The 2018 BEST participants are:
- Emily Drennan, doctoral student in Egyptology & Assyriology
- Javier Juarez, master's student in American Studies
- Ashleigh LoVette, doctoral student in Behavioral & Social Health Sciences
- Andrew Lynn, doctoral student in Psychology
- Cole Morgan, doctoral student in English
- Miroslava Nikolova, doctoral student in Slavic Studies
- Jennifer Polexi, master's student in Urban Education Policy
- Karina Santamaria, doctoral student in Behavioral & Social Health Sciences
- Benjamin Wilks, doctoral student in Biomedical Engineering
- Andrea Wright, doctoral student in Anthropology