Colton R. Smith

I fully intend by career to be one within the field of history, helping to explain our collective past and be an active participant in the history, national politics, and geopolitics of our modern world. My current trajectory in that regard is to become a university history professor. I want to pursue this career because I believe that the tangibility of history has become lost on such a large percentage of the population, with all the inherent dangers fully attached. I believe that history is taught poorly in many circumstances, leading to a completely damnable disinterest in the dedicated study of history by our modern world. History is not boring, but the way that it is taught is, and as such is a gross misrepresentation of our collective past. Without an engaging, emotional, intense, tangible narrative by which we begin to understand how we got to where we are, how can we possibly create a decent roadmap to move forward?

Despite my full dedication to becoming a university history professor, this path is not my monolithic ambition. As someone fully engaged in national politics, geopolitics, and world events, any career in which I can fully play my part to make a historical impact is a career that will be fully satisfying to me. These potential futures can include becoming a journalist, news anchor, newspaper editor, politician, institute researcher, full-time humanitarian worker, amongst other potentially-yet-unknown careers. My main purpose is not my own notoriety; my purpose is instead to be a useful human node for the contextualization of our modern world, an advocate on how we can best collectively move forward based on what we know, and a fully active participant in recent, current and ongoing events.

As a Californian, I have primary interest in attending a grad school in my state, including UCLA, UC Berkley, UC Davis, Stanford University, amongst others. However, if I am accepted into a PhD program in a different state at a better university (Ivy Leagues obviously being the top choice), I will gladly relocate outside of California. My ultimate goal is to be accepted into the graduate program that best suits my interests, drives and passions as a historian.

I have always believed that each of us are charged with creating our own personal paradise. I live my life filled with adventure of the truest sort, which sometimes entails calculated risk with high reward. That for me has encompassed many things that leave me feeling so consistently satisfied with my countless hobbies. From being an avid hiker, exploring hundreds of miles of incredible Californian mountain ranges, to practicing respectful urban exploration, where abandoned buildings and ruins are thoroughly explored and the motto "take only photographs, leave only footprints" is vigorously followed, to near-daily practicing my staff spinning, the meditative flow art that hones the mind-body connection, to following my list of "non-negotiables", the things that I do every day without exception, including meditation, vigorous physical exercise, and reading some of the greatest works of non-fiction, psychology and philosophy ever to be bestowed upon humanity, my life stays packed with hobbies that all encompass my undying, excited belief that there will always be more to learn in this incredible world.