Our 2022-23 Graduating Team Says Farewell!

Claire Jacobs: 

Editorial Board, Graduating Senior  

I joined The Historical Review as an incoming transfer student who was anxious to immerse myself in as many aspects of UW’s history department as possible. The first two quarters of my time as an editor passed pretty uneventfully, as meetings were conducted over Zoom and we did not start receiving submissions until January 2022. However, at the beginning of Spring Quarter, my position on the HR provided an inroad to experiencing academic community when our current Editor-in-Chief and I discovered that we both were in the Honors History program, a point of connection that has since turned into a solid friendship. What began as a small pathway quickly turned into a major thoroughfare, as I was assigned to work with a student who had just completed the Honors History program on editing his thesis paper. This experience allowed me to gain insight into the Honors program from the perspective of a peer, while the work of looking over a completed Honors paper with the critical eye of an editor put me in the position of thinking metacognitively about my own approach to historical research and writing. Since being notified that I had been selected as an editor in September 2021, the HR has proven a valuable gathering place for the historical academic community at UW. The HR connects outgoing History majors with incoming History majors, as the former provides guidance and advice, while the latter provides fresh perspective. As I move forward in my academic journey in pursuit of a PhD in Modern British and Irish history with a concentration on empire, gender, and diasporic communities, I will always cherish the mentorship, friendships, and professional editing experience I gained through the HR. 

Brenna Garrison: 

Editorial Board, Graduating Senior 

Being a member of The Historical Review has been a greatly fun and informative part of my undergraduate experience. Joining the team as a senior, my time on the editorial roster has been a relatively short one. Nonetheless, it has been such a fulfilling experience and I couldn’t recommend it more to anyone interested in joining. Declaring my major in history at the beginning of senior year, I felt a large sense of disconnect from the general historical community who had terms and years to establish themselves. The Historical Review has played a large role in mending this detachment, as I met many like-minded peers, incorporated history into my life more closely, and engaged with wonderful writings submitted by passionate authors. Interacting with the submissions was my favorite part of this experience by far, as I learned tremendous amounts of new information documented by the extremely talented minds of our own UW students. The editing process and meeting the authors was incredibly rewarding—as stated by Jean-Pol Martin, the best way to learn is to teach. Revising the essays had me review my work more critically and sharpened my own writing skills, a useful feat for any writer. Again, joining The Historical Review was an especially worthwhile experience and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in history or writing.

In the future, I plan on applying the skills I developed during the reviewing process to law school. History relates to many different fields and professions, and it will always remain in the back of my mind as I review old court cases and legal proceedings. I am deeply grateful for the connections and efficiency I harnessed in The Historical Review, and I cannot wait to apply it to my broader path in the future. 

Hallie Jones: 

Editorial Board, Graduating Senior 

I joined The Historical Review the summer before my junior year because I really wanted to get more involved in my major and use my editing experience at the University of Washington. I felt like The Historical Review was a great place to meet people within the history major and really feel connected to other students and faculty at UW. I was initially part of the executive team and learned a lot my Junior year about the requirements for creating and printing a physical journal, as well as getting funding from the history department. My second year I was a copy editor and found that to be such fun teamwork with other Historical Review editors.I felt like the connections I had made with other students and faculty grew throughout my Junior and Senior year and made my history major so much more personal. Socially, it was so fun to meet and work with peers who have similar goals and interests as you, allowing for lots of history nerd fun. Furthermore, I found my critical review of others historical writing pieces improved my ability to edit my own writing and improved my ability to write in a historical manner. Now that I have graduated, I am planning on traveling for a year before I head to law school and am very excited to see all the amazing things the graduated Historical Review members do!