Student Profile: Michaela Gamache – A Leader For The Liberal Arts
Nichols is a school for more than just business, as Michaela Gamache proves.
Although Nichols has long been known for its wide array of majors in business, sport management, and criminal justice, the liberal arts have also held their own in the college’s curriculum. That’s where senior Michaela Gamache fits in. Perfectly.
Gamache arrived at Nichols from Woonsocket, Rhode Island as a history major, with an emphasis on American history and with a familial twist. “I come from a military family,” she said, adding that her focus is on American military history.
Along those lines, Gamache is making use of a unique collection of pictures—many of them unpublished and taken by her uncle, an army photographer during the Vietnam War. In November, Gamache presented her paper, “Controversial Photography of the Vietnam War,” at the New England Regional Conference of Phi Alpha Theta, a national honor society for undergraduates, graduates, and professors in history.
Besides pursuing her academics, Gamache spends time promoting her side of the Nichols curriculum. “I’ve worked a lot at it,” she said. “You can ask any professor I have about how I advocate. I’m very outspoken in that sense.”
“We have a great liberal arts department and a great history department,” she added. “You can see me at the open houses for majors, and I’ve pushed myself to meet incoming freshmen.”
Among the messages Gamache conveys to them: A liberal arts major teaches students how to write and to think analytically.
As president of the History Club, Gamache has organized a busy schedule of trips and events, including visits to the houses of sixth U.S. President John Quincy Adams and infamous ax murderer Lizzie Borden, as well as to a whaling museum.
“People may say, ‘History? That’s kind of boring.’ But I live with the idea that history does repeat itself, and I try to make it interesting for everyone,” Gamache said.
Gamache is aiming to follow in the footsteps of several notable Nichols professors who have done their graduate work at the University of Connecticut. She plans on earning a master’s degree in history and to ultimately work towards a doctorate.
Her commitment to her major is just part of Gamache’s own history. From an early age, she has ridden horses and in middle and high school competed in equine sports. Two years ago, she merged her love of photography with her passion for riding into a budding career as a “horse picturer”. Gamache says that she uses her equine knowledge to find the angles, settings, and behaviors to bring her photographs alive.
Gamache is also using the knowledge she has gained from her Nichols business courses in turning her photographic efforts into something more. “I’m in the process of finalizing a small business, an LLC,” she said, an endeavor that will allow her to make some of her own history as she documents the lives of the horses she loves.
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Media Contacts
Denise Kelley
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denise.kelley@nichols.edu
508-213-2219