Taking place Mar. 6 this year, the Major Declaration Celebration was a time for sophomores to celebrate their declared majors, meet faculty, and get excited about their next couple of years at St. Olaf. Tables for each major lined the Buntrock Ballrooms with signs for students to fill out and treats to take with them. The event had some extra attractions, such as free t-shirts, snacks, and photos with Ole the Lion.
Just as how St. Olaf has a wide variety of majors to choose from, the reasons students choose their major vary greatly. It could be that taking one interesting class or meeting an enthusiastic faculty member is the final push to declare a certain major.
“I started here [at St. Olaf] in the Introduction to Psychology class, and I immediately knew that it was a culmination of everything that I was interested in and had done before,” Megan Haas ’27 said. “I think that there are so many amazing faculty and peers in the psychology major, so I was really excited to be a part of that community.”
Students sometimes declare more than one major. Parker Chelikowsky ’27 declared three: Norwegian, English, and creative writing.
“I was really confident in the Norwegian one. I came from a year in Norway to St. Olaf,” Chelikowsky said. “Creative writing and English came along the way… when I first walked into a creative writing classroom, I thought, ‘Wow, there are other people who really care about this and are interested in the same things that I am.’”
Sometimes, students come to St. Olaf certain about what they want to major in, then unexpectedly end up on a different path. Tommy Glennon ’27 had this experience in his journey to declare in political science and Spanish, having originally intended to declare a major in music.
“I had taken a couple poli-sci classes as ‘backups’ and those ended up being a lot more fun than the music classes,” Glennon said. “I wanted to keep getting better at Spanish. Then, I thought, ‘Well, I’m already going to be taking all these Spanish classes, I might as well just major in it.’ Plus, there’s a nice intersection between poli-sci and Spanish, so it worked out.”
Now that students have declared their majors, they’re already looking forward to what’s to come.
“I love all the math faculty, and I’m excited to take classes with as many different professors as I can,” said Emily Jacobson ’27, who declared in mathematics. “All of the faculty I’ve met so far are so amazing.”
Faculty are also looking forward to the future of their programs.
“Events like this, where every year there are more and more students attending and declaring their major in film and media studies, feel really reassuring and make me feel confident that we’re moving in the right direction,” said Associate Professor of English and Director of Film and Media Studies Linda Mokdad. “For me, I think teaching is about the students, and it is about generating enthusiasm for film and media. I love the love that students bring for it.”
