The first item for my Portfolio is the paper I worked on for my Applied Social Science Capstone class, this is the culmination of about a year and a half worth of historical research on Vikings and Viking Trade in Russia, which I had started two semesters before in a lower level class. This is the pinnacle of my research and research presentation in paper form, I wrote this paper summarizing that trade, peoples, and movement of ideas that happened in the Russian River systems of Eastern Europe – during the Viking age and beyond -- had impacts on the world more than you may initially think. I also wrote this paper to be accessible to the layman of history, which in my opinion is the key audience that we need to be making out research available to as historians. This did involve trying to tie in things like popular culture and a story telling approach to history that helps to make the facts and information more accessible. The finds of this paper help show several key things a. people and cultures change over time, b. the Vikings did a lot more than just raid – playing a key role in global trade and expansion of ideas, c. we use our past to justify our present, d. Our global system isn’t as new as some would like for us to believe it is. I will also be presenting this project at the 2021 National Conference for Undergraduate Research.