More than 15,000 students were set to cross the stage at Convocation Hall this spring, representing the Class of 2026's more than 127 countries. Felipe Sarmiento Gómez, who became curious about bees at age seven in his school's gardens in Colombia, worked with a sustainable cacao startup in Costa Rica using drone and AI monitoring tools before graduating with a specialization in conservation and biodiversity — he is now lab manager for associate professor Scott MacIvor at U of T Scarborough.
Catherine Wang graduates from a program combining a major in nutritional sciences with a specialization in laboratory medicine and pathobiology, and is heading to Columbia University for a master's in human nutrition; her University College Dragon Boat Club team competes at the World Championships in Taiwan this summer. Isaiah Gardner, recruited as a varsity sprinter in 2021 after taking up track in Grade 9 to honour a local track legend named Dante, graduates from the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education.
Ruqaiya Rahman, who arrived at UTM from Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2022, graduates with a bachelor of commerce and hopes to earn a CPA designation. Diego Arreola Fernández, a double major in international relations and economics, co-founded Green Speaking and is helping bring Captain Planet Foundation programs to Canada. "It takes a village," Gardner said of his own path through U of T.
Reported from Class of 2026: Meet five U of T grads who made their mark, by Mariam Matti (U of T Alumni News, June 12, 2026).
More from the original reporting: alumni.utoronto.ca/news/class-2026-meet-five-u-t-grads-who-made-their-mark