A sneak peek at Baylor’s Class of 2026

In just a few weeks, Baylor’s Class of 2026 will arrive on campus for Move2BU, Welcome Week and the start of classes. But we can’t wait; here’s your first look at some of the members of #BU26:

Paige Magera is “one of those people you want leading a project,” says her speech and debate coach at Kansas City’s Liberty High School. The student body president, yearbook editor-in-chief, and four-year tennis player says she chose Baylor because it has small classes and professors who would know her. She plans to join Baylor’s predentistry program while minoring in American Sign Language.

Ankita Talukdar represented Texas in the national finals of the Distinguished Young Women 2022 competition, held this summer in Mobile, Ala. Her resume includes reaching the national finals at a medical technology competition, qualifying for nationals three times in speech and debate, and serving as a research assistant at both Rice and UT. At DYW22, the graduate of Clear Springs High School (near Houston) earned the “Chick-Fil-A Be Your Best Self Award,” thanks in part to her fusion Bollywood performance. After Baylor, she aims to become an orthopedic surgeon.

Michael Olsen has done a little bit of everything at St. Paul’s School in Covington, La., north of New Orleans. Olsen earned top honors as valedictorian and a National Merit Finalist while also competing in basketball and track and field. A graduate of Wake Forest’s Summer Immersion Program for Medicine, he plans to major in biology at Baylor.

Juliana Cavazos spent much of her four years of high school battling “a huge tumor wrapped all around my heart.” Even amidst four rounds of chemotherapy, “it’s hard to think of a time when I didn’t see her smile,” says one of her teachers. And just before the start of her senior year, she got the good news: She was completely clean and in remission. Now the graduate of San Antonio’s Saint Mary’s Hall is headed to Baylor, entering BIC on a pre-law track.

Nicolas Saucedo won’t have far to drive come Move-In Day. Saucedo was valedictorian and Mr. BHS at Bosqueville High School, located just 10 miles northeast of Baylor’s campus (and just two miles from the Waco Mammoth National Monument). In high school, he participated in cross country, tennis, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and UIL academics. At Baylor, he plans to major in electrical engineering.

Sic ’em, #BU26!