Graduating seniors in the WSU Top Ten

Six College of Arts and Science students are among the WSU Top Ten Seniors for 2022: Cameron Barton, Michaela Bayerlova, Aydan Garland-Miner, Annie Lu, Jocelyn Granados Mejia, and Cristina Navarro.

Learn more about them and their plans for the future.

Nominated from across the WSU system, these women and men represent the highest standards in specific aspects of the college experience, including campus involvement, community service, athletics, and visual and performing arts.

Cameron Barton

Visual/Performing Arts

Involvement

President of the WSU chapter of the Music Teachers National Association; president of Allegro, the Student Association for Arts Advocacy; president of the Honors Student Advisory Council; member of the WSU Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Big Band II; mentor and chair with the Honors College Mentor Program; radio host and music librarian for Northwest Public Broadcasting; administrative intern with the College Music Society; camp counselor for WSU Summer Keyboard Explorations; events technicians for University of Idaho Campus Events Services; private piano instructor for WSU Piano Pedagogy Lab School; group piano substitute instructor for the WSU School of Music; teaching assistant for WSU Honors 198

Favorite WSU Experience

One of the really wonderful experiences I’ve had while being at WSU is being exposed to peers and making friends with people who are involved in so many different disciplines. In this last year, I’ve seen probably the greatest degree of change in myself in my life, coming back into in-person instruction. I went to the National Collegiate Honors Council conference in Orlando, and I met and presented with other Honors students from WSU who I had some proximity to but never officially met. However, in a short amount of time, we became very close friends and have still spent time together regularly throughout the rest of our senior year. We all agreed that we met at just the right point in our lives, making that connection a very fitting and poetic one, but we’ll miss each other when we each move beyond our undergraduate careers.

Future Plans

I’ve been accepted to a master’s program for piano performance at the University of Arizona that will start in August. I’ll also be teaching piano to undergraduates as one responsibility of a graduate teaching assistant position I was awarded through the Fred Fox School of Music.

Michaela Bayerlova

Athletics

Involvement

2022 Pac-12 women’s tennis scholar-athlete of the year; NCAA Division I Tennis Championships; currently ranked No. 43 in the US, WSU’s only ranked player; currently ranked Number 513 in the world (as of Mach 21, 2022); currently is the third-highest woman playing NCAA Division I tennis in the world rankings; holder of five Pac-12 Player of the Week awards; holder of two Northwest Region ITA Player to Watch awards; two-time All-Pac-12 Conference selection, 2018/2019 (only player in school history to be named to First Team); second-team All-Pac-12 Selection in 2021; captured five professional singles titles while at WSU; Student-Athlete of the Month for academic achievements; WSU All-Academic Team and Pac-12 All-Academic team; volunteer at Circles of Caring, WSU Tennis clinics, Butch’s Bash Holiday Carnival, and Coug Pals

Favorite WSU Experience

For sure, it’s been really cool watching other sports. Football is not a sport back home so even going to WSU’s big stadium was huge. I have special memories of our tennis team winning big over UW on Senior Day this spring. We went crazy afterwards!

Future Plans

I will be competing in the NCAA Division One Tennis Championships this May. Then, I want to play professional tennis for a year or two. My base is back home in Germany, and I plan to travel to tournaments in Europe and all over the world. A big part of that will be looking for sponsors.

Depending how my tennis career goes, I may also consider a career in data analytics. It’s a really broad field, so there might be a lot of opportunities.

Aydan Garland-Miner

Community Service

Involvement

President and founder of PERIOD at WSU; Northwest regional lead for PERIOD in Portland, Oregon; social justice peer educator for the WSU Office of Outreach and Education; co-founder of Washington State for Menstrual Equity Coalition; Washington State Free the Period campaign lead; lead rally organizer for National Period Day 2019; Coalition of Women Students; Gender Inclusion and Trans Support work group; media team member at YMCA Orcas Island; graphic designer for the League of Women Voters in Bellingham, Washington; the Daily Evergreen

Favorite WSU Experience

My favorite part of my experience at WSU has to be the relationships I’ve cultivated, whether it be with my professors or my peers. Many a time have I spent the afternoon talking to my closest mentors about music, books, our greatest joys, challenges, and so on. I’ve also made lifelong friendships here, and for that, I am forever grateful. My time at WSU wouldn’t be the same without the people I’ve been lucky enough to have by my side.

Future Plans

I am planning on spending the next year with my family, continuing to study the piano, and working for PERIOD. I am also currently applying for a job in the AmeriCorps so I’m looking forward to potentially doing that as well.

Annie Lu

Academics

Involvement

Recipient of Fulbright Research award for Budapest Semesters in Mathematics; research intern at Technical University Berlin; National Science Foundation-funded research assistant at WSU; Knebelman Outstanding Senior Award from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics; College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Senior in Mathematics; recipient of the WSU National Merit full-tuition scholarship; WSU Carson Undergraduate Research Fellowship recipient; grader for Math 464 Linear Optimization and Math 315 Differential Equations; teaching assistant for Calculus I; WSU Flute Choir and Wind Symphony

Favorite WSU Experience

I don’t know if I can pick just one memory. All the friends I’ve made, they’ve really made everything worth it. I’ve been working on a research project with Dr. Nikos Voulgarakis at WSU on stochastic processes for two years, and we’re about to publish a paper. I also have a paper coming out from an internship I did over the summer. The internship was supposed to be in Berlin, but because of COVID-19, everything got pushed virtually. But those projects are what I’ve poured everything into these last few years.

Future Plans

I’ve always really liked math, and I was trying to decide between art and math. Once I got involved in research, I ended up liking it a lot. I just accepted an offer to enter a PhD program in applied mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles. I want to go into academia. I really like teaching. I’m also interested in finance, specifically quantitative data modeling.

Jocelyn Granados Mejia

Campus Involvement

Involvement

Student mentor in the Chicanx/Latinx Student Center; Immigrant Youth Fellow with the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network; external chair, uncertified senator and all-Campus senator in the Associated Students of Washington State University; facilitator with the 21st Century Camp Vista; staff and mentor with the Vista Hermosa Youth Group in Prescott, Washington; team leader, workshops director, and co-chair with Children of Aztlan Sharing Higher Education (CASHE); co-chair of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán (MECHA) and co-chair of Empowerment and Self-Determination committee; volunteer, team Leader, and team leader director of Visionaries Inspiring Black Empowered (V.I.B.E.S); vice president and standards officer of Kappa Delta Chi sorority; Emergency Relief Grant task force lead of Centro Latino; MECHA representative, rapid response coordinator, and co-chair of Crimson Group; Crimson Group representative to Home Is Here Campaign; representative at MECHA Nationals Conference; member of the Active Advocacy Coalition Conference

Favorite WSU Experience

My ultimate favorite memory was the CASHE conference run by MECHA with 120 to 150 students. I came first when I was a senior in high school, then I was co-chair in charge of the conference during the COVID year. So coming from being the student, then being a volunteer, director, and then the main person in charge of it, I saw the full circle. One of my students at the conference is now a first-year WSU student and one of my mentees, with the same major as me. This conference really changed my trajectory at WSU and let me give back to my community in the sense of helping others through leadership roles.

That was my biggest fear coming into college: I’m not going know anyone, I’m not going to fit in. Meeting the students there, we’re less than 10 percent of the population but it didn’t feel like that because we all have a community and we all have each other’s backs.

Future Plans

I am undocumented so I don’t have access to federal loans and things like that. I’m studying political science and psychology because I see a lack of diverse immigration lawyers. There’s been a lot of exploitation and lack of good information. By going into law, I can use that knowledge to better help my community. There are a few pathways to citizenship, but people don’t know those pathways. So I’m leaning toward law school. I’ll take a gap year to fundraise and focus on the LSAT so I can get scholarships.

Cristina Navarro

Visual/Performing Arts

Involvement

Fine Arts Outstanding Senior 2022; recipient of the Frances Drank Fine Arts Endowed Scholarship for Undergraduates; recipient of the John Martin Memorial Scholarship; Art Club secretary; recipient of the High Five Award in 2018 and 2019; participant in the 2021 Mapping Time Pop-up Exhibition; participant in the 2020 Life/Death/Sketch Show; KZUU radio host of The Golden Hour; guest lecturer for Fine Arts 101;
undergraduate learning assistant for Fine Arts 101 Intro to Fine Arts, Fine Arts 201 and Fine Arts 202 World Art History

Favorite WSU Experience

The best times I’ve had in Pullman have been at the end of the school year. In the art department, there are usually gallery exhibitions and shows to commemorate all the hard work everyone has put into in the past semester. I love getting to see the MFA graduate student shows, BFA shows, and all of the galleries set up in between. My favorite part is watching friends and non-art look at the work that’s set up. The times I’ve participated in these shows have been the highlight of school for me. I’m so honored to be a part of it. The community and environment in Pullman and in the art department are things I’m really going to miss.

Future Plans

I’m headed back to Los Angeles, where all of my family is. I’m hoping to get into art museum and gallery work and possibly teaching art someday.

The WSU Alumni Association and Student Alumni Ambassadors coordinate the 80-year tradition of honoring these outstanding students, who are nominated from across WSU’s six campuses.

A selection committee comprised of faculty, staff, and students chose the winners based on criteria for each category.

Read about all of the WSU Top Ten Seniors at wsu.edu.