“When I was a kid, people used to tell me I should be a lawyer because I argued too much,” says alumnus Ethan Fickle ’23. For a long time, it was just a joke shared with friends and family; when Ethan first enrolled at Valpo as an undecided undergraduate student in 2019, going to law school wasn’t on his bingo card. But little did past Ethan know, choosing to major in history five years ago was what laid the groundwork for a vibrant future in public defense.
As an exploratory commuter student, Ethan took his time deciding what direction he wanted to take his college experience – from joining Student Senate to making philosophical connections in Christ College – The Honors College. Ultimately, it was his love of reading and truly understanding the world around him that drove him to officially declare his history major. “I have zero regrets about majoring in history at Valpo. It was a lot of fun. I got to read a lot of books I normally wouldn’t have read, and write papers about things I wouldn’t have normally written papers about,” Ethan shares.
While he’ll always hold medieval history close to his heart, Ethan’s time in Valpo’s history program led him to explore a vast variety of historical eras and perspectives. While students are invited to explore their interests – from Greek Civilization and Culture (HIST 310) to Baseball in American History (HIST 228) – a multidimensional approach is key. “The history program is really cool because you are required to take history courses from a lot of different domains. You can’t walk in and just take classes about Western Europe,” Ethan explains. “You learn American history, East Asian history, Latinx history, contemporary African history… The view is much broader than what you get at a high school level.” Some classes that made the most impact?: History of Chicago (HIST 227), History of Modern Britain (HIST 313), and a section on the American evangelicals during the Civil Rights movement.
Between engaging source material, charismatic professors, and a 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio that encourages everyone to use their voice, Ethan found himself urging his fellow Beacons to add history to their academic portfolios. “I tried to convince as many people as I could into at least minor in history. It’s a lot of fun, not a high workload, and ties right into your general education credits. And the professors are great people and wonderful educators.” Ethan says, reflecting on previous classes with Assistant Professor of History Lucas Kelley, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History Jesse Curtis, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History Colleen Seguin, Ph.D., and Senior Research Professor Chuck Schaefer, Ph.D. “History is a subject that paints pictures, but sometimes you have to be helped to understand them – especially when you’re looking at a big wall of text. Valpo’s history professors do a great job guiding students through that.”
The skills a history major helps develop are invaluable. Through holistic projects and faculty guidance, students walk away with essential critical thinking capabilities and the power to build research-driven arguments – and later to present them in writing. Ethan’s strong foundation in looking at extenuating circumstances in history – bias, authorship, cultural particulars – prepared him to do the same at the next level.
And, as a second year juris doctor (J.D.) candidate at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, Ethan’s wasted no time putting this mastery into practice. He is a student member of the American Constitution Society (ACS) and Indianapolis Bar Association, and volunteers with a pro bono student outreach clinic. Over the summer, he worked as an uncertified legal intern at the Marion County Public Defender Agency, where he gained real-world experience working with underserved communities. After graduation, he plans to enter public defense, lending his light to better the lives of others and championing the constitutional right to a lawyer awarded to all individuals. “I’d rather guilty people go free than innocent people go to prison. I want to be on their team, even when nobody else is,” he says.
If there’s one thing Ethan would ask everyone – future history students and curious readers alike – to take away from his experience in Valpo’s program, it’s this: Approach everything with a critical mind. “Everything is more complicated than people will try to tell you. The story always has 100 layers. There are always many, many voices that are being heard and will likely never be – because their voices aren’t the ones being recorded. Only the people with the most influence are telling the story,” Ethan shares. “You really have to dig to get some semblance of the truth, which is important now more than ever in this post-truth era of social media and misinformation.”
Interested in a program that will dive deep into our world’s archives and prepare you for the rigor of law school? Become a Beacon in your community by following Ethan’s footsteps in Valpo’s history program.
