Annie Mraz was honored to be nominated.
But the College of Saint Benedict senior certainly wasn’t expecting to win this year’s Donald G. Paterson Award – an honor presented annually by the Minnesota Psychological Association (MPA) to the state’s most outstanding college senior planning to pursue a career in the psychology field.
So when she received word earlier this week that she was this year’s recipient, Mraz could not have been more surprised … or grateful.
“It’s crazy,” said Mraz, a Totino-Grace High School graduate, who will be presented with the honor at the MPA’s awards reception scheduled for Thursday (April 24) in Bloomington.
“I still don’t believe it’s actually happening. I’m experiencing a bit of imposter syndrome. It’s such an amazing honor.”
And one well-deserved.
The psychology major with a minor in Hispanic studies, maintains a 3.93 GPA and has been on the Dean’s List all four of her years at CSB. She has been a recipient of the CSB academic achievement scholarship from 2021 to the present, and the S. Remberta Westkaemper Scholarship from 2022 on.
While studying abroad in Spain during the spring semester of her junior year, Mraz volunteered at a pair of nonprofit organizations – Autism Seville and Brigada Nocturna. She also worked at the Minnesota Autism Center as a behavioral therapist in the summer of 2024.
“She is incredibly intelligent and conscientious, yet grounded, humble and balanced,” wrote Rodger Narloch, a professor of psychology at CSB and SJU, in his nomination letter. “She does great work and takes everything in stride while doing it. Annie does not let the stresses or complications of the task at hand distract her from the people she is with.
“Rather, she shows deep care and attentiveness toward whomever is in her midst.”
After graduating this May, she plans to pursue her master’s degree in counseling psychology at the University of St. Thomas and hopes to one day work at an outpatient mental health clinic.
“I’d really like to work with young adults,” she said. “That’s something I’m really passionate about.”
Narloch supervised Mraz’s work on her senior distinguished thesis project entitled “Adaptive Emotion Regulation: How Cognitive Reappraisal and Acceptance Buffer Harmful Effects of Social Media,” which she defended this past Wednesday (April 16).
She also plans to revise the paper into a manuscript she will submit for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
“I have supervised 17 distinguished thesis projects during my 25 years at CSB and SJU, and Annie’s is among the best,” Narloch wrote. “This is especially impressive given her project was the most independent I have supervised.
“Most thesis students choose an offshoot of their supervisor’s research to develop into their own project. Annie chose something outside my area of expertise; scoured the literature on her own to generate a meaningful and publishable project. She is appreciative of feedback from me and her committee, and substantively reflects upon our input. However, I want to be clear that she authored this project to a degree that is uncommon among undergraduate students.”
For her part, Mraz credited the support she’s received from Narloch and other faculty members during her time at CSB as being an instrumental part of her success.
“That’s why it’s so bittersweet to think I’ll be graduating soon,” she said. “I’ve had such amazing experiences getting to know and work with the faculty here. People always talk about the Bennie/Johnnie community, and that’s something I’ve experienced first-hand in the psychology department.
“The faculty have been so supportive of me while at the same time challenging me to do things I didn’t think I was capable of.”