How AU helped me connect with family history

How AU helped me connect with family history

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Transforming Lives: Learners of AU is an ongoing series where real students and alumni share how flexible online learning at Athabasca University (AU) made a difference in their lives and communities. Submit your story.

I am a cousin to Norman Maclean, who wrote the book and helped produce the film A River Runs Through It starring Brad Pitt and Tom Skerritt. My research into my family's connection regarding A River Runs Through It got me interested in Athabasca University's Bachelor of Arts, History Major program as I wanted to know more about the historical background of what my ancestors witnessed and what they would have known during the 1800s in southern Manitoba and the United States.

Learning about Western Canadian history

I enjoyed the history program very much with AU, as it gave me new insights into the history of Canada and the world I never knew. Such courses as HIST 388 History of Western Canada increased my understanding of the politics and environment of the late 1800s to the early 1900s.

I remember a time when I enjoyed talking to the various tutors who helped me gain knowledge and understanding about the various events in history. By talking to them about various historical events such as the Second World War and the Cold War, along with my degree in history, helped me write my fictional book about the Second World War, which I hope to release in the next year.

Write Site a 'great resource'

I also enjoyed another feature of AU: the Write Site. This is a great resource to use for essays, assignments, and projects. The Write Site has helpful and knowledgeable people you can meet online through your phone or computer; eventually, I felt at home with the Write Site team.

The Write Site has given community to my youngest brother and I, as he is also an AU student. The Write Site offers great webinars and writing courses which helped me improve on all aspects of writing, such as essays and assignments.

Because of Athabasca University, I have learnt so many things from so many people. I have shared this knowledge with other writing groups online, such as Shut-Up-And-Write, and Meet-up.com as they help develop my writing abilities even further.

Athabasca University history courses also helped inspire me to be an on-the-spot historian with knowledge of so many places, such as Hawaii when I went there on a cruise earlier this year. I felt I knew more of the history of Hawaii than the regular historians who were guiding the tours.

Now, even though I have graduated, I felt a need to come back to further my understanding of history. I am enrolled in another fourth-year history course.

Transforming Lives: Learners of AU

Read more profiles of AU students and grads in our series Transforming Lives: Learners of AU.

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