A gifted multiple sport athlete in high school and college, Mikayla Barondeau also excelled in the classroom to become an example of a true "student-athlete."
Barondeau graduated from Northern State on Saturday after playing four seasons of basketball, four seasons of outdoor track and field, three seasons of cross country and one season of indoor track for the equivalent of 12 college letters. She accomplished this in an era when athletes, especially in college, specialize in one sport.
Plus, her influence doesn't stop on the field or court.
"If people think Mikayla is special athletically, they only know half the story. She's an amazing person through and through," said NSU head cross country and track and field coach Kevin Bjerke.
Barondeau was a freshman Bjerke's first season as a coach at Northern.
A graduate of Frederick High School, she never took the time to count up her high school or college sports.
"You don't think about letters so much in college," said Barondeau. "In high school, it's cool to see how many letters you can get. In a small town, it's easy to rack up letters in sports and plays and music."
The CliffsNotes version of Barondeau's college athletic career reads like this.
The 28th member of the NSU women's basketball program to score 1,000 career points. She finished with 1,062 despite missing part of her junior season with a knee injury.
The only NSU player to score at least 20 points and grab at least 20 rebounds in the same game.
Holds the school record for rebounds in a game with 22.
Holds the school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Two-time Academic All-American.
She accomplished several of those milestones after sustaining a knee injury during her junior year of basketball. Barondeau's athletic career was put on hold when she underwent one knee surgery in January and another surgery on the same left knee in June, but was still took to the court during her senior season of basketball. The injuries tested Barondeau's will to compete.
"She's very much a perfectionist," said Northern women's basketball coach Curt Fredrickson who coached both Mikayla and her mother, Janelle (Frank) Barondeau. "She expects to do a lot of things right. In basketball, she was one of the top rebounders and scorers in the conference and after the injury, she was good but not like she used to be. She worked through it and was selected one of our team captains. She is somebody that a lot of our players respected for what she had to do to come back from that injury."
Barondeau also enjoys distance running and competed for the Wolves track and cross country teams as often as it would fit in her schedule.
"She was all-conference in cross country her sophomore year, which in our conference, is not an easy thing to do," said Bjerke. "We have several nationally ranked teams (NCAA II) in our conference, so you're doing something special to get all-conference. In track, she hit a national qualifying time in the steeplechase."
Balancing sports and surgeries while maintaining a top notch presence in the classroom has not been easy.
Her academic record is not blemished by Bs or Cs. Barondeau graduated from Northern on Saturday with bachelor of arts and sciences degrees with a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
"It's been difficult and even stressful at times trying to keep academics up when you're on the road," said Barondeau. "Most of it, honestly, can be attributed to a great effort by my instructors. They have been very flexible and willing to talk to me during office hours. I'm proud that I was able to do well in academics and not just be a good athlete. It shows you can excel in the classroom, too and be a student-athlete."
She even has a "dog ate my homework" story of her own. The Wolves basketball team was on the road at St. Cloud State and Barondeau and her teammate and roommate Emily Becken left their back packs in the locker room. Barondeau's back pack contained 13 pages of a 20 page report. The back packs were stolen so Barondeau was forced to ask her senior seminar instructor in Victorian literature for an extension because she had to start all over from scratch.
Her instructor granted her an extension but Barondeau didn't need it. She still finished the paper by the original deadline.
An English major, Barondeau already has a job lined up for next fall teaching and coaching at Ipswich High School.
"It's exciting. This chapter of my life is closing and it's bittersweet," said Barondeau. "I have something to look forward to and I'll still be involved in athletics. That's never been a question. I know that athletics wasn't something I was going to be done with after college. It's too much a part of who I am."
Fredrickson is convinced that Barondeau will be an excellent coach and a great addition to Ipswich's already strong athletic programs because she has a solid character.
"You won't find anybody that is a better person," he said. "You won't find anybody that treats people better than she does. She's been around sports her whole life. It's nice to see somebody who grew up 30 minutes from Aberdeen have a great career. You absolutely don't have to worry about one thing off the basketball court with Mikayla."
One of her last times as a student at Northern State combined both activities and academics. Despite another left knee injury which ended her last season of track competition this spring and will require surgery later in May, Barondeau walked across the stage in the Barnett Center, the site of NSU home basketball games, and accepted her diploma on Saturday.
She uses a quote from John Wooden, former UCLA men's basketball coach, to embody her drive in life. "Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming," Wooden said.
Barondeau added, "It sums up everything. I did my best to become my best."
There's more to come.
Meet Mikayla Barondeau
Family: Janelle and Randy Barondeau; sister Kelsea Sherer, brother-in-law Steve Sherer; and brother Derek Barondeau. Both parents played basketball and ran track for NSU. Randy also ran cross country and Janelle also played softball. Kelsea participated in basketball and cross country at Northern.
High school: Frederick. Played multiple sports for Leola-Frederick Titans.
College/sports: Northern State 2008-13. Basketball four years, cross country three years, indoor track and field one year, and outdoor track four years. Total of 12 college letters.
Major: Bachelor of arts, summa cum laude, English (writing); and bachelor of science in education, summa cum laude, English.
Grade point average: She graduated with a 4.0.
Future plans: Teach English and assistant coach in basketball and track at Ipswich.