Future students

There is a vibrancy and a sense of excitement that flows across our campus in the spring as we prepare to welcome our graduating students for convocation. It is our honour to participate in fourteen ceremonies this week.

We are honoured to begin a new tradition this year with the inclusion of an Eagle Staff to our convocation ceremonies. The staff was presented to the University in March, and reflects the wisdom, strength, and honour of those that carry it in representation of Nations across Turtle Island.

Keval Tripathi, a third-year electrical and computer engineering student at the University of Waterloo, has been soaking up the sun “Down Under” since February. He’s on a four-month study abroad experience at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia – the furthest from home he’s ever been – and loving it.

Convocation is a special time to celebrate a significant milestone. These 14 exceptional students have been chosen to represent the graduating class of 2023.

Below they share about their academic journey filled with innovation, resilience and passion.  

Why did you choose to study at the University of Waterloo?  

Thomass Muir

For the first time on our campus, the Two-Spirit Pride flag is being flown alongside the Intersex-Inclusive Pride Progress flag, during the month of June as part of Pride Month activities. Flying the Two-Spirit Pride flag beautifully represents the intersection of National Indigenous History Month and Pride Month and signifies the University’s ongoing commitment towards indigenization across our campuses.  

Two Waterloo Engineering faculty members have been elected fellows by Canada’s most distinguished engineering society.

Dr. Monica Emelko and Dr. Carolyn Ren are among the newest cohort of 55 fellows to be elected to the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) by their peers. Fellows have been selected because of their "outstanding contributions to engineering and for serving as role models in their fields and communities,” said CAE’s president Dr. Soheil Asfarpour in a media release. 

Mackenzie Leclaire's academic journey exemplifies the value of interdisciplinary learning and qualitative research. A new graduate of the MA Sociology program at the University of Waterloo, Mackenzie's research intersects sociology, legal studies, and psychology in exploring the impact of a restorative justice peer support group for people who have offended sexually.

When Hannah Blair first started her journey at Waterloo, she never imagined her undergraduate path would include switching programs, breaking records and winning numerous athletic awards.

Two chemical engineering graduate students have topped a national video competition for their research related to the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Whenever Osose Itua gets on a plane, she’s awestruck by its power to lift off and fly. Her well-travelled childhood from Nigeria to Malaysia to Canada, impressed upon her the wonders of transportation and fuelled her desire to become an engineer.  

Curious about how trains, planes and cars work, Itua thought she’d study mechanical engineering. But in her investigation of various universities and their degree programs, she came across mechatronics engineering at the University of Waterloo and something just clicked.

If you were on campus last term, you might recognize Emily Radcliffe from posters advertising the Theatre and Performance program’s production of Portia’s Julius Caesar. For herself, as strange as it was to see her own face posted around campus, it was even more unexpected to be cast in the lead role of Portia. “It was an experience that helped me to unlearn a lot of lessons I was taught over the years about who I am, who I can be, and what I'm capable of.”