Preston Reynolds ’25 is an old soul.
Just ask Associate Professor of Political Science and Pre-Law Advisor Scott Himsel. They met in one of Reynolds’ first Wabash classes—his freshman tutorial.
“I teach a very old-fashioned freshman tutorial,” Himsel said. “Twice during the tutorial, students give a speech and other students critique them. Preston was critiquing people like he was a 30- or 40-year-old history professor. His comments were really good. My first memories of Preston were of a wonderful old soul.”
Reynolds, who carries a leather satchel to class and is just as likely to invite friends over for tea and conversation as to fire up a video game, would probably take that description as a compliment. He has longed to teach history since before he came to Wabash.
“Because of the amount of freedom you get,” he elaborated, “the amount of actual interaction and influence you can have on your students, teaching history in college feels like you can genuinely unleash somebody’s passions and, through that, leave an impact on their life.”
Academic Administrative Coordinator for Division III Pam Sacco, whom Reynolds refers to as his ‘work mom,’ echoes Himsel’s description.
“He’s like an old soul in a young body. He has to be one of the humblest people I know,” she said. “He doesn’t give himself enough credit for how good he is.”
Being an old soul doesn’t mean Reynolds doesn’t know how to have fun.
He loves climbing trees and hiking. He draws and writes poetry. He plays the violin and has been a member of the Chamber Orchestra every semester of his Wabash career.
He also enjoys travel. He seized the opportunity to travel to Greece with others from the Wabash Writing Center. In addition to experiencing Greek culture and seeing ancient sites, he worked with members of the Student Academic Support Services at the American College of Greece to exchange ideas on improving their offerings to the student body.
Reynolds also participated in a course that included an immersion component in Poland, taking full advantage of his time there on a once-in-a-lifetime trip.
His face lit up as he said, “At the royal castle, I saw things like the Constitution of 1795, which is the second oldest constitution in the world, after ours. I saw so many busts and different artifacts from Polish monarchs, especially the 17th and 18th centuries, people I’ve studied.”
Reynolds, who is a history major and creative writing and economics minor, focuses on 18th-century Poland and Lithuania in his studies. His senior seminar paper compared fear and anxiety in the 18th-century United States against that in Poland and Lithuania of the same time period. One of the challenges he faced was working with primary sources, which are largely written in Polish—a language he doesn’t speak.
“I’m incredibly anti-artificial intelligence,” Reynolds explained. “It’s so dehumanizing. But it is a tool, and we have to compromise sometimes. I translated my primary sources using AI, and with the limited conclusions I could draw, wrote my paper.”
Translating his sources is far from the largest challenge Reynolds has faced, however. Much of his early coursework was done with Professor of History Emeritus Stephen R. Morillo. When Morillo retired in the spring of 2023, Reynolds faced a crisis of self-doubt.
“Dr. Morillo was an integral part of why I came to Wabash,” Reynolds said. “After he retired, I didn’t know what I was going to do. My whole path academically was based around learning from this very qualified scholar, and suddenly I couldn’t do that.”
Nevertheless, Morillo’s retirement held a silver lining.
Reynolds had to redefine his identity as a student, not just of Stephen Morillo, but as a student of Wabash.
“It was incredibly important in terms of personal and intellectual development,” he said. “That experience kicked me in the pants and taught me if I want to keep pursuing this path, I need to find a way to do it on my own. I never expected it to feel so fulfilling and rewarding to figure out who I am.”
So how did he figure that out?
“I started working my ass off all the time.” Reynolds grinned. “I dove into extracurriculars. I started saying yes to a lot more things, with some success, some not-so successful. I started doing personal research papers outside of class.”
One of the yesses he said was to co-teaching Himsel’s freshman tutorial.
“168体育平台下载_足球即时比分-注册|官网 looked for opportunities for Preston to continue to develop,” Himsel said. “I let him take the wheel in class sessions. He brings to the table a wealth of knowledge, but also knows the art of figuring out how much to say and how much to remain silent to give the students space to learn, try things out, and realize education is an interactive process.’”
Sacco admires Reynolds’ drive to improve.
“If he has something he has to do, he buckles down and he does it,” she said. “He’s very good at managing his time. He’s very regimented.”
That regiment of hard work has paid off. Reynolds earned distinction on his comprehensive exams, and has been invited to membership in Phi Beta Kappa. He will be studying at the University of Chicago this fall as part of the Master of Arts Program in Social Sciences (MAPSS).
He hopes to someday return to Wabash College as a professor.
“He struck me right away as a person who was really enjoying himself in the classroom, and who might have found his home there,” Himsel said. “He’s a natural.”
That natural aptitude for teaching was how Reynolds ended up at Wabash. His college choices came down to Wabash and one other. When he got to his college visits, he was open about his desire to go into academia. The other college advised against that career choice. At Wabash, the faculty encouraged him.
Wabash won, and Wabash is the better for it.
“People have respect for him,” Sacco said. “He asks good questions. He listens. He’s one of those special ones who you know is going to do really cool stuff that make a positive impact on the people whose lives he touched.”
“168体育平台下载_足球即时比分-注册|官网’re going to miss him,” Himsel added. “In many ways, that’s the highest compliment we can pay.”