Music – Outstanding Senior 2022

Honor graduation status

• Summa cum laude

Clubs, Organizations, Leadership, Service

• Soloist, WSU Concert Choir
• Soloist, WSU Orchestra
• WSU Compliance & Civil Rights Student Feedback Committee
• Director of Public Relations & Digital Marketing Specialist and member, Alpha Delta Pi Upsilon
• Recruitment Counselor, WSU Panhellenic
• Section Leader, Treble Choir

Internships & Employment

• Choir Section Leader, St. Augustine’s Catholic Church
• Marketing Assistant, Empellor CR
• Peer Notetaker, WSU Access Center

Undergraduate Research

• Thesis: “#BLM, #NoDAPL, #Me Too: Interactions of Social Media With Social Justice Movements”

Awards & Recognition

• Multiple music scholarships
• Junior Writing Portfolio, Passed with Distinction

Honored Faculty and Mentors

• Dr. Aaron Agulay, School of Music
• Dr. Julie Wieck, School of Music
• Dr. Dean Luethi, School of Music
• Dr. Matthew Myers, School of Music

Faculty Comments

“Sarah Smith the person may be described with many wonderful adjectives: talented, passionate, intelligent, inspiring, a natural leader and a devoted student. Sarah gained the respect of both professors and peers alike. Admired and extremely well liked, Sarah excelled both academically and socially at WSU. Sarah’s capacities to create artistry, to connect, to express, and to bring people together are some of her strongest and most enduring qualities.” –Dr. Aaron Agulay

Personal Statement

“I chose WSU mostly from a gut feeling. I wanted to go to a college where I felt at home, where I felt like part of a bigger community. I got that feeling from WSU. Not once have I regretted my choice to come to Pullman, and it is in Pullman that I have met lifelong friends and incredible mentors who have changed my life. I came to WSU planning to major in psychology and minor in music, but I loved my music professors and peers so much that I added an additional major in music. Since then, the experiences and lessons I’ve gathered along the way in my studies of music have shaped me into the person I am today. In a society that values productivity over some of the things that bring meaning to life, such as music, I have been lucky to devote my time studying something that I am passionate about and brings me immense joy. Music will never stop being a part of my life, and for a large part of that, I credit the WSU School of Music.”

Future Plans

After graduation and a family trip to England, Sarah will move to Seattle to earn a master’s degree in social work at Seattle University. She hopes to work in a clinical setting with adolescents.