History enthusiasts aspire to form club, explore past

Ed Meena, along with Adam Sapienza, are in the process of creating a history club, which will be open to all students, not just history majors and minors.

With the growing numbers of history majors and minors, Meena, a history professor at Point Park University and Sapienza, a senior drama major with a history minor, wanted to find a way to unite the history buffs outside the classroom.

"I thought it was time to reflect [on] the growing number of history [students], which is anywhere from 40 to 50 students. There are eight new history majors, six of them are freshman and two are transfer students," Meena said.

Along with uniting these majors and minors, Meena and Sapienza wanted to give students a better sense of history outside the classroom by listening to guest speakers and taking field trips to local historical attractions.

One of the events Meena had in mind was a trip to the new National Cemetery, which is the overflow of Arlington National Cemetery and the Fort Pitt Museum. They are trying events like this every semester.

"I just thought the history club was another opportunity to bring in some of the local history to the students," Meena said.

Talk about creating the history club came about last year when Meena and Sapienza discussed developing a type of club for those who want to learn more about history inside and outside of the classroom.

"I [took] a bunch of Ed Meena's classes last semester and talked about starting something like the history club, and at the beginning of this semester, Ed Meena asked if I was still interested," Sapienza said, adding he plans to be president of the club once it is created.

Meena hopes the club will be able to teach students about the importance of history.

Brianna Miller, a broadcast and journalism major with a history minor, has been involved with Sapienza in coordinating the club. She hopes Meena's goal of teaching different aspects of history is achieved.

"I hope…to learn from history and to learn from the past mistakes," Miller said.

For the history club to become a campus-recognized club, it will first have to be recognized by USG. To become members, the history club will have to submit necessary paperwork and must have 10 members and a constitution.

"Following that, they would need to come to the Legislative Body meeting to be approved by the senators," Carl Zappa, president of USG, said in an e-mail interview.

Even with the numerous other clubs on campus, Sapienza believes the potential club will be a welcomed addition to the university.

"I feel that Point Park needs a history club because it will let those who want to learn more about history get involved and experience different things," Sapienza said.