Joshua Urwick ’20 spent the summer of 2019 researching the lives of mill workers who were also baseball players in southern mill towns. A course on the history of South Carolina with history professor Dr. Michael Nelson inspired Joshua’s research.

“I thought that it was a topic that did not have much written on it, and I wanted to find out

more about what life was like for baseball players in textile mill towns in the South,” Joshua said.

Joshua looked at how the baseball players were viewed and treated within their communities.

“My research, at first, involved researching more of what life was like for mill operatives in general,” he says.

“Because of a lack of records on mill baseball, it took a lot of digging to get into the thick of my research. But once I did, I was able to focus on how the mill baseball players were viewed and treated and how they lived day-to-day.”

Joshua is currently in his senior year at PC and is a double major in history and business with a concentration in management.

Outside the classroom, Joshua is also involved on campus as a manager for the baseball team and the chair of College Republicans. He’s not sure yet what he wants to do after he graduates, but his summer research efforts gave him an opportunity to sharpen his analytical and communication skills, helpful for any career he decides to pursue.