The seed that grew into History in the Making, a series of discussions led by FSU history majors, Danni Marquez and Willow Versackas, was planted in the fall of 2022 when Danni asked Dr. Lissa Bollettino if she could take a few minutes in her Caribbean history class to discuss the ongoing crisis in Iran that began with the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, earlier that fall. With the encouragement of Dr. Bollettino, Danni partnered with the Center for Inclusive Excellence (CIE) to bring that conversation to the entire university community.

After that initial talk, Danni enlisted her good friend and fellow history major, Willow Versackas, to discuss other topics in a series they call History in the Making. They began the talks because as Willow said, history affects all of us and “it’s important to give voice to those whose voices have been historically ignored or silenced”. She continued, “History is important. We have to learn from the past so we can do better in the future.”  We live in a bubble, according to Danni, and she hopes doing the talks will help get people out of that bubble and to not be apathetic and disconnected.

Some of the topics they have discussed include how Germany commemorates the Holocaust compared to how the US remembers slavery, Native American History and the Israeli conflict with Hamas. Since that first talk in the fall of 2022, they have collaborated on four discussions.  They agreed that they enjoy facilitating the conversations and meeting interesting people from across the university. Danni said, “I like using my voice for something that matters. Doing this helped me to grow, and I like being able to speak about something that I’m passionate about.”

They hope that people who attend History in the Making will learn something that they would not be exposed to during their regular classes. The women agreed that creating a safe place where participants feel free to talk is especially important. Willow said it’s gratifying to learn how passionate people are about issues.

Both Willow and Danni will graduate in 2023-2024 academic year.