When someone goes to Plattsburgh State’s History Association, expect laughing and learning. This past meeting, they hosted a mini tea party in Champlain Valley Hall in the English lounge.
With new members leading the club, they hope to get more awareness out about their club. PSUC’s President of the History Association Mikayla Ploof has always been fascinated with history. She said she was from Saranac Lake, and lived on a property, where there was an old hotel that burnt down in the early 1900’s.
“My brother and I would run through the woods and find bed frames, parts of the hotel and lights wired through the trees,” she said. “We started looking into it when I was really little, and that’s kind of how my interest in history peaked. It’s just because of where I lived.”
From there, Ploof became a history and anthropology major and took on four minors. As president, she said she wants a more active club because there was a lack of communication, which led to plans falling through. The president for the club last semester graduated, and Ploof said they decided to collaborate more with the history honor society, Phi Alpha Theta.
“So this semester, we’re trying to be a little more active, and trying to put on smaller events, and just get more people involved to show that we can be a history club,” she said.
Ploof said they are trying to get Don Wildman, host of Mysteries at the Museum on the Travel Channel to come to PSUC. Last semester, they had a lot of success with their last speaker James Loewen, author of “Lies My Teacher Told Me.”
Additionally, they are helping the history department plan a trip to Montreal to visit the Holocaust Museum. At the Involvement Fair, they had about 25 people sign up for the club, and Ploof said she was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.
“We had education majors, environmental studies and a bunch of people that were just interested,” she said. “We just had fans of history.”
Junior political science and history major Kristen Foland is the secretary of the club, and used to be an education major at first. Foland also became interested in history when she was younger.
“In high school, I had a teacher in 11th grade. Her name was Mrs. Quinn, and she was great,” Foland said. “I did history club with them, just as something to do on the side. I thought I could probably study this in college.”
Foland said it’s nice that they all get along so well because they’re able to develop connections through their interest in history.
Junior Sam Bueti history adolescent education major and vice president of the club said he wanted to be a teacher for as long as he remembers.
“History was always my favorite subject in school because I always liked hearing about these people and how they interacted with each other,” she said. “And I want to pass that along and get my students to think critically about that kind of thing.”
Bueti said he’s hoping for students to join so they can be able to “nerd out” together about their love for history.
“If you’re interested in history, you’re meeting with a bunch of like-minded people that have the same interests as you, and usually if you’re in the Downer with your other friends, they won’t really understand as much when you try to talk about history,” he said. “So to have that dialogue between people that are interested in history is really important for us.”
Bueti said he hopes to just reach out more to the campus community so that their club can establish a rapport with members. Foland agreed and said she also hopes to set themselves up for a successful fall semester.
“That’s one of the great things about this school. It’s big enough where there are a lot of different things you can do, but the departments themselves are small, so you develop that kind of bond,” Bueti said.
Their meetings are held every Thursday from 7 to 8 p.m. in the English lounge of CV Hall.
Email Kavita Singh at cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
