More than 4,500 University of Toronto graduating students from 82 countries will cross the stage during a dozen ceremonies taking place this week at Convocation Hall.
U of T News asked four of them to share their journeys, what they learned along the way and where they're off to next.
Banking on a new path
Iriza Stessy initially planned to pursue aerospace engineering upon arriving at U of T - but her trajectory changed after taking courses in mathematics and economics.
"The first economics class I took was 'ECO101: Principles of Microeconomics,'" she recalls. "I found it really interesting to learn about how households make decisions. I said to myself, 'This is something I can build on and learn more about.'"
And build she did. This week, Stessy is graduating with a major in economics and minors in mathematics and African studies.
When she moved to Toronto from Kenya in 2022, she says she knew relatively little about Canada - and credits the academic advising team at University College for guiding her whenever she felt stuck.
"When you're new to a country, the system can feel very unfamiliar… sometimes you need someone to hold your hand and walk you through the journey."
Stessy gained on-the-job experience through two summer internships at CIBC - first on the commercial banking credit team, evaluating business risk, and then with the real estate team, which works with developers.
She has since accepted a full-time offer with the bank, joining a commercial team that supports public-sector and not-for-profit clients such as schools, hospitals and municipalities.
Her advice to first-year students?
"Talk to people. When you have a problem and talk to someone about it, it feels like you've already solved half of it."
Seeing the people through the plants
Zheming (Taro) Cai spent his childhood hiking and foraging in the woods near Shiyan, a small city in a mountainous region in central China.
He found his calling after watching a TV program on contemporary French gardens.
"What drew me to landscape architecture was its unique combination of art, horticulture, design and engineering," he says. "It seemed like a profession that brought together so many of my interests."
On Oct. 27, Cai will graduate as a member of the first cohort of the interdisciplinary PhD program in architecture, landscape and design at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.
His research traces how Chinese gardens in China and North America have changed since the 1970s through ideas, materials, techniques and people across national and cultural boundaries.
"I hope my research encourages people to see designed landscapes not simply as finished works of design or expressions of artistic or cultural identity, but as living environments shaped by the exchange of knowledge, materials and labour."
With fellow PhD graduates Qingyun Lin and Ai Liu, Cai collaborated on a Nuit Blanche installation about China Court , a lost Chinese garden in Toronto's Chinatown. The installation was styled as a night market stall where visitors swapped memories of the place.
Now a postdoctoral fellow at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in California, he's researching gardening practices in premodern China.
His advice to new students? Stay curious and "reach out to professors whose work interests you, even if they're in adjacent fields, and make friends across disciplines."
From patient to practitioner
Jessica Tinney chose her career path because of the occupational therapists who shaped her childhood.
She graduates on Oct. 27 with a master of science degree in occupational therapy from U of T's Temerty Faculty of Medicine. During a placement at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, she found herself working alongside clinicians who once treated her as a young patient.
"I've run into all of my old clinicians on this placement," said Tinney in a Holland Bloorview blog post last year. "It's definitely different being on the other side of things, but it's exciting."
Sport has always been a meaningful part of Tinney's life. She represented Canada as a para swimmer at the 2022 World Para Swimming Champions in Madeira, Portugal, and the 2023 championships in Manchester, England.
"I grew up in a community where, regardless of ability, people had opportunities to participate in sport, build connections and discover what they were capable of," she says. "These experiences shaped my understanding of the importance of accessibility, inclusion and creating opportunities for everyone to participate in meaningful activities."
Now working at Reach Indoor Climbing and Propel Physiotherapy, Tinney is bringing her two biggest passions together: sport and rehab.
"Having experienced first-hand the impact that sport and physical activity can have on a person's life, I am excited to support others in exploring opportunities for participation, building confidence and engaging in activities that are meaningful to them."
Her advice to future students: "You never truly know what you are capable of until you give yourself the opportunity to find out."
From network engineer to nurse
Ron Arsenault had built a successful career in network engineering, with more than 20 years of experience with companies like Telesat and TekSavvy Solutions Inc.
But he wasn't enthused by where the field was headed - long hours and an AI-dominated landscape didn't particularly interest him. He also found himself thinking about the excellent care he once received as a patient at Prince County Hospital in Summerside, P.E.I.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Arsenault took the opportunity to reassess his career path.
"From there, it was a relatively short step to looking at a health-care system in constant demand for highly skilled staff to manage increasingly complex cases and thinking, 'Why not me?' I enjoy working with arbitrarily complex systems," he says.
"And what system is more arbitrarily complex than a person?"
On Oct. 29, Arsenault will graduate from the Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing with a bachelor of science in nursing.
He says his early fears about making a career pivot were eased by faculty and staff at Bloomberg Nursing, who assured him they would support him every step of the way - and promptly did.
Placements at leading hospitals brought him closer to patients and families. "It's a privilege to hear their stories, particularly from those who may not often have the opportunity to be heard," he says.
As a lifelong introvert, Arsenault has worked hard to build his communication skills. "Being good at solving technical concerns doesn't automatically make one good at solving human ones," he says.
First up after convocation: his first real stretch of time off since 1996. After that, he plans to combine his technical background with critical care practice and, in the meantime, study his favourite organ: the heart.
With files from Rebecca Biason, Nina Haikara, Rachel LeBeau and Cynthia Macdonald
