Presidential Scholar
The history major allowed me to fulfill my lifelong interest in the discipline while contextualizing my studies in philosophy and greatly improving my writing skills.
Max Stone made his years at WWU count. He completed two majors (history and philosophy), two minors (Holocaust and genocide studies
as well as honors interdisciplinary studies), served on the WWU Board of Trustees as its student trustee, captained the men’s rugby team, and served as president of the Philosophy Club.
For others considering a double major with history, Max says, “a double major is very doable with the right planning” and recommends “embracing interdisciplinary learning.” Prof. Pihos’s HIST 499 “Social Movements in the 20th Century US,” one of Max’s favorite courses, contributed to three of his interests (history, philosophy, and writing), and he found that “combining philosophy with history provided complementary ways of thinking about issues and how we might solve them.”
Prof. Pihos says he was privileged to teach Max in multiple courses over the past two years. “Max brings a terrific combination of intellectual
seriousness and deep scholarly engagement with a light-hearted playfulness and sense of humor. I especially enjoyed working with him on his senior HIST 499 research paper, in which he explored the intellectual roots and contemporary politics of the philosophical position that human
procreation is impermissible. I had the best experience a faculty member can have, which is to say, I learned a lot from Max.”
Max believes “the history major allowed me to fulfill my lifelong interest in the discipline while contextualizing my studies in philosophy and greatly improving my writing skills.” And while “writing a senior thesis is daunting,” Max notes that “the payoff at the end is well worth it, especially if you tailor the project to write about something you have profound interest in.”
After graduating from WWU, Max will be attending the Caruso School of Law at Pepperdine University. He hopes to pursue a career in law that
is framed by the historical knowledge and analytical skills he gained from his time at WWU.
Read more about this double major, double minor, Presidential Scholar here!