My passion for history began when I was in high school. When I studied the Civil War, and I began reading everything I could find. Shortly after, I discovered the hobby of Civil War Living History & Reenacting. I began to reenact in 2013 with the 15th Michigan Volunteer Infantry, Company B. After graduating high school, I attended Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI. I completed a BS in Chemistry in the fall of 2018. I entered the Jesuits in the fall of 2019 and professed my First Vows in the fall of 2021.
At that time, I began to study Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. The following fall, in 2022, I began the Public History MA program at Loyola. I am projected to finish this degree in the spring of 2024. The program at Loyola has been an amazing opportunity. Within it, I am honing and perfecting skills that will allow me to share the history I love. This past summer, I got to work a dream job: I was an intern in interpretation at a National Park Service battlefield, specifically Manassas National Battlefield Park.
My main interest in history is the American Civil War, and I was able to fully live it out in this internship. Within the Civil War field, my interests are varied. My favorite is the military history. However, I try to not limit myself to tactical histories of the battles. I am also interested in who the soldiers were and what they experienced. This is what led me to living history as a hobby and passion. I have been doing it for over a decade, and it helps me to breath life into the names and dates. My other interests in Civil War history include: religious history, with a focus on Catholic chaplains; naval history, with a focus on ironclads; and memory, with a focus on contemporary events and displays.
My other main historical interests range from the colonial era in North America to the Gilded Era. Specifically, I like to study the Revolutionary War and 19th Century religious history (with a focus on Catholicism) in the United States.