By Monica Sanders

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Students gathered at the Hub in the William T. Young Library on Tuesday to take a step that would lead them closer to their future career.

UK held an academic major fair from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The academic fair’s purpose is to help students learn about majors or minors they might be interested in.

Undecided freshman Emily Tashjian attended the academic fair hoping to confirm her major with her interest in interior design.

“(The fair) has a lot of good information for those students who are like me, but undecided,” Tashjian said. “Anything you want to know or have questions about, this is a good resource.”

Unfortunately for Tashjian, the College of Design did not show, but that did not stop her from gaining interest in family science, thanks to the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

There were multiple colleges bribing students to their table with candy, and thanks to Physics, many students learned how to catch flying balls.

“We do this once every fall, the great thing about the academic fair is knowing that each student will leave here with at least a little idea of what they want to continue their knowledge on,” said Larissa McLaughlin, project manager of student success.

McLaughlin said UK has about 200 majors and minors for students to choose from, and students are typically allowed to change their majors on the spot.

“There are many majors and minors that student aren’t aware of. At the academic fair, we can answer all of your questions as well as direct you to other resources to help you succeed like, ‘Presentation U!’ and other study enhance services students have access to,” McLaughlin said.

Some majors and minors are largely unknown to students. For example, Chamara Jewel Kwakye, an assistant professor of gender and women’s studies and African American and Africana studies, said the African American and Africana Studies Program is one of the hidden subjects at UK.

“While African American studies offers course selections in English, history, geography, sociology … it is only offered as a minor. We are working on upgrading it to a major for those students who are interested in understanding inequalities in American society,” Kwakye said. “We all need to be aware of reality in society and not act blindly to things that are right in front of us.”

For more information on majors and minors, students can check out the student success website.