Manhattan High students took advantage of an opportunity to explore college majors through the annual Kansas State University Student Shadow Day last week. 

In February, Gifted Education students submitted their top two preferences of majors out of 16 interest areas, from science and mathematics to education and leadership. Students later received their itinerary for one or two days, outlining their Zoom sessions with current college students, professors and advisors. Sophomore Kathryn Borthwick met with professors and advisors from the anthropology, modern language and political science departments at K-State. Borthwick attended the Shadow Day to further pursue her interests and explore career options. 

“The goal I set was that I want to try and explore what I may want to do in the future, because that will dictate classes that I take junior and senior year,” Borthwick said. 

Borthwick appreciated the opportunity to talk with experienced professors of specific study areas. 

“I feel like as high school students, we don’t get a whole lot of information on majors,” Borthwick said. “So being on a Zoom with professors, I was able to ask questions that I won’t normally be able to ask.”

Junior Ronan Tanona attended Zoom sessions with the political science and human ecology departments. 

“I’m mostly looking at doing something with political science… whether it’s law school or going into politics,” Tanona said. 

Tanona and Borthwick had the opportunity to sit in during an introductory level American Government lecture with Dr. Nathaniel Birkhead, Associate Professor of Political Science at K-State.

Tanona, who is considering attending K-State after high school, thought it would be beneficial to attend and get a glance of life at K-State. 

“I wanted to know what the political science program looked like at K-State, and get exposure to professors and the classes,” Tanona said. 

Sophomore Bepeh Amama chose to explore electrical/computer engineering and physics/biochemistry majors. Amama said that he enjoyed the opportunity to ask current students questions about their overall college experiences. 

“I asked a lot of questions about their schedules and how they manage time, what kind of classes they took, what times the classes were, and how much classwork outside of class that you have to do.”

Amama said that his shadowing experience reinforced the importance of hard work, commitment, and time management throughout college and beyond. 

“In college, you are 100 percent in control of your education,” Amama said. “It’s kind of cliche, but you get out what you put in.”