As a kid Marcus Gutierrez ’18 was, in his own assessment, an athletic nerd who would hang around the house and watch the History Channel. It seems to follow that he’s now a history (and government) major and member of the Hamilton College football team. His first Hamilton history course looked at Europe and its empires circa 1500 to 1960. He loved it.
“My writing became so much more potent. And it connected with everything I really appreciated in life,” Gutierrez says. “It explained a lot about race, religion. Being of Hispanic descent, being African and Hispanic, Europe and its empires is my history as well – I can really appreciate that.”
No course has influenced him more than that one, taught by History Professor Kevin Grant. “It was so much more rewarding than just a grade,” says Gutierrez. “I didn’t even care about the grade. It was the information that I was learning, the skills I was learning: to write, how to converse with a professor in a professional manner.”
At Hamilton he has improved his ability to precisely frame arguments and to evaluate and analyze historical documents. Besides history his interests include studying Italian – he plans to spend a semester in Italy – and participating in the Brothers Organization, Delta Upsilon and the Campus Activities Board.
