Four exceptional students — Alexander Valdez Jr., Kenia Castaneda, Annabelle Su and Filimon Fregoso — have been named the 2025-26 Outstanding Students for Cal State San Bernardino’s College of Arts and Letters. They will be recognized during the college’s Spring Commencement ceremony, taking place at 9 a.m. May 16 at Toyota Arena in Ontario.

Alexander Valdez Jr., a graduate student from Chino who is earning his master of fine arts in studio art, has built an artistic practice centered on labor, working-class experiences and community. His thesis exhibition, “Como And La Chamba/How’s Work?” was inspired by conversations with his grandfather and other family members about the realities of work, sacrifice and survival.

“I’ve always been interested in the arts, and as a kid, I’d even get in trouble for doodling all over my homework and tests,” said Valdez. “Choosing to major in art felt natural because I couldn’t see myself building a career in any other field. My family's experiences with labor and work are what made me begin my interest in the topics of labor and the working class. It specifically started with conversations that I had with my abuelo (grandpa) and the multiple jobs he had throughout his life.”

At CSUSB, Valdez explored labor issues through writing, zines, gallery research and experimental artmaking. His work examined topics such as wage stagnation, cost of living and labor movements across the country. He was also selected to exhibit in the SoCal MFA and GLAMFA exhibitions, which showcase outstanding MFA students from universities throughout Southern California.

Valdez said the close-knit community within the Department of Art and Design helped shape his future and reinforced his desire to teach and curate exhibitions. “CSUSB helped me define my future because it showed me what I wanted outside the program, which is a supportive community of artists from different backgrounds uplifting each other,” he said.

Kenia Castaneda, who is graduating with a bachelor of arts in English, plans to become a high school English teacher and continue encouraging students through the power of education. A first-generation college student from Fontana, she said she never imagined herself attending a four-year university until a one of her teacher’s changed the trajectory of her life.

“It was thanks to my 10th grade English teacher, Matthew Johnson, who overheard me mention I wouldn’t be studying anything after graduating high school,” she said. “He sat me down to learn about my interests. Since I am the first in my family to attend college, I never fully knew that any career might need additional schooling to get there. So, that conversation changed my whole life because I realized that I had a deep passion for education. It was through him, that I was encouraged to pursue an English degree, and in the process, I fell in love with my major.”

At CSUSB, Castaneda conducted research on the Florentine Codex and the Nahuas’ experiences during the Spanish conquest of Mexico, presenting her work at the university’s 2026 Meeting of the Minds Research Symposium. Her analysis explored how Nahua scholars embedded counterarguments to colonization through both language and visual rhetoric.

Beyond the classroom, Castaneda completed more than 900 hours of community service through the CSUSB College Corps program and represented the program at the state level during a leadership training in Sacramento.

She credits her parents for inspiring her perseverance and determination. “Their constant, ‘¡Tu puedes hija!’ which translates to ‘You got this!’ is what got me to the finish line,” she said.

This fall, Castaneda will begin CSUSB’s teaching credential program as she continues pursuing her goal of becoming an educator. “CSUSB has defined me by encouraging me to eventually become an educator who offers the same mentorship and support that shaped me,” she said.

Annabelle Su, an undergraduate from Redlands who is earning her bachelor of music in instrumental performance with a minor in entrepreneurship in the arts, has spent years refining her craft as a cellist while exploring the intersection of music performance, history and research.

“There was never another choice for me in my career,” said Su. “Since I started playing piano at age 5, and cello at age 8, music has taken over my life. Pursuing classical music is the perfect blend of both my creative and analytical brains. I often find myself thinking through a piece of music very systematically to understand its inner workings, but it’s when I let myself feel the music that it comes to life.”

Her academic work has included research on music history and a humanities-based study examining the influence of social media on music consumption among undergraduate music majors. She recently presented the project at CSUSB’s Meeting of the Minds symposium.

One of the experiences Su treasures most was leading the CSUSB Cello Ensemble on a performance tour through Northern Italy in 2025, where students performed in prestigious venues and studied the history of string instruments in the region where they originated.

“I was honored to perform a solo of the first movement of Joseph Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D Major at three of the venues,” she said. “We were able to learn so much about music in the place where string instruments were born.”

Su will continue her studies this fall at Claremont Graduate University, where she will pursue a doctorate in musical arts in historical performance practice with a focus on Baroque cello.

She credits her family and her professors at CSUSB for helping shape her path as a musician and scholar. “My mentors are numerous. My biggest inspiration is my cello teacher of seven years, Dr. Esther Back. She is always willing to show up to teach or show support and goes above and beyond what a professor could provide. I would not be where I am today without her guidance. Dr. Lucy Lewis, the CSUSB Orchestra director and my supervisor, taught me about the value of hard work and attention to detail. Dr. Jessica Getman, professor of musicology, guided me through my research and academic interests, and showed me that loving what you study makes it fun, not work,” she said. “Last but not least, my parents have continuously supported my musical aspirations.”

Filimon Fregoso, who is becoming a two-time alumnus by graduating with a master of arts in English, has focused his academic work on literacy studies, marginalized communities and the transformative power of language.

As a queer Mexican American and former English learner from Grand Terrace, Fregoso said his own experiences navigating the education system shaped his research interests and commitment to expanding understandings of literacy.

“The major taught me that literacy is much more than formal texts, and that we all read and write different kinds of texts that have an impact on the world,” he said. “It is these teachings that have shaped my commitment to highlighting the overlooked ways in which individuals, especially those of marginalized communities, practice reading and writing.”

Fregoso co-authored a journal article with faculty mentor Alexandra Cavallaro examining the literacy practices of queer incarcerated individuals through letters written to LGBT Books to Prisoners, an organization that provides queer-affirming literature to incarcerated people across the United States. The research explored how incarcerated individuals used literacy as a form of care, hope and connection.

This summer, Fregoso will work with a professor at the University of Arkansas on an autoethnographic project related to community literacy programs after being named a 2025-26 Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholar by the California State University system.

He said the community he found at CSUSB profoundly shaped both his academic goals and personal values. “It was here where I witnessed the values of diversity, community and possibility come alive,” he said. “These values had a profound impact on me because they gave me a sense of belonging and a model of what I would like to put into practice in my everyday life. I know that regardless of where I go, I will always strive to put into practice the values that CSUSB taught me.”