Finding a path: First-gen student discovers his future in history

Around two years ago, Josep Romero was facing a tough decision: transfer schools or drop out.

The Staten Island native was studying electrical engineering at the time. The day before the add/drop period ended in spring 2022, he made a decision that completely changed his trajectory: He enrolled in three history courses.

The newly minted history major “never looked back,” and went on to win the Helen Anne B. Rivlin History Award before graduating in 2024. His favorite history class was titled Race and Racism in Modern Europe, he said.

“I’ve met a lot of good people in the department,” said Romero, adding that his experiences helped him grow as a person. “A lot of good professors, a lot of great classmates.”

He is a first-generation student on his father’s side of the family, which presents a certain pressure to achieve, he acknowledged.

“You’re here to do something that those before you haven’t been able to do,” Romero said. “It makes me really proud and it motivates me to not give up, just knowing all the sacrifices my parents made.”

What first sparked his interest in history was, oddly enough, a video game: Assassin’s Creed Unity of the famous Assassin’s Creed series has its main story set during the French Revolution.

The French Revolution, which preceded the Napoleonic Wars, caught his attention. After taking a few classes on the topic, he found that the physical battles weren’t what piqued his interest, as video game-worthy as they may be.

“It’s definitely one of the most interesting and fascinating things I’ve learned about recently because of the extensive social and political transformations that were occurring,” he said.

He particularly enjoyed history classes with Associate Professor Elisa Camiscioli and Professor Howard Brown; not coincidentally, the latter is an expert on the French Revolution.

Now that he has completed his bachelor’s, he intends to hunt for a job. He is weighing his future either as an attorney or historian, and plans to attend either law school or graduate school in the next two years.

Romero stressed the importance of history as a whole, calling the discipline unique and distinct.

“In this day and age, the humanities, specifically history, are super overlooked,” he said. “We don’t realize how important they are in a world that’s increasingly technological.”