope of an academic course, normal summer job,
internship or enrichment program.
History major and and history honor society, Phi Alpha Theta, president Olivia Mann shared her experiences as reported by Nadine Sabater in a recent UDaily article:
After stumbling upon several disturbing national polls, one that
showed we, as a society, are losing track of history especially of the
Holocaust and genocides, Mann, an Honors student in the Class of 2019,
set out to Arizona, Nebraska and Tennessee to explore how these topics
are taught and studied in rural and predominantly Christian areas. She
was particularly interested in how Americans, on a local level, can
counter ignorance by expanding mandatory Holocaust and genocide
education throughout the 40 states where it is not currently required.
“With the resurgence of white supremacy, ethnic genocide and
race-based discrimination, now more than ever, we need to recognize
repeating patterns so that we can prevent the horrors of the past from
happening again,” said Mann as she reflected on what she took away from
her experience.
Her research concluded with numerous findings in each state, such as
how empathy is generally lost when the Holocaust is taught as a solely
historical event out of fear of discussing politics. Mann plans to
pursue a career in public service leadership and hopes to help ensure
historical atrocities are never forgotten or repeated.
