Catch up with a Libraries student scholarship awardee: Matthew Angel

The NC State University Libraries awards a number of part-scholarships every year to our outstanding Libraries student workers as part of a concerted effort to support student success and affordability. Since 2018, we've awarded 60 scholarships of varying amounts to 37 students. For the academic year 2023–24, philanthropic support for the Libraries Student Scholarship Fund has allowed us to support 18 of our talented students with scholarship support worth $67,760 in total. This profile is one in a series that lets our scholarship winners tell their stories.

Matthew Angel is a senior History major who works in the Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center. He has followed his passion into this field, having started at NC State in Mechanical Engineering.

What are your hobbies and activities outside of school?
Outside of class, I enjoy spending time in nature hiking, boating and camping. I like to read, especially about history. I am also involved with amateur radio and am the current President of the Student Amateur Radio Society at NC State. I love to cook, and after studying abroad in Austria last summer, my current fascination is traditional Austrian cuisine.

Why did you choose to work at the Libraries? What roles have libraries played in your life in general?
As a child, I went to my local library regularly. I enjoyed browsing the shelves and learning about new topics. Throughout my college career, the Hill Library has been a second home for me. Given my love of history, when I saw there was a student position open in the Special Collections Research Center, I was enthralled. In this role, I am able to get hands-on experience with a myriad of historical records. My eyes have been opened to a multitude of historical perspectives and experiences of people who lived in both the recent and far past.

What have you been most looking forward to this school year?
I major in History and work in University Archives, but I also minor in Graphic Communications, since I enjoy 3D modeling and architecture. I am currently working on a sort of capstone project to tie all my interests and experiences together in the form of an independent study. Part of the study encompasses using my archival experience to uncover historical architectural records of early campus buildings and recreate them in Autodesk Revit—CAD software that is rapidly replacing AutoCAD as the industry standard.

What do you hope to do after you graduate?
After graduation, I plan to go to graduate school overseas in Austria. Before the start of that program, I am taking some time to work and build up a nest egg to fund the next chapter of my education and am currently in the process of applying for jobs. After grad school, I hope to continue working in a role parallel to the study of history—perhaps continuing my work in archives, returning to work at a historic site or museum (in which I completed an internship last summer), or shifting my focus to the "frontlines" of history: archeological fieldwork.

How will a Libraries scholarship help you on your educational/personal path? Is there anything specific that the scholarship will enable or help you to do?
Tuition is the tip of the iceberg as far as educational expenses are concerned. Obvious extra expenses include food and housing, which indeed are the most challenging for me on a regular basis. That being said, while unexpected expenses are often not significant to my monthly costs of living, they are often the most intimidating. Rent and food are a month-to-month necessity that one can build their budget around. When that budget is extra tight, an unexpected expense such as car maintenance, unanticipated drives for family emergencies or personal illness or injury can throw it out of balance. I am very grateful for all of our scholarship donors, as they relieve some of the stress from students and allow us to focus on keeping our grades up instead of keeping the lights on.

Learn more about the Libraries Student Scholarship Endowment here, and donate directly here.