On Saturday, March 5, Belmont Abbey College’s History Department hosted the 2022 Carolinas Regional Phi Alpha Theta Conference. Phi Alpha Theta is the national history honor society and it was our department’s great pleasure to welcome them to our campus for the first time. The conference attracted more than 35 student presenters from across the Carolinas, Tennessee, and beyond. The keynote lecture was delivered by Fr. Charles Gallagher, S.J., of Boston College.
Among the undergraduate presenters were SIX Abbey students: Helen Behe, Angela Harris, Preston Jones, Katalina Lopez, Ricky Seyler, and David Stone. Their papers covered topics ranging from the spread of Christianity among the Vikings to Christianity to major events in the history of Gaston County. All six performed admirably.
At the end of the day, prizes were awarded for the best four undergraduate presentations. Remarkably, two of the winners were Abbey students: Angela Harris and Katalina Lopez. Furthermore, one of the two graduate awards went to Caleb Kuali, who graduated from the Abbey in 2021 before commencing graduate study at North Carolina State University.
The History Department is delighted to congratulate Helen, Preston, Caleb, Ricky, David, and especially Angela and Katalina, on their exceptional achievements.
We also wish to express our sincere gratitude to Dr. Daniel Hutchinson, who worked incredibly hard to make the event the great success that it was, and to the donors to our Founders’ Day fundraiser last year, whose support made it possible for our students to have this experience.
The Belmont Abbey Debate Team competed at the 2022 Southern Forensics Championship. The competition welcomed 34 schools from 12 states, with 136 total debaters in IPDA. Four Belmont Abbey students debated a wide variety of topics concerning societal values, policy proposals, and evaluations of policy. At the end of the weekend, Isabella Barrett finished second overall in the final round, while Blake Traylor and Carter Keller were ranked in the top 10 for speaking awards in their divisions.
