By: Kate Rogers, Staff Writer
If you’re not sure what major to choose, or you’ve joined a major that sounds good but you can’t choose a specific field of study, then don’t worry: you’re not alone. The Free Press will randomly choose a few students on a weekly basis to explain what their major is, why they chose it, and who they would recommend to it. Their experiences might end you decide what career path is best for you.
Allison Gemmell
Major: Recreational Therapy with a studio art minor
“I want to help people, but I don’t want to be in school very long,” Gemmell said on why she chose her major. While she does plan to get her masters degree, Gemmell wanted to be able to start working earlier with her four year degree.
Recreational therapy is about helping people who are less able to do what they want to do, Gemmell explained. “It’s about life enrichment,” she said. “I like working clinically with people; I like chilling with people and doing chill art with people,” Gemmell said about why she is focusing on being an art therapist.
While it is not Gemmell’s goal, she said that the recreational therapy major is also good for people who are passionate about the outdoors and want to do adventure therapy.
Tiana Cope-Ferland
Major: Social Work
Like many college students, Cope-Ferland originally chose her major because she needed to pick something. However, as she learned more about the field, she found something she really loved.
“I could help a lot of people who grew up how I did and give back in a lot of ways,” Cope-Ferland said. The major has made her “see things differently,” she said. “I have different insights, and it makes me think in a different way. I want to help kids because those are some rough years to get through alone especially without resources or support,” she said about how she wants to use her education.
Cosette Rose
Major: History and Art Education
“I love teaching, and I want to teach high school…very interested in history,” Rose said on her first major. “But I realized that I kinda want to expand my potential to find a teaching job here in Maine,” she said on deciding to double major. “I’m really passionate about art…I’d like to be a history and/or, art teacher, maybe both at the same time.”
Lucy
Major: Art
“I’ve always been really interested in comics and illustration…and designing characters.” Lucy said on why she chose an art major. “I got to draw models in one of my classes, which you don’t really get to do in other classes…and it’s nice to be able to get better at drawing the human form. We have long studio classes so you can just draw and draw and draw,” Lucy said. She praised the art major highly for giving a sense of community. “It’s nice to kinda have the people around you are all interested in the same thing that you’re interested in.”