Jake Klavonski ’25

Greetings! My name is Jake Klavonski ‘25, a 2nd-year student at Bucknell University. I am a prospective History and East Asian Studies double major. The two majors blend nicely to suit my focus on Japanese History and my plans to go to graduate school and then one day teach the subject at a collegiate level. I appreciate the flexibility Bucknell offers to people looking to double major as I am still set to graduate with both majors and yet still have the ability to study abroad in Japan during my 3rd year! My experience with Bucknell’s History program has been nothing short of amazing, engaging, and inspiring, due to the faculty and the critical thinking skills they teach to become well-versed in the scope of history. One thing that immediately stood out to me between high-school history classes and Bucknell History courses is the difference between reading and reciting trivial knowledge on a topic compared to learning how to challenge that information and understand its context to create a uniquely qualified, multi-perspective understanding of the subject. I think this point was well demonstrated in my most recent history course, The American Civil War and Reconstruction with Professor Paul Barba, in which one of the many emphases of the class was on the individualistic, unique motives for everyone participating in the war. It further contextualized the causes of both sides of the war, and I appreciated this focus as these details are often ignored entirely in favor of assumptions and over-generalizations. Furthermore, it reminds us of the importance of contextual awareness and the ability to understand both sides fully, mindsets that apply far outside the realm of history as well. These experiences are not exclusive to this class, nor are they exclusive to the history department; instead it is common at Bucknell entirely. I am confident you will gain useful skills, insight, and the attention needed in any academic endeavor if you choose Bucknell University.