In the morning of the second day of the conference, I attended the Delegate’s meeting. In this meeting, I heard from officers of Phi Alpha Theta and learned more about their work that had made the organization a great organization. We also elected new officers and heard about some future plans. I was very grateful for Phi Alpha Theta as it not only provided me a national setting to present my research, but also to hear from other students and scholars, more importantly, it also connected some history majors at Rollins College together, a group of smart girls whom I feel lucky to have as friends.

Speaking of these friends, I unfortunately missed Cami’s presentation the day before due to flight delay, but I was able to attend Wendy’s and Sydney’s presentations on the second day. Wendy’s presentation was on the alternative lifestyles of the utopian communities, while Sydney presented on the sexual revolution of the 1920s. Both of the girls did an amazing job with their presentation and I am so proud of them.

Between Wendy’s and Sydney’s sessions, I attended a session on the Vietnam War. After my presentation the day before, Aaron Fountain from Winthrop University approached me and asked about where I looked for my primary sources. It turned out that he was also interested in San Francisco. He was working on high school student activism during the Vietnam War in the Bay Area. His topic excited me as I also worked on a research paper on student activism during the Vietnam War, but my focus was student activism at Rollins College. It was so interesting to see how Aaron’s research overlapped with my two distinct research projects, so I decided to go to his presentation to learn more. In my opinion, his presentation was the best one I attended. Through some external funding, he was able to go to some of the high schools in the Bay Area, talk to the administrators, and look at their records. His paper was so well-organized and in-depth, and even included further research topics, which made the panel chair comment that he had his dissertation laid out right there.

Besides going to conference sessions, I was also able to enjoy my time at the resort.

Since I was going to run a full marathon a week after the conference, I took full advantage of the natural trails at our resort and did some training after my presentation and the day after. The view was absolutely gorgeous: the grasslands, the forest, the red mountains at sundown, and the Rio Grande in a creek form. There was also a stable on the resort, which, in addition to the view, distracted me from my runs. Besides the natural trails, the resort also offered other recreational activities that I wished I had more time for. At least I hope that this meant that I will come back to Albuquerque in the future.