Impact. > 2019 top ten > Bogdan “Theo” Mynka

Bogdan “Theo” Mynka

Visual and Performing Arts

  • College of Arts and Sciences, Honors College
  • Music: Vocal Performance, French
  • Kharkiv, Ukraine

Involvement

Founded Arts Without Borders, a collaborative organization aimed at uniting arts on the WSU Pullman campus. Vice president of ALLEGRO, the Student Association for Music Advocacy, president of the student chapter of the National Association for Teachers of Singing, or SNATS. Appeared in multiple opera, theater, and musical theater productions within the School of Music, including Fenton in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Jack in Into the Woods, and Igor in Young Frankenstein. Sang in Concert Choir and Madrigal Chamber Singers as well as performed the national anthem for WSU Athletics; sang at commencement and convocation; won numerous scholarships and singing awards, including the 2019 aria/concerto competition; served as a counselor at summer Cougar String Camp; worked as a librarian in the Kemble Stout Listening Library; worked as the advertising director for STAGE, WSU’s student theater; served as an ambassador for the Honors College and helped facilitate Honors 198, a one-credit class for freshmen; wrote opinion columns for the Daily Evergreen; acted in two TV shows for the student-run production company Cable8; and received multiple awards and honors, including membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society.

Favorite WSU experience

It’s simple stuff. It’s just being on campus. I really enjoy walking around this campus. It’s gorgeous. You’re isolated from everything. There’s no loud city noise. There’s something romantic and beautiful about it. Pullman sunsets are especially incredible. If I have 20 or 30 minutes, I’ll go to the second or third floor of the Terrell Library, grab a random book, read some passages, and put it back. I love that. I also spent a lot of time in the Kimbrough Music Building, in the practice rooms. Sometimes, it’s just walking in and walking out that make everything OK. You struggle in the practice rooms. You have to trust the work that you do and the work you have done. You have to trust your voice. In college, you have to face yourself. I can truly say I found myself here.

Future plans

I want to do opera. I want to teach and perform and write and compose. And I want to travel. Ultimately, I want to end up back in Europe or splitting time between the U.S. and Europe. I was educated in Ukraine, Russia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. I speak five languages: English, Russian, French, Ukrainian, and Serbo-Croatian. I want to travel and sing. I’m going to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to study for a master of music in vocal performance and literature. I’m working on establishing myself as a vocalist and an artist. The rest will come later.