Rose Lewis is a sophomore working towards a bachelor of art while double majoring in English and history at West Texas A&M University. Lewis is from Amarillo and adores the different aspects of her major and the classes that she takes.
Lewis is following a path so that she can serve students.
“I want to be a professor,” Lewis said. “I want to teach philosophy.”
After taking classes in high school and gaining a more profound interest, Lewis knew philosophy was an area she’d consider teaching.
“I took some dual enrollment philosophy classes in high school, and I just love it,” Lewis said. “I like philosophy so much because I think that the history of ideas is really interesting. But I also think it’s really fascinating to study what seems to be this innate drive to like and understand things, right? And then, like, ask questions. Also, people come up with these absolutely absurd theories about things, and sometimes, they are actually kind of amusing. But overall, broadly, it’s just really interesting to study like the human experience.”
Lewis finds that understanding philosophy can transform students overall.
“Philosophy is kind of stereotyped as being really stuffy and old, but I just think it helps you and helps people become more rounded in university,” Lewis said. “It can also give people really good teaching experiences because philosophy classes can be so fun. If you study pedagogy and you’re trying to be engaging, you can make subjects fun.”
One thing that Lewis adores about her major is the ins and outs of history, along with thinking about people’s persona of historical events.
“I like this kind of ties in with the history of ideas but I like just looking at like, historical context of any given time period, and then thinking ‘Why do people do the things that they did?'” Lewis said. “Also ancient warfare specifically is so cool.”
A reason that Lewis was interested in WT was after she got her foot in the door while in high school.
“I was in the Pre-University Program (PUP) for two years,” Lewis said. “It’s like dual enrollment. So, I started my sophomore year of high school, and I went to class here. It’s such a small community, and so I knew all the professors, and I really liked them. WT is also close to home, and it’s affordable.”
Lewis’s favorite part of WT is the community formed within her major department.
“I really like the EPML department because all of the professors are brilliant,” Lewis said. “And also, it’s just really nice because everyone knows each other.”
Since being at WT, Lewis has been given the chance to get ahead with credit hours and find her people.
“Well, I mean, the PUP program gave me a lot of credits, and since I was going to WT in high school, I got used to the campus,” Lewis said. “I think because of WT’s size, it’s given me the opportunity to actually, like, get to know like-minded people because I don’t have to search super hard. I also work at the Writing Center so it’s given me an opportunity to balance having a job and my academics.”
Around campus, Lewis is the Editor-in-Chief of The Legacy, WT’s literary magazine, is part of the history club, works at the Writing Center and is the secretary for the philosophy club. Aside from academics, Lewis enjoys spending time with her friends, seeing her boyfriend, reading and crocheting.
Lewis believes you should always speak out because there’s no harm in being wrong.
“If you have something to say in a classroom, just say it because it’s fine to be wrong,” Lewis said. “Especially in my freshman courses, professors would ask questions, and then the classroom would be crickets. If you like to say something and it’s wrong, the only thing you’re going to get is a better answer or an explanation. The whole point of education is to be wrong a lot, and that’s okay.”
