In the realms of history and academia, Chelsea Kiefer stands out as a beacon of dedication and inspiration.\u00a0The\u00a0Baltimore-born,\u00a0North Carolina resident is\u00a0an avid history enthusiast\u00a0and\u00a0the first-ever FHSU Online\u00a0student to win the\u00a0Torch Award.\u00a0The\u00a0Torch Award is presented\u00a0each year\u00a0to a few special students in\u00a0recognition of their academic excellence and dedicated service\u00a0to\u00a0student, civic, or professional organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chelsea’s academic journey is a testament to her tenacity. She dropped out of high school in the 10th<\/sup> grade, and then later decided to earn her GED. She then went to work, but her passion for history has always been a living, breathing vocation that drove her to soar through her studies at Fort Hays State University with a remarkable 3.99 GPA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chelsea\u00a0moved to Raleigh from Augusta, GA,\u00a0in 2020\u00a0so that her\u00a0husband Tim could embark on his Ph.D.\u00a0journey in Nuclear Engineering at North Carolina State University.\u00a0Chelsea seized the opportunity\u00a0afforded by the move\u00a0to reshape her\u00a0own professional\u00a0future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It was the perfect timing,” says Chelsea, reflecting on her decision to leave her job as a quality assurance specialist for a tax software company and pursue a career that aligned with her love for history and community engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FHSU Online offered the flexibility she required, with an affordable and fully accredited history program tailored to accommodate her busy life. Her academic journey at FHSU was just as much about leadership and contribution as it was about mastering her discipline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chelsea\u00a0served as the\u00a0secretary of\u00a0the honorary society for history,\u00a0Phi Alpha Theta, and the\u00a0History\u00a0Club. She\u00a0earned\u00a0scholarships from the Honor Society and served as an online student representative for the Holocaust Remembrance and Education Month\u00a0planning\u00a0committees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her leadership and passion for advancing the field of public history are evident in a body of work that has touched people in a variety of settings. Chelsea served as a Docent Volunteer at the North Carolina Museum of History and an intern in collections. She served as a grant writer through the Dane G. Hansen program, contributing 300 invaluable hours writing grants on behalf of the Hays Areas Children\u2019s Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Amber Nickell, assistant professor of history at FHSU, commends Chelsea\u2019s astounding breadth of publications, academic presentations, and public engagements \u2013 a portfolio that would be enviable for a Ph.D. graduate, let alone an undergraduate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But numbers and titles cannot capture the essence of who Chelsea is \u2013 a lover of animals, a devoted wife to Tim, a friend to her three rescue dogs, an avid reader, gardener, baker, and an enthusiast for the simple joys of family hikes and nurturing of house plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her desire to connect people with their heritage led to the creation of the FHSU History Discord in June 2021, which now thrives with over 130 members. This lively digital forum, developed under Chelsea’s guidance, has become an indispensable resource for students and professors alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chelsea’s volunteer work reflects her multifaceted interests and commitments. She has worked tirelessly at the North Carolina Museum of History and transcribed historical documents for Densho.org, an organization that preserves stories of Japanese Americans held in World War II internment camps. She has also worked with the National Park Service and devoted her time to The Produce Project, a group that provides fresh produce in her Raleigh community. In addition to her wide-ranging commitments, she still finds time to care for her three beloved rescue dogs and seek new adventures alongside her husband, Tim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her scholarly work has not only been admirable but prolific. She\u2019s presented original research at academic conferences and shared the findings from her papers as a guest on FHSU’s Victor E. History Podcast. Her work has also been published in The Historians Magazine, and she\u2019s earned the praise of FSHU history professor Dr. Amber Nickell for sharing her research with public audiences via presentations, podcasts, and publications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, Chelsea is not only an alumnus with an undergraduate degree\u00a0in history,\u00a0a\u00a0minor in sociology, and four certificates\u00a0(global studies, grant writing, women\u2019s and gender studies, and cultural diversity studies)\u00a0but also a shining example of lifelong learning. Soon, she\u00a0will\u00a0begin\u00a0pursuing\u00a0her\u00a0master’s degree in Public History\u00a0at FHSU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her leadership extends to numerous roles, including history club, Phi Alpha Theta, and various committees at FHSU and beyond. Through initiatives like the Holocaust Education and Remembrance Committee, Chelsea contributes to vital cultural and educational dialogues, epitomizing the role of a student leader who transcends the online domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chelsea embodies the spirit of the Torch Award \u2014 perseverance, excellence, and an unwavering commitment to her community’s past and present.\u00a0Through\u00a0her academic achievements, leadership, and benevolence,\u00a0she\u00a0has indeed lit the way, not only for current students but for all those who believe in the transformational power of education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chelsea Kiefer’s story is not merely one of scholarly triumph but of an unquenchable zest for knowledge and\u00a0thoughtful community engagement, proving that every chapter in life presents a new opportunity for greatness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tisa Mason is president of Fort Hays State University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the realms of history and academia, Chelsea Kiefer stands out as a beacon of dedication and inspiration.\u00a0The\u00a0Baltimore-born,\u00a0North Carolina resident is\u00a0an avid history enthusiast\u00a0and\u00a0the first-ever… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12323,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Mason-Tisa-040A6662.jpg?fit=750%2C1050&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79099"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79102,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79099\/revisions\/79102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}