This week, we’re talking to former History Minor Marly Borovich Torres (Class of 2012) as she shares how her minor helped her in her post-grad field of child therapy.
What was your area of study at Hope?
While at Hope, I doubled majored in psychology and sociology and had a minor in history.
What are some of the things you learned as a history minor?
I enjoy helping people and learning about their stories. I’m endlessly curious, and have a deep compassion for humanity at large. I have loved history since early elementary school. I would check out book after book about topics like Anastasia and her royal family, Ancient Egypt, and the Holocaust. What I learned through my history studies at Hope was how to have a more thorough appreciation and understanding for human existence and how people have both remained constant and changed throughout the ages. Studying history has helped me learn and grow as a person, and has benefited my practice as a therapist.
How do you see your history minor benefiting your career track and where you are now in your career?
A minor in history was a perfect pairing to my two degrees in the Social Sciences. The combination ultimately led to my Masters in Social Work. If you have an understanding and appreciation of history, it is much easier to help others. Understanding a person’s history, and then linking that to world events, customs and culture, definitely helps aid in the therapeutic connection and in therapy sessions. My history minor at Hope will continue to benefit me throughout my career because as long as people have ties to and ascribe meaning to their pasts, and as long as we can continue to learn from our past as humans, history will be relevant.
If someone was on the fence about possibly becoming a history major or minor, what would you say to them?
I would highly advise someone who was on the fence to give a history class or two a try at Hope! If you are unsure of whether to major in the subject or not, consider that learning about humans and our history as people is always relevant regardless of what you pursue after graduation. Hope has an excellent history department, fabulous faculty, and more than likely your classes will be held in the more beautiful and historical buildings on campus, so what do you have to lose??!
Anything else to add?
GO HOPE!