Atticus Kangas, ’22 learns about a course from Philosophy Professor Matthew Stuart at the academic fair. August 27, 2018. Photo by Fred J. Field.

Members of the Class of 2022 crowded into Morrell Gynmasium on Monday morning, August 27, 2018, to consider which classes to take in the upcoming year. Hundreds of students spent up ninety minutes perusing the forty booths on display, representing a variety of academic departments and programs.

Classmates Yazmeen Wirth and Triana Willmert were taking a water break after checking out a number of the courses. “I made a beeline for neuroscience,” said Wirth, “because that’s my priority right now, but I also got sidetracked by Italian cinema!” A movie poster caught her eye, and Wirth said she’s now trying to fit a cinema studies course into her schedule. Willmert has so far visited the psychology and Spanish booths, but also found the philosophy table an unexpected attraction. “They were offering a first-year seminar called Crime and Punishment, which looks interesting.”

“I definitely lean towards the humanities,” said Atticus Kangas. “I’m interested in philosophy and languages, but I’ll also try to take some courses I haven’t experienced in high school, such as anthropology, sociology, that sort of thing.”

Jacob Kassama described himself as someone who leans toward the STEM subjects but is open to the humanities as well. “So far I’ve visited biology, chemistry, and religion, but I also intend to check out the math and history tables.” Andrew Nicholson said he was considering sociology and psychology, as well as English. “I wasn’t planning on looking at cinema studies but it jumped out at me.”

Kangrok Ko, also known as Justin, needs to narrow down his list of potential courses. “I have checked out anthropology and sociology, philosophy, government, computer science, digital and computational studies, music. I’m interested in a lot of different things,” he said. How does he plan to shorten the list? “Scheduling conflicts will narrow it down a lot automatically. I also don’t want to wake up at seven so that narrows it down more!” Ko said he hadn’t planned on taking any music courses at Bowdoin, but found himself unexpectedly drawn in that direction. “I sang in the choir at high school, and now I think I’ll try out for it here.”