Story by Kaiya Lynch
Photos courtesy of Wyatt Carlson
On a warm spring day during his junior year of high school, Wyatt Carlson stood on campus without expecting to choose the University of Missouri.
“I grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, with my dad being from Omaha and my mom growing up on the Kansas side of the state line,” Carlson said.
Because of this, Carlson had family ties to other universities, but something shifted during his Mizzou visit that was harder to quantify than rankings or financial aid packages. It was the energy. The pride. The sense that this was a place where people showed up fully, for their school and for each other. That feeling stayed with him, and it quietly rewrote his plans.
Now a senior earning a degree in electrical engineering with a minor in mathematics, Carlson’s Mizzou experience has been defined by a simple philosophy: take advantage of every opportunity.
That mindset led him to the Honors College, initially for practical reasons. Early registration and scholarship opportunities were appealing, but those benefits quickly became secondary. What kept him invested were the small, discussion-driven classes and the rare chance to build real relationships with professors.
“My favorite part of being a student in the Honors College has been the opportunity to work more closely with my professors and build more meaningful relationships,” Carlson said. “To this day, many of my closest friends and study partners are students that I met in my CHEM 1320H and PHYS 2750H lab sections.”
One class in particular stands out. In “The Ancient Greeks” (AMS 2100H), Carlson didn’t just study ancient Greece; he lived it.
“Throughout the process, Dr. (Jim) Crozier led some of the most engaging and entertaining class discussions that I have ever been a part of,” Carlson said. “From shouting at my fellow ‘Athenians’ to prosecute Socrates himself, to Crozier walking into class wearing his toga, this class had it all.”
Carlson’s story isn’t confined to the classroom, though. If anything, Carlson’s impact is most visible in the spaces where engineering, leadership and community intersect.
Within the College of Engineering, he served as a student ambassador, eventually stepping into roles as assistant director and then president. What began as leading tours and panels evolved into mentoring peers and shaping how prospective students experienced Mizzou. Beyond engineering, he immersed himself in campus life through Sigma Phi Epsilon, where he held leadership roles from chapter secretary to chapter president.
His leadership expanded even further when he became president of the Interfraternity Council in 2025, representing more than 3,000 students across 30 fraternities.
“I was fortunate to have an opportunity to lead on a larger scale and worked alongside other exceptional student leaders to align the goals of our member organizations with the vision of the university community,” Carlson said.
At the same time, he dedicated three years to MizzouThon, a student-led fundraising effort supporting Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. As a recruitment director, he helped grow participation and raise more than $500,000 for MU Health Care.
These experiences didn’t go unnoticed. Carlson was named a Remington R. Williams Award recipient and was a member of Mizzou ’39, two of the university’s highest honors recognizing leadership and service. Yet he views these accolades less as personal achievements and more as reflections of a larger, shared journey.
“Impact is a two-way street,” he said. “Mizzou has shaped me into who I am, and I hope I’ve had even a small impact in return.”
After graduation, Carlson will return to Kansas City to begin his career as an assistant instrument and controls engineer with Burns & McDonnell. He hopes to work on complex projects around the world and eventually lead a team of engineers. If his time at Mizzou has taught him anything, it’s that success isn’t just measured by technical skill; it’s defined by the relationships he builds along the way.
Looking back, that first campus visit set the tone for how he would spend the next four years: fully engaged, constantly curious and always willing to say yes to what comes next.
“There are few experiences I had at Mizzou that I wish I skipped out on, but there are a lot of things that I almost said ‘no thanks’ to that I couldn’t imagine life in college without,” Carlson said. “With every unique experience I take part in, I feel more proud to be a Tiger, and blessed to have had my story shaped by many other awesome Tigers along the way.”