I like Modern AU college gaang because there is just not enough college media content in the world even tho Sokka would make such a good college student.
Also he’s an engineering student, specifically mechanical engineering and I won’t hear any different. And he’s the worst kind of engineering student too. Especially in his first two years he doesn’t believe in “liberal arts” but falls in love with Fine Art even tho he’s objectively horrendous at it. He’s now a full on advocate for S.T.E.A.M.
He puts air quotes around “communication and business majors” even when he grows out of it he still does it around Zuko because it makes him, a communication and business major, furious.
A huge part of why he became a communications major was because he was indecisive and people always tell him he should learn to communicate better 🤷🏿♀️. And business is because he thought it was what his dad wanted him to do but even after they fall out he finds he only doesn’t mind it.
Katara is pre med and wants to go specifically into sports medicine. She’s on a water polo team. Like D1 team. She likes the aggressive camaraderie of the sport and she wants to keep playing competitively after college but not like major league. She doesn’t remember what the inside of her dorm room looks like being a student athelete and she’s definitely tried to drown Sokka because he said Biology isn’t a real hard science and because of this he always says Pre Med isn’t invited to be part of S.T.E.A.M with the rest of the sciences. Pakku’s coaches the girls waterpolo team because Katara beat him in a fight. She takes up environmental conservationism as a hobby because she can’t possibly have enough to do.
Toph is structural engineering and shares a lot of classes with Sokka which is the worst thing that has ever happened to him because Toph but also the best thing because Toph’s grasp of the mathematics of it all is immaculate. She has a natural almost psychic feel for structural integrity. She’s like a column whisperer just be touch she can identify loaf bearing structures. And how good the structural integrity of a building is there are many a building the gaang no longer go in on campus after Toph hauntingly said”this’ll be coming down soon” and laughs manically nobody knows if this means in 20 years or in 20 days Toph won’t elaborate. They don’t take chances. Toph is almost single handedly responsible for the school and campus being so accessible because she will not hesitate to call it out to their faces regardless of present company and the mock them excessively. She never officially joined the club (mostly because Toph is unaware of the existence of any clubs at this school and you couldn’t pay her to do school in her free time and clubs count as school) but she’s something of a mythical figure to the Disabled students union. Toph has one of those assigned helpers who help her take notes in class (I actually don’t know if this is a service offered to blind students I know it’s offered for deaf and sometimes autistic students so I’d imagine it is) and it’s smellerbee and they spend the whole class just absolutely devastating Sokka’s reputation. But her notes are immaculate.
Aang ofcourse is a religious studies/ philosophy/archeology major specializing in lost/endangered nomadic cultures. He’s very Adavwnced for his age group and is already like a TA in his first year to his professor Monk Gyatso. He’s already leading symposium discussions where he gets very serious and passionate and analytical which is very weird for his friends to see given he literally just raced Sokka here from the cafeteria and how he broke several of Zuko’s fathers expensive vases in a hula hoop contents. He’s a goofy dude who takes his responsibility of honoring the various cultures he studies very seriously. He is something of a child prodigy and has already published several papers. He and Zuko are archeological dig buddies because Zuko has to have hobbies and Aang brings him along because he is preternaturally good at finding lost artifacts and bartering for information. Zuko also has a tendency to chase down every single lead he finds with the same level of rigorous vigor and Aang absolutely loves accompanying him on these often wild goose chases. Because adventure! Aang ofcourse very into endangered species consternation but very against those scientific experiments to bring back extinct species. Is not a fan of zoos that he has not thoroughly vetted and are not essentially wildlife reserves. Will bust out an animal if he has to has done it before will do it again. Toph still calls him Twinkle Toes because he did ballet and martial arts and so is very light on his feet. He also takes art classes with Sokka cause it’s fun! He roles the whole gang into going to pottery barn regularly to paint mugs!
This got way longer than expected I swear I was just going to say how much I love engineering student sokka 😭😭😭. But I guess there’s been a lot of negativity so here I guess
Thank you for the headcanons 🥰
