A Major Decision

By Staff Writer, Dalton Johnson

Heading into college, many students think they have their lives figured out. They have decided on a major and assume that is the program they will go into. Sometimes however, a student ends up not liking their original major and ends up switching programs. Iowa Lakes Community College student Darrian Kueker is one of those students.

Kueker started out in the Aviation program last year before switching to Wind Tech this year. There are several reasons why he decided to switch majors. One of the reasons was the cost of the program.

“First off, aviation is not cheap, it costs a lot of money that I do not have,” said Kueker. Another reason was that Kueker would be able to get a job right after completing his Wind Tech degree. 

“The wind industry I can get into within the first year of graduating,” he said.

Kueker also mentioned that he was conflicted at the fact he would not be able to fly due to his major change.

“There was the conflict of not being able to fly, but I would rather fly on my own than with a company,” said the Iowa Lakes sophomore.

Kueker said that when deciding on which major to change to, his love of heights played into helping him decide.

“I’ve been a fan of heights and working with my hands,” he said.

So far, the second year student has loved his major change.

“Once you climb the wind towers, it’s an amazing feeling,” said Kueker.

At Iowa Lakes, there are organizations on campus that can help students, like Kueker, who are looking into switching their majors. One of those organizations is TRIO.  

“TRIO is a grant funded program, whose main objective, is to help students navigate the path towards graduation and help them transfer onto a 4 year college,” said Trudy Ahrens, TRIO director at Iowa Lakes.

According to Ahrens, if a student wants to switch majors and they are a part of TRIO. TRIO can help the student navigate the process of a major change.

“If a student comes into the TRIO office and says “hey I’m thinking about switching a major,” it is a process,” she said.

“I think that they (the TRIO advisor) would discuss, “why are you switching majors, have you talked to your program advisor, and what are thinking about going into,”” said Ahrens.

She said that students thinking about switching majors need to consider why they want to switch.

“I think that there needs to be a discussion about why a person wants to switch majors,” said the TRIO director.

“From there, if a student decides to switch majors, they will be referred down to the registrar’s office, who will actually switch the major in the system for them,” said Ahrens.

Although it can be freighting for a student to switch majors, they can rest knowing that Iowa Lakes will help them through the process.