After a hiatus of almost two years, Elizabethtown College’s History Club is restarting.
The club is advised by Interim Director of the Young Center and professor of history and anabaptist studies Dr. Steven Nolt.
Officers include juniors Eric Schubert and Gavin McCabe as co-presidents, sophomore Jackson Lager as secretary and sophomore Abigail Sholes as treasurer. All are history majors, except for Lager who is a political science major with a minor in history.
Schubert noted that he was the first of the group to propose the club. His idea for it stemmed from a friend of his at another college who got involved with their History Club, which gave Schubert the final push to restart the College’s.
The students met each other in a class on the Civil War, which prompted them to hang out and in turn, inspired them to work on rechartering the History Club.
McCabe noted that while they consulted former president and alumnus Caitlin Rossiter, as well as past members, “a lot of it was [their] own work.”
As the officers had support from their peers, Schubert said that it was “easy for [them] to start the process.” They worked independently to do so, but “the College was great in the rechartering process,” which simplified it for Schubert, McCabe, Lager and Sholes.
Along with their own names, the officers picked historical figures based on their interests. Schubert, McCabe, Lager and Sholes are known as Nixon, Napoleon, Hemingway and Caesar, respectively.
Their email signature also ends with the quote, “SAPERE AUDE,” which translates to “dare to know,” and encourages students to take the leap to learn more about history.
“As someone with a background greatly rooted in history, and my other roles on campus, it seemed like a great idea and a natural fit,” Schubert said, regarding his passion for not only restarting the club, but becoming a leader within the club.
On campus, Schubert works as a student assistant to the Office of the President, the Young Center and Hess Archives. He also serves as a Kinesis Peer Academic Adviser and Co-Captain for the Momentum Program.
For the campus community, the club aims to offer an informal outlet to explore history as a whole, which can further interest in historical topics and entice more thought-provoking conversations. They aim to provide field trips, movie nights, discussions on history to prompt students and parties for special occasions.
As mentioned on the club’s Instagram account @etownhistoryclub, they are also looking to host an on-campus event entitled “the Battle of the Blue and the Gray.”
“I think the History Club can operate independently and work in conjunction with other clubs to facilitate and moderate discussion on critical and important topics that are historically relevant,” McCabe said. “There is an obvious lack of this on campus.”
In the future, the History Club aims to work with other on-campus groups, as well as create merchandise and advertisements to promote the History Club to their peers.
The interest meeting for the History Club was held on Thursday, Nov. 4 at 6:30 p.m. in Nicarry 212. 12 people attended, expressing their interest in the club.
Students interested in joining should email historyclub@etown.edu, schuberte@etown.edu or mccabeg@etown.edu. The History Club meets at 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays in Nicarry 212.
