Most mornings begin at 5:45 AM with two of my three dogs letting me know that it is time to get going. The third, Maisy, is a bit older and enjoys her sleep. The other two, Sam and Bailey, go on their quick morning walk to smell the same rocks and bushes they smelled the day before. After they are taken care of, I typically will go for a 30-minute run or hour gym session depending on what I have to take care of that day.

A quick breakfast of three fried eggs, just so there is enough yoke to dip my bread in, I typically spend the next hour catching up on emails from professors, students and other organizations that I am a part of. Currently, I am helping as a docent for the Holocaust by Bullets exhibit being featured at the Hayden Library from February 27 to April 17. Some of those emails consist of reaching out to organizers or volunteers, preparing for this exhibit we have waited so long for. What the rest of the day looks like can range from several different responsibilities.

Going into my third year as a History PhD student, I am preparing for my comprehensive exams. My area of research focuses on the Holocaust and Jewish experience in Vichy France, with concepts of resistance, survival, and persecution. I have the pleasure to be working with three of SHPRS fantastic faculty, Dr. Volker Benkert, Dr. Anna Cichopek-Gajraj and Dr. Victoria Thompson who have set up three courses to make sure I am as prepared as I can be for my exams. These classes consist of weekly meetings, where I meet with one of the three each week and discuss the books I have read from my comps list. The idea is to read three books from each list per week and prepare to discuss and field questions from the professors as a kind of mock oral exams. To give an example, I am writing this just before meeting with Dr. Thompson to discuss three books on Vichy France. In our meetings, she and I will discuss areas like their main arguments, how it will relate to my research, and what sources are being used. It may not sound exciting but tackling three books a week takes up a large chunk of my free time and has been a wonderful experience so far.

If I am not preparing for these meetings, I am focusing on my other responsibilities. I have the pleasure of being a teaching assistant for our online program with Dr. Karin Enloe as well as our World War II online graduate program with Dr. Yan Mann and Dr. Jacob Flaws. Following my meeting with Dr. Thompson today, I will have online office hours with our graduate students in the program to help them prepare for their research and final papers. Being a teaching assistant for the World War II program has been a humbling and great experience. The ability to work closely with those who helped put the program together, as well as teach such an interesting subject matter in history, just furthers my understanding of what the future holds.

While it may seem that I spend all of my time indoors, I have an amazing wife to thank to get me to breathe in the fresh air. Herself an alum of Arizona State, my wife make sure that we get out and spend time together exploring Arizona while it is still possible before summer rolls around. Our weekends are usually packed with different events or trips. Recently we have gone to an Arizona Coyotes hockey game, where they played my home state team the Colorado Avalanche (Go Avs), an ASU hockey game (probably seeing a theme here), the Arizona State Renaissance Fair, a concert in Mesa, and our first successful hike of The Lost Dutchman trail. It is these small few moments away from my studies and responsibilities that allow me to reset and continue to focus on this amazing journey as a PhD student. These days usually consist of early mornings, like I stated earlier 5:45 comes quick, and very late nights, sometimes I won’t shut off until midnight or 1 AM. However, I would not trade any of it for anything.