For senior Aaron Nagra, college was not originally in the plan. Nagra is a first-generation college student from Louisville, studying History with minors in Legal Studies and Religious Studies. He chose to attend WKU after seeing the campus for the first time.
“I didn’t intend to go to college. I finished high school with a 1.9 GPA because college was not a path I intended to go down. I visited a couple of schools and I remember the [WKU] tour guide saying, ‘if it doesn’t feel like home, don’t go there’. Almost immediately, how can you not fall in love with the campus itself?”
He chose to study History after finding he had a knack for the subject. “I remember as a kid when my mom was getting her citizenship, I would help flashcard test her. Then, I’d go into class and take a Social Studies test and do well. Next thing you know, you're into history.”
Within the History Department, Nagra has had the opportunity to be a part of the History Ambassador program. Started by WKU History alumni Tommy Sullivan and Lane Price, this program’s mission is to serve as a bridge between students and the department. In this role, Nagra helped host events for current History majors and reach out to alumni for speaking engagements within the department. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has hindered what the History Ambassador program has been able to do in recent years, Nagra can still pinpoint the skills he gained from getting involved.
“We just set our minds to trying to be a bridge between the department and actual students. The History Ambassadors were given so much independence as an organization that it really taught me a lot about how to handle a project on my own. [I learned] how to plan something out, how to make a proposal, get funding, and then put something together.”
