Doing what we came here for: Major Declaration Fair
The purpose of college is to find what you want to do for the rest of your life, and on Thursday, Feb. 13, first-year students got to come together and declare what they wanted their futures to look like.
Every year, Maryville College has a Major Declaration Fair. During this time, freshmen gather at the Clayton Center and get to talk to different professors from different majors. At the end, if they’ve decided on a major, they get to take their picture with their major written on a whiteboard.
This fair helps expose freshmen to new perspectives and new careers that they might not have previously thought of. Every booth is inviting, and most do things such as offer cookies or candy to the students who pass by.
Something great about Maryville College is that there are so many different majors to choose from.
Chandler Godfrey was one of the many students who attended the fair. He is originally from Summerville, Ga. and came to Maryville College hoping to major in exercise science.
Chandler Godfrey declares his major as Exercise Science.
Photo by Ericka Donovan
“After undergrad, I want to go on to graduate school,” Godfrey said. “My goal is to have a nonprofit organization that can help people receive the physical therapy they need.” Godfrey hopes to attend Emory for graduate school and would like to specialize in occupational therapy.
Matthew Jackson is another freshman who has big plans for himself after graduating from Maryville. Originally from Nashville, Tenn., Jackson came to Maryville because of the neuroscience program.
“When I was young, I had a seizure,” Jackson said. “I just want to be able to give back. I want to be able to be a support system for the kids I help.” Jackson strives to be a pediatric neurosurgeon.
During the fair, students also talked about what brought them here to Maryville. A common answer was the outdoors. However, both Autumn Carroll and Jasmyn Mohr were interested in Maryville because of the academic rigor and the small campus.
Carroll and Mohr have a typical major in psychology. Still, they both want to do very different things when it comes to their careers.
Carrol loves the show ”Criminal Minds.” She said she watched it growing up. That show is what spiked her interest in pursuing psychology as a major. Mohr is on a slightly different path. She is double majoring with biology and plans on being a doctor, although she’s not decided on what kind yet.
Connor Cowart is yet another student who is on a much different path than his peers. Because of his love for music, Cowart hopes to be a music teacher after graduating. His major is currently music education for licensure.
Connor Cowart and Dr. Rebecca Lucas stand together, as Cowart declares his major in Music Education.
Picture by Ericka Donovan.
“I hope to start out teaching high school,” Cowart said. “But eventually, I would like to go on and get my master’s and DMA so that I could teach at a college level.”
Each student at the fair had a career path unique to them. Everyone was excited to figure out what they wanted to “officially” be after college. This fair is a major step for freshmen at the college.
College is the time for new beginnings, along with making big decisions on what you want your career to be. Each student has a very different path and different reasons why they want to pursue a specific major. The Major Declaration Fair is just one of the many ways Maryville College offers first-year students assistance in deciding their futures.