Grant Piros ’09: Chasing History
Grant Piros ’09
Major: History | Hometown: Newberg, Ore.
As a boy growing up in a small Christian community on the East coast, college seemed like a long shot for me. A simple life, without television and other distractions, fostered my growing fascination with history and the past. After visiting the site of the Battle of 1066 in Hastings as a teenager, I knew what I wanted to be.
Becoming a history teacher turned out to be more of a challenge than I expected. My parents, members of a Christian community until I was 15, had spent the previous 20 years doing volunteer work for the church, leaving me on my own to pay for college. In looking for colleges and financial packages, I found that although public colleges seemed cheaper, many of the local private schools offered more scholarships and financial aid options for me, due to my position.
In meeting with my admissions officer at Willamette, I discovered the university offered scholarships which would allow an individual like me, without the finances to cover college, to still attend and achieve one of my life goals. Now, with the invaluable help of these scholarships, I have enjoyed four years of opportunity at Willamette that would not have been thinkable before.
Aside from successfully completing my history degree, I participated in four years of football and track, each of which was key in my maturation process. I plan to attend Willamette’s School of Education in the fall to get my master of arts in teaching, and from there, hopefully fulfill my dream to become a teacher and a coach in the area.