Roxanne Bakir
Major(s): Instrumental Music Education with a Special Education
Year: Junior
Top 5 achievements at Millikin
- Being a Millikin Long Vanderburg and Illinois Golden Apple Scholar
- Serving as President for four of Millikin’s music organizations: Sigma Alpha Iota Music Fraternity, Millikin’s Illinois Music Education Association Chapter, Percussive Arts Society and Dissonance Acapella
- Teaching private percussion and piano lessons to 12 students through the Millikin Community Arts Academy
- Collaborating with Nursing professor Dr.Gail Fyke in a music based undergraduate research study, identifying how drumming impacts collegiate
- Working in many job positions at Millikin in the fine arts, including but not limited to being a Kirkland Fine Arts Stage Manager, Decatur Youth Symphony Orchestra Teaching Assistant, and Millikin Decatur Symphony Orchestra Librarian
Madelyn Beck
Major(s): Arts Technology Visual Media, Minor in Digital Marketing
Year: Junior
Top 5 achievements at Millikin
- Millikin Presidential Scholar.
- High Dean’s List with a 4.0 GPA and member of Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society.
- Maintaining a multidisciplinary college experience as a member of the Women’s Golf Team, violinist in the Millikin Decatur Symphony Orchestra, and participant in the Student Honors Advisory Council.
- Selected as a Student Fellow for the School of Art and Creative Media, where I am designing unique and creative promotional pieces for the school.
- Contributed to award-winning creative projects, including designing the cover of the 2025 BURST Magazine which was a Silver ADDY Award recipient, and a Gold ADDY Award at the Southern Illinois level for my group project The Wisp and the Wanderer.
Cassidy Culjat
Major(s): Political Science
Year: Sophomore
Top 5 achievements at Millikin
- Serving as the Vice President Operations at Pi Beta Phi, Illinois Eta Chapter.
- Working as an Research Assistant at the Millikin Human Trafficking Lab and serving on the Central Illinois Human Trafficking Task Force.
- Volunteering for Shakespeare Corrected at Macon Resources Incorporated, Milligan Academy, Eisenhower High School, and MacArthur High School.
- Orchestrating on-campus service activities and providing my peers with a platform to become advocates as President of the Social Action Club.
- Serving as the President of Un Bit Butter and fundraising for a workshop with the Chicago Neofuturists.
Lucas Finley
Major(s): BM Commercial Music, BA Theatre and Performance Studies
Year: Junior
Top 5 achievements at Millikin
- Playing The D'Ysquith Family in SOTAD's production of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.
- Composing and Performing in the SOTAD's 2025 Children's Show
- Music Directing Pipe Dreams Studio Theatre's "Musicals Millikin Can't Do Cabaret."
- Composing the Original music for SOTAD's production of The Tempest.
- Serving as a student accompanist for countless events accross the School of Music and School of Theatre and Dance
Kaia Garbacz
Major(s): Nursing (Spanish Minor)
Year: Senior
Top 5 achievements at Millikin
- Being a James Millikin Honors Scholar with a 3.92 GPA who was on the Deans’ List for every semester of college.
- Founding a multilingual, multicultural, multidisciplinary academic journal and contributing a 14-page Spanish research essay on the legend of La Llorona.
- Serving as a Peer Tutor and Student Instructor for Microbiology, Anatomy and Physiology 1 and 2, Pathophysiology and Pharmacology 2, and Adult Health Nursing 2.
- Being elected to the executive board of Alpha Chi Omega, an organization that has raised thousands of dollars for a local domestic violence shelter.
- Being hired onto Carle's Nurse Residency Program, fulfilling my dream of becoming a Labor and Delivery nurse after graduation.
Audrey Remole
Major(s): Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education (Grades 1-6)
Year: Junior
Top 5 achievements at Millikin
- Track Captain for 2026-2027 Season
- Respect Award for 2025 Outdoor Track and Field
- Completing Endorsements in ESL and Special Education
- Scovil Award Nominee 2026
- Earned a Perfect Score Midterm Internship Evaluation
Emma Schuth
Major(s): BFA Musical Theatre
Year: Junior
Top 5 achievements at Millikin
- Rebuilding the School of Theatre and Dance Social Media Presence
- Performing as Jeannie in The Great American Trailer Park Musical
- Performing as Miranda in The Tempest
- Traveling to St. Jude in Memphis, Tennessee as a Delta Epsilon Chapter Representative
- Performing as M in Passage
Brandilyn Wegmann
Major(s): Elementary Education- Endorsements in Special Education and English as a Second Language
Year: Senior
Top 5 achievements at Millikin
- Two-time Scovill Prize Nominee and recipient of the Barbara and Robert Byrkit Award.
- Consistently named on the High Dean’s list, maintaining a 4.0 GPA.
- Awarded the James Millikin Elementary Education Estate Scholarship.
- Selected by School of Education faculty to present on educational policy for English Language Learners at the 2025 Celebration of Scholarship.
- Selected by coaching staff to serve as Cheerleading Captain for both Competition and Gameday teams.