HIS 6159 (October 31-November 6)

 

              Dr. Murphree’s class transitioned towards discussing elevator speeches to prepare students for presenting themselves to future employers. The elevator speech introduces the student to the employer or the audience that is not a historian nor one from our field. It allows the student to present what they have learned within the major including their skills such as critical thinking, communication skills, and other soft skills. There is a time limit for the speech as it should stick to approximately five minutes. The elevator speech is critical in professionalizing a history major to advertise themselves towards those unfamiliar with our field. Dr. Murphree explained the process of one student giving a speech every class. During my undergraduate degree, I found these elevator speeches to be very useful in emphasizing the skills that the degree provides us.

The first, brave, student provided their elevator speech and received a positive reception from the class. Notably, they highlighted their skills mentioned earlier with an addendum on how they utilized it outside of their classes. However, their speech ran over the time limit of five minutes which was relayed to them. I advised that it is good to have more to discuss than too little. Dr. Murphree joined me on this regarding synthesizing their skills, but also pointed out the language of the speech. It is important for one to be cautious about words such as “bias” or “ignorant”. In our criticism, we reframed the argument for the student. I noticed some admiration for the student to educate the public as it is always something a historian wishes to do with their degree.

As the semester is beginning to close, I have been pushing for the COVID collection interviews to be submitted from the students. The students have begun finishing up their transcriptions and will be sending them to me to review. I have some concern with the proximity of the classes ending, but I am hoping that they will get them to me in a timely manner.

The elevator speeches are the most interesting and vital part of the class because of their nature with allowing the student to dedicate themselves to present their undergraduate degree. Some students wished for me to give my own elevator speech which I will be doing either next week or the week after. Dr. Murphree was interested because of the evolution in a post graduate setting so I’ll be sure to update it from the last time I gave it.

My elevator speech will hopefully provide a model for the students to understand what a succinct one can be. It will also be a learning experience for myself in how I have shifted from where I was in my undergraduate degree such as my interest in digital history. My elevator speech helped me prepare for graduate school and I wish to present students a good way of marketing yourself as a historian within the public sphere. Questions such as why does this matter or why should I care are frequent questions by those outside of our sphere. It is vital for us to articulate and answer these questions.