ANY STUDENT FAMILIAR WITH NORTHWESTERN MARKETING WILL KNOW THE PHRASE “AND IS IN OUR DNA.” BUT FOR SOME ‘CATS, THE SAYING HITS A LITTLE CLOSER TO HOME.
[Richard Bann] my name is Richard Bann, and my major is classical guitar performance and computer science
RICHARD IS ONE OF MANY STUDENTS COMBINING A STEM MAJOR WITH A DEGREE IN MUSIC IN BIENEN’S FIVE YEAR DUAL DEGREE PROGRAM. ALTHOUGH RICHARD DOES NOT PLAN ON PURSUING A CAREER IN GUITAR PERFORMANCE, HE STILL DEDICATES SIGNIFICANT TIME TO HIS MUSIC COURSEWORK.
[RB] honestly, the guitar degree is not going to really help me monetarily. But I think that it just helps me stay motivated and like trying to play guitar and like getting better at it. Because if I wasn’t in this degree, I would kind of just fall off and not practice and kind of just slowly stop playing guitar and really just kind of waste like all those years of playing guitar in like high school and like middle school.
RICHARD POINTED OUT THAT HE IS ABLE TO PURSUE BOTH MAJORS BECAUSE OF THE FLEXIBILITY OFFERED BY THE QUARTER SYSTEM.
[Juan Barrera Lopez] Juan Barrera Lopez, physics and theater.
UNLIKE RICHARD, JUAN HASN’T CHOSEN WHICH FIELD HE WANTS TO PURSUE A CAREER IN
It’s just normal for people to be curious about things that are not, you know, their major, their career. And it brings balanced life like in my experiences of physics in theater major. Yes. It’s a lot of work. Yes. It’s a lot of time to do both. Um, but one brings balance to the other and helps me see things in from a different perspective that I couldn’t otherwise
UNFORTUNATELY FOR SOME STUDENTS, THIS PASSION DOES NOT LAST. FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS, STUDENTS WILL DROP EITHER THEIR STEM OR THEIR ART MAJOR, IN FAVOR OF COMPLETELY FOCUSING ON ONE.
[James Hisanaga] James Hisanaga, I’m a dance major and theater and Gender Studies minors.
I was planning on double majoring in dance and math but then I switched to a dual degree in McCormick with applied math and dance
it ended up being different than I thought it would be like, not as fun I guess. I don’t know. And I also like it had burnt out at the end of high school. And I like carried with me to college.
HISANAGA HAD BEEN PASSIONATE ABOUT DANCE, BUT MATH BECAME A PURELY ECONOMIC MAJOR
[JH] I can just do more creatively that I want to do with arts. Yeah, and the only reason I was like holding on to the stem was like, better chances of getting a job like a better job. And it wasn’t because I liked it anymore. So I realized it wasn’t worth it.
SOME MAKE THE OPPOSITE CHOICE, PICKING SCIENCE OVER ART, CAREER OVER CREATIVITY.
[Justin Chang Stauffer] Im Justin Chang Stauffer, I’m a sophomore, and I’m in mechanical engineering.
I play cello mainly right now, although I also played a lot of piano and I’ve done a lot of other instruments over the years.
FOR JUSTIN, THE CHOICE WAS SIMPLE
[JCS] in order to like actually pass my classes. I generally just pulled pretty late nights every night, which I mean, I can’t really practice in addition to that.
I mean, I knew from the beginning that I never wanted to go into music. And it’s always just been a hobby. When I when I am done with school, and when I’m doing stuff on like on my own, I will probably continue doing music and I have also been giving some thought about like, incorporating music into my research as an engineering student in the future
FOR THESE FOUR, AND FOR MANY OTHERS, NORTHWESTERN IS PROVIDING THEM AN OPPORTUNITY TO PURSUE STEM AND ART TOGETHER. WHILE A DUAL DEGREE OR A DOUBLE MAJOR ARE NOT FOR EVERYONE, THE STUDENTS WHO MANAGE IT TRULY EMBODY THE NORTHWESTERN SPIRIT. OR AT LEAST THE SPIRIT OF THE MARKETING TEAM.
[JB] I think and is in everyone’s DNA. Um, and it sounds cringe. And that’s why I hate that. It’s a Northwestern slogan. Because I think it’s just natural for people to do more than one thing
FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M DANIEL GROSS.
