Students find enjoyment in majors across CUNE’s 11 departments

Photo credit: Images by Pixabay, design by Nora Betts

By Nora Betts

Managing Editor

This article is featured in the March print edition of the Sower newspaper.

Many factors can come into play when students decide on an undergraduate major, such as having a passion or interest in a subject area, a love of helping people or the need to find a path toward a desired career.

Concordia offers more than 50 majors within 11 academic departments. Each department offers multiple majors, such as the Department of Natural Sciences with majors including Agricultural Science, Biology, Chemistry and more.

Data from Pyramid Analytics, provided by Andrew Langewisch

The chart on page 2 represents student-declared data, as recorded in DegreeWorks, for students enrolled in the Spring 2025 term, according to professor of business administration Dr. Andrew Langewisch. Students may pursue multiple majors, some of which are offered by or are affiliated with different departments. Such students are included in both counts.

Freshman Willow Applegate is combining her passions for creativity and working with kids in a K-12 Art Education degree. She was raised in a creative family and has always had an appreciation for art, and she loves sharing Christ with kids.

“I believe that our God is a creative God, as He created all things, and to be able to create builds our relationship to Him,” said Applegate. “I have also always had a passion working with youth and students, spreading the love of Christ to those kiddos who may not know Him yet.”

Senior Greta Corneliusen wants to use her Exercise Science major to help people be happy and healthy. She is passionate about health and nutrition and loves sports.

“I think it’s a crucial major because it strives to keep people active so that they can fulfill their dreams and do the things that they love,” she said. “The act of moving your body every day and taking care of yourself promotes longevity and allows you a lifetime of enjoyment of the things that you’re passionate about.”

Sophomore Araceli Regalado used to be an Education major before switching to Psychology. At the end of her freshman year, she realized that education classes did not excite her but psychology courses sounded interesting.

Regalado has always been intrigued by psychology and understanding how people operate. She said that “people have patterns and certain ways that they behave” which are important to recognize.

Unlike students who choose to pursue something they love, junior Eliya Mars decided to major in her least favorite subject from high school.

Mars, a Biology major, said she was really bad at the subject, but she wanted to spend college focused on something she could get better at. She knew she wanted to go into the medical field, so she also joined the Pre-Nursing program.

Mars said that biology is important because it helps people understand how God created humans and other living things.

“Part of stewarding the Creation He’s given us is to learn as much as we can about it,” she said.

Students choosing their majors might be motivated by a desire to understand the world. Junior Adah Pflughoeft is double-majoring in English and History, which work hand-in-hand for communicating well and learning about the world. She said that language gives people the opportunity to share God’s love with others and communicate those ideas in essays, stories, poems and more.

“I chose my English major because language is such a unique and versatile gift that God has given us, and I think that being able to communicate well with others is an incredibly important skill,” she said.

A History major also helps Pflughoeft examine the world and how God works in it.

“History provides a fantastic template for understanding our modern world and can serve as a strong reminder of God’s plan for His creation,” she said.

For other students, their decisions come from the influence of former teachers. Sophomore Joshua Nikodym’s high school music teachers instilled in him a love of music and a motivation to grow and improve. He wants to share that passion with future music students through his Music Education major.

Nikodym said that music is important and meaningful even outside of formal settings like a band or choir.

“Music has been shown to help people with memory issues,” he said. “Even if you don’t remember anything else, people still remember music.”

A future career is another influence when deciding upon a college major. Senior Nathan Miller chose to major in Accounting because he wanted to study a business program and work with finances. He said the biggest advantages of the major are a direct job path after graduation and a high salary. He wants to start his career in public accounting and switch to industry accounting after five to 10 years.

“[Accounting jobs are] definitely growing because no one wants to do it,” said Miller. “The salaries are luckily going up.”

Some students choose majors because of how they can impact people in their future careers. Sophomore Abbey Kudrna wants to help the next generation of students have their “aha” moments, which is why she is majoring in Math and Secondary Math Education.

“I like being able to see the moment of realization on a student’s face when they go from a point of not understanding something to understanding– that flash you see in their eyes,” she said.

Math is important for everyone, Kudrna said, even if you do not enter a math field in college. Things like calculating a tip and filling out your taxes require an understanding of math whether you use a calculator or not.

Freshman Samuel Olson is on the Pre-Seminary track to becoming a Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod pastor. He is majoring in Theology to get as much theological training before seminary as possible and to become the best pastor he can be.

A pastor has a lot of roles, including talking to congregants and helping them work through issues, Olson said. He wants to have a deep understanding of theological issues, history, terminology and more to serve his future congregants.

He said that “in a lot of cases, people need a strong basis of somebody who is deeply founded in their faith” so they can understand that they are not alone.

Other students choose majors that grow in importance as technology advances. Freshman Noah Niederklein is double-majoring in Math and Computer Science. He eventually wants to earn a doctorate in math, and he believes that computer science is important in today’s world.

“Just with the internet and AI and everything going on, it’s important to have an understanding of how the technology we use works,” he said.

Niederklein said he is learning about the algorithms that people use millions of times per day but never think about. Someone behind the scenes has to think about how to make an algorithm work efficiently, he said, and that work ends up impacting so many people.