News

Madeline Baker, a 2026 graduate of Mount St. Joseph University’s Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences (SLHS) program, was named the Outstanding Undergraduate Student for the Class of 2026 — a recognition of her academic excellence, leadership, and commitment to the field of communication sciences. Throughout her time at the Mount, Baker embraced the University’s close-knit community, discovered her passion for speech-language pathology, and now continues her journey in the Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology (MSLP) program.

Baker shared that her experience at the Mount has been shaped by meaningful faculty relationships, personal growth, and hands-on learning opportunities. Inspired by both academic experiences and personal connections to speech therapy, she plans to pursue clinical work in speech-language pathology while continuing to explore whether she will work in school or medical settings.

Q&A with Madeline Baker

Why did you choose the Mount?
I chose the Mount because of the warm and welcoming atmosphere that was presented to me during my visit. I also chose the Mount because of the small class sizes and knowing that my professors were going to know who I was by my name and I wasn't just going to be a number to them. This has proven itself over the past four years throughout my program. All of my professors know my name and have taken the time to get to know who I am as a person. I also chose the Mount because my dad and my two aunts attended here, so I wanted to continue my family’s legacy by attending. I was also supposed to play golf, but unfortunately, I was never able to play due to the fact that I have undergone three back surgeries due to previous injuries from golf.

What is your major and graduation year?
I just graduated with my Bachelor of Science in 2026 and am continuing in the Master of Speech-Language Pathology program and will graduate in May 2027.

What inspired you to pursue your major?
I came into the Mount as an exercise science major on the pre-PT track, but during a guest lecture (from Dr. Erin Reidle Sizemore) in one of my first-year classes, I realized speech-language pathology encompassed everything I wanted to do in my future. I also had experience receiving speech therapy in grade school, which gave me perspective as a client and showed me the impact an SLP can have. I want to make that same impact on others, whether helping a child with articulation or an adult recovering from a stroke. My little cousin with Down syndrome also inspires me every day and motivates me to help people find a way to communicate.

Post-graduation plans?
After graduation, I plan to take the PRAXIS and hopefully find a clinical fellowship (CF) that I absolutely love. I am still unsure whether I want to work in a school or hospital setting or whether I want to work with children or adults. I am still figuring that out. With the clinical placement opportunities in our program, I am hoping to discover which population I want to work with.

Describe being awarded Outstanding Undergraduate Student.
When I found out that I was even nominated to apply for the Outstanding Student Award I was above the moon. It meant everything to me that someone at the Mount thought so highly of me and thought that I was a fit for such a pristine award. I applied not knowing how many other people applied and just gave it my all.

After about a month I received an email stating that I had made it to the next round, which was the interview process. I was so nervous and could not believe that I had made it to the next round and that people thought what I wrote was worthy enough to win this award.

I then had the interview and two days later I found out that I had received/won the award. I was so beyond proud of myself and could not even believe that I had won. I had called my dad playing it off, and just talking to him as normal, and then I told him that I had won and he was so overjoyed, he could not believe it.

When trying to think about what I wanted to talk about I knew that I wanted to talk about everyone's journey before, during, and after the Mount, but in a way that would be memorable, so I related everyone's life to breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Breakfast represents our early years, grade school through high school when we are all trying to figure out what we wanted to be when we grew up and where we were going to college. Lunch represents our time at the Mount, and everything that we experienced while we were here together. Dinner represents what is to come, continuing education, pursuing careers, starting businesses, etc.

I also knew that I wanted to honor and incorporate my mom (who passed when I was a senior in high school). I read a short story that was read to my family when she passed; it is about a woman who was diagnosed with a terminal illness so she meets with her pastor to arrange her funeral. She tells the pastor that she wants to be buried with a fork in her right hand. This is because throughout her life of going to church socials and potluck dinners after the main course was cleared someone would inevitably lean over and say "Keep your fork" because they knew that something better was coming like a velvety chocolate cake or a deep-dish apple pie. So, she told the pastor when people ask why she is holding a fork she wants him to tell people to "Keep your fork the best is yet to come".

I related this into my speech during the lunch section, because a lot of times after college people think the best years of their life are gone, but if they just keep their fork their best is yet to come.

I was so honored to address and speak to my graduating class, and essentially tell a story about our lives that everyone could relate to in some capacity. Looking over at my family, friends, and professors while up on stage and addressing everyone gave me such a sense of accomplishment and joy, like everything that I have worked so hard for the past four years had finally paid off. It was such an honor to receive the award and be able to address everyone, a once in a lifetime experience!