Nine College of Arts & Letters students are graduating with perfect 4.0 GPAs and will receive Board of Trustees Awards for having achieved the highest scholastic average at the end of their undergraduate careers at Michigan State University.

They are among the 91 MSU students graduating this spring with perfect 4.0 GPAs. The following are the College of Arts & Letters spring graduates students who have reached this lofty academic achievement:

• Cassandra Bloomingdale, B.A. Theatre, B.A. English, Honors College
• Madeline Bradley, B.A. English, Honors College
• Sarah Geist. B.A. English, Honors College
• Will Hackbarth, B.A. English, B.A. Arabic
• Emma Langschied, B.A. English
• Tiffany McIntyre, B.A. English, B.A. Professional and Public Writing, Honors College
• Sophie Schmidt, B.A. Professional Writing, Citizen Scholar
• Abigail Scott, B.A. English, B.A. Professional Writing, Citizen Scholar
• Emily Steffke, B.S. Neuroscience, B.A. English, Honors College 

Cassandra Bloomingdale

Cassandra Bloomingdale is graduating with dual bachelor’s degrees in Theatre and English with a concentration in Creative Writing. She also is a member of the Honors College and a four-time finalist in the Playwriting category of the MSU Creative Writing Awards. In summer 2019, she participated in a study abroad trip to London, England, with the MSU Department of Theatre. She also sang with the MSU Campus Choir for seven semesters.

“Being among the vibrant personalities and creative minds of the College of Arts & Letters students has been an exciting privilege for four years,” Bloomingdale said. “My class has been the face of a generational transition and a rapidly changing global climate. Through it all, I have turned to my peers and professors as beacons of leadership and creativity.”

Post-graduation, Bloomingdale hopes to create plays concerning the awareness and dramatic execution of mental illnesses on stage.

Madeline Bradley

Madeline Bradley will receive a B.A. in English and is a member of the Honors College. During her senior year, she interned with the Creative Writing Department and revamped the Creative Writing Blog, posting weekly content about literary events in the surrounding community. Through this work, she met and interact with visiting authors and faculty members and greatly expanded her knowledge of writing and publishing.

She completed a creative nonfiction piece as her Honors Thesis that spans over a decade of her life and focuses on navigating the loss of her mother while in college.

“The best way to summarize my four years at MSU in the College of Arts & Letters is ‘growth,’” Bradley said. “Intellectually, academically, and emotionally, being an English major challenged me in every way, and brought me out the other side a more thoughtful, well-read, and determined individual.”

After graduation, Bradley hopes to find a job as a copywriter/content marketer.

Sarah Geist

Sarah Geist will receive a B.A. in English and is a member of the Honors College. She has worked at the Digital Humanities and Literary Cognition Lab for the past three years, serving as the Undergraduate Lab Lead this past year. She also has served as an Undergraduate Writing Consultant at the MSU Writing Center and is a member of the MSU Dance Club.

“Choosing MSU is one of the greatest decisions I have ever made,” Geist said, “My grandpa attended MSU and loved it more than any other place in the world. It has been amazing seeing everything he loved about this university. During my time at MSU, I have learned about seasons, developed a new love for sports, and made lifelong friendships. I am honored to bleed Green and White.”

After graduation, Geist will complete her internship year for her Teacher Certification at Holt High School. She hopes to eventually become a high school English teacher.

Will Hackbarth

Will Hackbarth has earned dual bachelor’s degree in English and Arabic. Last summer, he did a study abroad to Amman, Jordan, to learn Arabic. He was part of the Spartan Solidarity Network (formerly Spartans for Sanders) and Students United for Palestinian Rights. He also worked at the Snyder-Phillips cafeteria as a student cook.

 “The best part of my experience at MSU was definitely the people I met and built relationships with, from my teaching cohort to my friends in the Arabic program to my professors that challenged and guided me to think more critically about the world around me and my role in it,” Hackbarth said. “While I am happy to graduate with a 4.0, I am much more grateful for all the brilliant and unique people I had the privilege to learn with and from.”

After graduation, Hackbarth will complete his fifth-year student teaching internship through the MSU teaching program and would like to teach high school somewhere in Michigan.  

Emma Langschied

Emma Langschied will receive a B.A. in English with a concentration in Creative Writing and minors in Arabic and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). During her time at MSU, she has interned with the Refugee Development Center’s GLOBE Camp, which is a partnership between Michigan State University and the Lansing School District Bilingual Education Department that provides a four-week content-based language acquisition program for refugee students. Langschied also has worked at the Turfgrass Information Center at the MSU Library.

Langschied helped found the Religions Exploration Club at MSU. She also was involved in the Fencing Club her freshman and senior years.

During the summer of 2019, she did a study abroad to Amman, Jordan, where she studied Arabic.

“The professors in the College of Arts & Letters made my MSU experience a valuable one,” Langschied said. “I received opportunities, guidance, and support from my professors throughout my four years.

Tiffany McIntyre

Tiffany McIntyre is graduating with dual bachelor’s degrees in English and Professional and Public Writing with a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. She also is a member of the Honors College.

During her time at MSU, McIntyre studied abroad in London with English Professor William Johnsen in 2017. She also worked at the Wharton Center for Performing Arts’ ticket office, for Professor Alexandra Hidalgo’s feminist filmmaking company, Agnes Films, as a social media director and staff writer, and for the Department of Economics as a freelance video editor. She was a social media and marketing intern for the Women’s Center of Greater Lansing.

“I’m so grateful for the community of writers that the College of Arts & Letters cultivates. I’ve made so many deep friendships with other students in the college,” McIntyre said. “The College also has the most amazing faculty. All of the professors I’ve had are so dedicated to their student’s success and understanding of class material. They genuinely care.” 

After graduation, McIntyre plans to teach English in Madagascar as a part of the Peace Corps.

Sophie Schmidt

Sophie Schmidt received a B.A. in Professional Writing with a minor in Asian Pacific American Studies and was a member of the College of Arts & Letters’ Citizen Scholars program. During her time at MSU, Schmidt had the opportunity to study abroad in Dublin, Ireland, where she worked with the New Island Books publishing agency.

“What I love most about the College of Arts & Letters is that it feels like I know almost everyone, and even if I don’t, they’re all super friendly people,” Schmidt said. “CAL is a community of people that are really supportive, and I’m really grateful to be part of it.”

Schmidt has been accepted into the New York University Publishing Institute and the Columbia Publishing Course at Oxford, and she plans to enroll in one of these programs.

Abigail Scott

Abigail Scott will receive dual bachelor’s degree in English and Professional Writing and was a member of the College of Arts & Letters Citizen Scholars program. During her time at MSU, Scott did a study abroad to Ireland, where she studied Irish Literature, which was the topic of her English senior thesis.

Scott also worked as a Communications Intern for the College’s Excel Network, where she helped connect students with professional opportunities, and she worked as a Teacher’s Assistant in the Department of English.

“My experience at MSU has been enriching, life-changing, and instilled in me a passion to make change happen,” Scott said. “Every class that I took presented new challenges, but the learning environment at MSU helped me be excited about facing these challenges. It showed me that hard work and happiness are not mutually exclusive. I can accomplish both.”

After graduation, Scott hopes to find a job in the communications field.

Emily Steffke

Emily Steffke is graduating with a B.S. in Neuroscience and a B.A. in English and is a member of the Honors College. She received the competitive Marshall Scholarship and plans to use that funding to pursue a doctorate at Oxford University beginning this fall. She also is a recipient of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and is the 2020 recipient of the Richard Lee Featherstone Endowed Prize, which is awarded to the most outstanding MSU graduating senior.

Steffke has completed several internships including at the University of Oregon, National Institute of Mental Health, German Cancer Research Center, and Cottonwood Gulch. She also co-founded the MSU Reach Outside service organization, which provides opportunities to youth from disadvantaged backgrounds to get involved in outdoor recreation. Steffke’s extracurricular experiences with Reach Outside and Cottonwood Gulch inspired her to start the podcast Nature’s Narrative, which explores how literature can inform our thinking about outdoor recreation and environmental policy.

“Within the College of Arts & Letters, there are plenty of chances for research and internships,” she said. “More than sitting in a classroom, those are the things that are really going to help you decide what you are passionate about.”