Abigail Wahl

Watching the pillars of my community erode sparked my interest in history. I saw how a shifting culture and a pandemic fragmented my community-driven small town into isolated family units, and I began searching for other instances of this throughout history. The panic that gripped my neighbors mirrored the fatalism that haunted the beginnings of Hellenistic Greece. As I studied this era in more depth during my freshman year at Brown University, I found more similarities than differences between the declining polis and the social structure of my hometown. As existing structures crumbled, many people scrambled to find community in other ways. In Hellenistic Greece, this often took the shape of mystery religions; in 2020 rural North Carolina, it took the shape of politically polarized Facebook groups. The more I searched, the more examples of this panic I found. What drives me to continue studying history is knowing that communities have rebuilt themselves in the face of adversity and have turned their communal panic into power. I’ve always had a passion for solving issues in my community and for connecting people in communal spaces. Guided by the Bezos Scholar Program, I founded a free literacy mentorship program at my old elementary school during my senior year at North Stanly High School. My team and I mentored classes where less than 30% of students were estimated to be reading at grade level. By the end of the first year, we saw an increase in reading confidence and a significant improvement in reading ability among the students. In high school, I also served as the Student Body President, a co-representative of the Unity Club, and the Cheerleading Captain, where I worked to create a sense of belonging and unity during and after the peak of COVID-19. This work ranged from running small-group club meetings to organizing safe events for the entire student body. At university, I study the histories of communities that have experienced sudden and significant hardships. I am also employed at the John Hay Library, where I use my access to diverse historical materials to expand my understanding of how history is made and preserved. In my educational and professional endeavors, I aim to learn from and about influential leaders and social movements that helped their communities thrive during times of crisis. This knowledge will help me support my community through its current challenges. Although many communities have failed throughout history, I believe we don’t have to accept the same fate. We need to study their mistakes and try new approaches.