Convocation is a time for celebrating not only the memories and friendships but also the academic and extracurricular achievements of the graduating class. This year, almost 150 graduating St. Michael’s students received medals and titled awards. Celebrate their accomplishments with us as the Class of 2021 enters the St. Michael’s alumni family.  

 Graduation Awards by Application 

The Principal’s Medal Award 

In conjunction with the family of the late Professor Lawrence E. Lynch, the Principal’s Medal was created in 1978 to recognize the almost lifelong association of Professor Lynch with St. Michael’s College, and also to mark his 25th wedding anniversary. 

 Prof. Lynch served as the College Principal from July 1976-June 1981. 

 The medal is given annually to a graduate who has made a distinctive contribution to life at the college and who upheld the practice of Catholicism proper to a university community. 

This year’s recipient of the Principal’s Medal is Nicole Machado.  

The Marina Santin Award  

St. Michael’s alumni Sylvia and Raymon Santin established the Marina Santin award in honour of their late daughter. During her time at St Mike’s, Marina contributed significantly to the life of the College and to the broader University of Toronto community through her work as an Arts and Entertainment columnist for The Mike, staff photographer for The Newspaper, a Coordinator of the 1991 St. Michael’s Orientation, and by her presence at and support of College and University events and programmes. 

 The Marina Santin Award is presented annually to a female graduate who has distinguished herself by an active and constructive involvement in the life of the college. Recipients exemplify the Christian ideals of joyful engagement in life, openness to others, service to the community, and responsible leadership. 

This year’s recipient of the Marina Santin Award is Samantha Marie Ramphal.  

The Sir Bertram Windle Graduate Scholarship 

The Sir Bertram Windle C.A. Graduate Scholarship is awarded to a student with an excellent academic record who will be entering a liberal arts graduate program at the University of Toronto in the September following graduation. 

This year’s recipient of the Sir Bertram Windle Graduate Scholarship is Natalie Barbuzzi.  

The W.B. Dunphy Medal  

The W.B. Dunphy Medal was created in 1991 to honour Professor William Dunphy, who served as College Principal from 1981-1991. 

 Principal Dunphy was particularly concerned that university life should not be separate from the life of the wider community. 

 The medal is awarded annually to a graduate who has been most successful in combining excellent academic achievement with a sustained commitment to volunteer service in the wider community. 

This year’s recipient of the W.B. Dunphy Medal is Bryn Badour.  

The Fr. Henry Carr, CSB Award  

The Father Henry Carr, CSB, Award, named in honour of a Basilian Father who helped shape this institution and who served as President and Superior at St. Michael’s from 1915 to 1925 is presented to a graduate who has made an outstanding contribution to the University of Toronto in athletics, academics, leadership, or student life. 

The recipient of this year’s Father Henry Carr, CSB, Award is Victoria Lunetta.  

The Fr. Robert Madden, CSB Leadership Awards 

Father Robert Madden was a much-admired professor, chaplain and Basilian Superior at St Mike’s who served as the Director of Alumni Affairs in his retirement. The Father Robert Madden Leadership Awards are presented to students who have made significant contributions to the University of St. Michael’s College community by demonstrating leadership, cooperation, and solidarity in student-run organizations or community endeavours. 

The recipients of this year’s Fr. Robert Madden, CSB Leadership Awards are:  

Juliano Baggieri

Natalie Barbuzzi

Adam Da Costa Gomes

Onagite Emakpor

Chiara Greco 

Kyungmin (Jace) Lee 

Victoria Lunetta

Nicole Machado

Taylor Medeiros

Nicholas Pagano

Chiara Perry

Sabrina Quartarone

Samantha Ramphal

Grusha Singh

Isabela Villanoy

Angela Zhou

The University of St. Michael’s College Young Alumni Award 

The University of St. Michael’s College Young Alumni Award is awarded to a graduand who has demonstrated involvement and leadership at USMC, in the UofT community, and in the local community that encompasses the values of USMC, including volunteerism, contribution to student life and spirit of inclusiveness.

The recipient of this year’s University of St. Michael’s College Young Alumni Award is Adam Da Costa Gomes.

Graduation Awards by Merit and Program 

The Alberto and Caroline Morgan Di Giovanni – Centro Scuola Scholarships  

Alberto Di Giovanni, 7T1 and his wife, Caroline Morgan Di Giovanni, 7T0, have a long and close association with the University of St. Michael’s College. They met here as students and have stayed involved as alumni. Three of their children (Annamaria, Carlo and Franca) as well as nieces and nephews have followed in their footsteps and graduated from St Mike’s. Alberto and Caroline have endowed scholarships and an annual Dante lecture to demonstrate their appreciation for their experiences here and to encourage St Mike’s graduates to develop life-long connections with their alma mater. 

The Alberto and Caroline Morgan Di Giovanni Scholarships are awarded each year to St. Michael’s College students. Earlier this spring Di Giovanni scholarships were awarded to students participating in the Gilson Seminar in Faith and Ideas. 

Today we are recognizing the Alberto and Caroline Morgan Di Giovanni Scholarships for graduating students who have achieved the top marks in Italian Studies and have demonstrated leadership and community spirit on the St. Michael’s College campus and in the community at large. 

The recipients of this year’s Alberto and Caroline Morgan Di Giovanni – Centro Scuola Scholarships are Nicole Chiefari and Chiara Marie Muia.  

The Tommaso Serrao Award 

This award was established by the Family and Friends of Mr. Tommaso Serrao, who had a great love and passion for Italian literature. 

The award is presented to an outstanding graduate who has excelled in the study of Italian. 

The recipient of this year’s Tommaso Serrao Award is Rita Kot.  

The Mercier-Knowlton Prize for Philosophy in Christianity & Culture 

While studying at St Michael’s College, William Leo Knowlton, class of 1927, developed a deep love of philosophy that never left him. 

In 1999, he made a generous donation to St Michael’s to establish an endowed lectureship in Philosophy and Theology. 

This gift also enabled the College to re-institute the Mercier Prize, which had been established in 1924 in honour of Cardinal Mercier and his work relative to the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. 

This award is given to the student with the highest CGPA in Philosophy and Christianity & Culture. 

The recipient of this year’s Mercier-Knowlton Prize for Philosophy in Christianity & Culture is Samantha Marie Ramphal.  

The James O’Brien 5T0 Book Award 

The James O’Brien Book Award was inspired by the memory of James O’Brien, St. Michael’s Class of 1950. 

After graduating, he remained an active alumnus of the College, serving on the USMC Senate for a number of years, as well as on the Library Committee. 

His family established this award to honour his love of literature and to celebrate their continuing association with St. Mike’s. 

The recipient of this year’s James O’Brien 5T0 Book Award is Cassandra Marie Fernandes.  

Davide De Luca Memorial Graduation Scholarship

A gifted and brilliant student, Davide De Luca (July 4, 1980 – March 30, 2020) was a loving son, a cherished friend and a respected colleague. He pursued his unquenching thirst for knowledge and touched the lives of so many during his academic journey on these very grounds. He left this world too soon, leaving a legacy of love, compassion, goodness and respect for his fellow man. 

The scholarship is awarded to an undergraduate student in the Faculty of Arts and Science at St. Michael’s College graduating with a major in Italian Studies with the highest overall GPA. Should there be no qualifying student, a minor in Italian Studies will be considered.

The recipient of the first Davide De Luca Memorial Graduation Scholarship is Erica Angela Vardaro. 

Governor General’s Silver Medal

The Governor General’s Academic Medal was first awarded in 1873 by the Earl of Dufferin, and has since become one of the most prestigious awards that a student in a Canadian educational institution can receive. The governor general of Canada continues this tradition of encouraging scholarship across the nation and recognizing outstanding students.

The silver medal is awarded to the undergraduate who achieves the highest academic standing upon graduation from a bachelor degree program.

The nominees for this year’s Governor Genreal’s Silver Medal are Omar Elbardisy and Ruikai Wu.

College Gold Medals 

The College Gold Medals are awarded to graduating students with the highest cumulative grade point average in Arts, Science, and Commerce. 

The recipients of this year’s College Gold Medals are:  

College Silver Medals 

College Silver Medals are awarded to all other graduating students who have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.7.  

The recipients of this year’s College Silver Medals are: 

Duane Rendle is the Dean of Students at St. Michael’s College. Originally from Victoria, BC, Duane completed his BA at the University of Victoria in 1993, and then came to U of T to complete a Master of Industrial Relations. While attending U of T, Duane served as a don at St. Michael’s College and became very involved in student life. In 1998, St. Mike’s hired Duane to serve as their Dean of Men, a precursor to his current position.

Ceremonial Splendour

Over the past 22 years, I have had the great pleasure of watching our students graduate from a unique vantage point—that of the convocation beadle.

What, pray tell, is a beadle? That is a very common question and the same one I asked in the spring of 1999 when I first assumed the role. The beadle (sometimes spelled “bedel”) is an officer at a college responsible for ushering students into a formal ceremony, ensuring they are seated, and leading them back out when the ceremony concludes. Beadles are easily distinguished from the students by their academic regalia and, most notably, the presence of a large mace resting firmly against their shoulder.   

The mace has been a symbol of university authority since the 11th century. It was originally intended as a weapon (!), presumably to fend off the rabble who begrudged the pomp and pageantry of the academic elites. Mercifully, such incidents were rare—so rare that universities began to adorn the mace, transforming it from a tool of combat into a ceremonial sceptre.

The University of Toronto mace was handcrafted in London, England and is constructed of gold-plated silver. It was a gift from Lt.-Col. Eric Phillips (chair of the Board of Governors from 1945 to 1964) and was unveiled at the June 1951 convocation. Since then, tens of thousands of graduands have witnessed the mace being reverently carried into Convocation Hall to officially commence their graduation ceremonies. 

Under the mace’s crown is a cushion that bears the coat of arms of George IV, the sovereign who granted the university’s first charter in 1827. As the mace is turned, a series of panels reveal the cipher of King George IV, then the arms of Canada, of Ontario, and the University of Toronto. Additional images of crosses, maple leaves, fleurs-de-lys and beavers pay homage to U of T’s cultural and religious influences.

(At the Baccalaureate Mass preceding the convocation ceremony, I lead the graduands into St. Basil’s Church with the St. Michael’s mace. Please see the accompanying video to learn more about it.)

Serving as the beadle is easily the best perk of being the Dean of Students. Prior to the ceremony I am invited to the Chancellor’s reception, where I get to hobnob with academic dignitaries and the honorary degree recipients. Over the years I have met many well-known Canadians from the worlds of politics, the arts and academics, but I think my favourite encounter was with the irascible Rex Murphy, of The National Post fame. Mr. Murphy seemed genuinely interested in finding out what a dean of students actually does, and his east coast charm made me feel like I was chatting with the fellow on the next barstool, rather than a Canadian icon.  

Leading the academic procession into Convocation Hall is always exhilarating. When the organ chimes and we begin our measured walk down the main aisle, every eye in the hall turns to watch the spectacle. In decades past, our procession was accompanied by the clicking of countless cameras and the light of 1,000 flashes; now though, most choose to silently record the grand entrance using a variety of handheld devices. Once the stage is ascended, I gently place the mace in its ornate cradle atop the beautifully carved table, where it serves as a silent witness to the crowning achievement of each graduating class.      

As the ceremony concludes and the second stanza of “O Canada” begins, I take my cue to retrieve the mace from its holder and lead our newly minted graduands out of the hall and into the throng of well-wishers that await. But for me, my job is just beginning. Over the years I have made it a practice to linger in the crowd for as long as the Chancellor’s Office will permit, to congratulate families, shake the hands of the graduands, and pose with them in photos with the magisterial mace. Over the past two decades I have had the honour of being included in countless portraits, and I am always grateful to be included in such an intimate family moment. This, for me, is the highlight of convocation day and, after a respite necessitated by the pandemic, I cannot wait to return to campus and fulfill the hallowed duties of the beadle once again. 

Read other InsightOut posts.

From navigating an entirely digital academic year to planning out their next adventure in uncharted waters, the 2020/2021 academic year presented novel challenges for St. Mike’s newest alumni. 

While all 817 St. Mike’s graduands who will take the virtual walk across the convocation stage tomorrow at noon have had unique USMC journeys, there is one overwhelming sentiment they all agree on: the St. Michael’s community is like no other. “They are definitely some of the best people I have met,” says graduand Natalie Barbuzzi, who studied Environmental and Human Geography.

Sitting down with the St. Mike’s class of 2021, it’s clear what made their time at USMC special was the community. Chiara Perry, Social Science student, says “Regardless of the day I had, as soon as I walked into the Coop there would always be smiling faces greeting me, and how can you not be happy surrounded by your friends?”

Many graduands feel an important thread binding the community together was their appreciation for holistic education. Victoria Lunetta, who studied Political Science and served as chapter president for the Nyantende Foundation, learned her degree is only part of her story: “as I’ve learned from an amazing four years at the U of T… academic pursuits only make up a small part of who I am and who I hope to be.”

As lockdown kept St. Mike’s graduands apart, Adam Da Costa Gomes, Neuroscience and Pharmacology student, challenged what it meant to be a community. He found a change of perspective helped him re-imagine what it meant to find community at a distance.

 “I have a strong dislike for the term ‘social distancing’ because that’s not what it is. It’s physical distancing,” Da Costa Gomes explains. “I found by reframing that in my mind, I’ve learned that I’m not socially isolated, and you don’t have to be either.”

Despite the pandemic, Chiara Greco, Editor-in-Chief of The Mike, saw St. Michael’s students’ passion for creating community grow even stronger. Greco recounts the paper’s 2021 team as the largest ever. 

“I’ve been super impressed this year by how many student groups continued to push through and create communities for SMC students despite the pandemic,” Greco says. “The fact that people were still interested in getting involved despite the pandemic really emphasized for me how important student life is to the SMC community.”

Knowing the struggles of finding community, especially after spending a year online, St. Mike’s graduands have some sage words of advice for incoming students.

“Start small, but start somewhere! Join a club that you’re interested in, join a cultural association you resonate with, just make sure you start somewhere!” says Da Costa Gomes. 

Sam Gruppuso, Criminology and Sociology student, agrees. “I think if you are new to SMC and trying to find your place, you should try and get involved in as many things as you can and see what feels right to you and stick with it.”

On navigating the academic landscape, Joy Fan, a Public Policy student, reminds students to reflect and go at their own pace. “Re-evaluate your priorities and why you’re overworking yourself,” Fan suggests. “Consider taking a slower pace to university – there’s no need to rush to graduate!”

Reflecting on her own university journey, Sana Moshin recounts a piece of advice she received: “Someone in my first year told me that these would be the best few years of my life, and this certainly held true for the memories that I made in my dorm.”

Even though Book and Media Studies student Taylor Medeiros will continue her work creating community with St. Michael’s alumni after graduation, she knows it won’t be the same. “I think that the SMC community is filled with some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met, and I’ll [miss] being able to talk to them every day.”

Greco has one parting message for her fellow grads after reflecting on the distance, burnout, and challenges the Class of 2021 overcame to ensure the community flourished in their final year: “I think what’s important is taking a step back to allow yourself to be proud of everything you’ve accomplished this year.”

From finding community on campus or earning top marks in challenging courses—even to becoming a mother just days before Convocation—members of St. Michael’s Class of 2021 have had a rich and unique set of experiences. 

This year’s St. Michael’s class is large by University of Toronto standards. 817 students will receive degrees during a virtual convocation ceremony at noon EDT on June 23, and at 10:30 a.m. that day, members of the class will also be presented with a variety of College awards recognizing academic achievement and community involvement.

“St. Mike’s is known as the Catholic college, and features humanities and theological studies,” graduand Ruikai Wu says. His outstanding marks earned him this year’s College Gold Medal for science, which is the degree designation of the largest share of this year’s graduating class, and he is also one of two graduands to be nominated for the U of T Governor General’s Silver Medal. Wu’s goals for his university studies were to learn science and critical thinking, and he chose St. Michael’s as his college in order to gain exposure to non-scientific fields. “To understand the science better, you need to understand how people think and behave,” he says.

While his performance in Life Science courses related to microbiology and molecular biology helped him earn his award, one of Wu’s most meaningful course experiences was English 100-Effective Writing. “No matter what you do or study, you need to write clearly, to avoid abstract words and tense confusion,” he says.

Wu found a home at St. Mike’s after meeting other entrance scholarship recipients at a lunch that also included St. Michael’s staff members. “It felt nice because U of T is such a large place, and St. Mike’s is smaller but still a big place,” he says. Meeting fellow students helped give Wu a “feeling of community and a sense that there were people to talk to.” He also credits Assistant Registrar Nawang Khangkar with helping him feel welcome and cared about at St. Mike’s. “My experience at St. Mike’s would be very different” if not for her help, he says.

Fellow Life Sciences student Omar Elbardisy came to feel at home at St. Mike’s as a commuter student after attending Orientation Week events his first year. The College Silver Medal winner is the other U of T Governor General’s Silver Medal nominee for St. Mike’s, and like Wu, carried a 4.0 CGPA through his studies.

He also found great value in taking non-science courses. “I am from an Egyptian background; I was born there and lived there for a while before immigrating,” he says. “Being at U of T in a completely foreign country and seeing courses that address my home country really impacted me.” One of the most meaningful he took was Voices from Ancient Egypt, which he found “more literature and essay based” than his other classes in a way that he found “mutually enriching.

“I had to think about the material in a different way, and I studied differently… taking an interdisciplinary course makes you go beyond the readings, do your own research, and really helped me a lot,” he says.

Foundational to Elbardisy’s success in both scientific and humanities courses was the goal of truly understanding content instead of relying on rote memorization. He also sought balance through involvement in extracurricular activities at St. Michael’s such as intramural soccer, Orientation leadership, and connections with his commuter dons, all of which helped him feel at home at the College.

Community involvement and academic achievement in Italian Studies together qualified Chiara Muia to receive an Alberto and Caroline Morgan Di Giovanni Centro Scuola Scholarship. “During Orientation Week of my first year I was overwhelmed by how welcoming everyone at St. Mike’s was,” she says. She kept in touch with her leaders all four years, and forged friendships that have lasted through her student career.

Muia also found surprising upsides to working on her classes remotely. “Though I missed being on campus, I found that being online actually allowed me to talk to my professors much more,” she says. The ease with which she could reach out for a quick video chat “allowed me to get a lot more out of my classes than I generally would have.”

Muia took one of her most meaningful classes in her last semester. JCI350: Italian Canadian Culture and Identity “allowed me to better understand the history of my family and connect with them in a way I never have before,” Muia says.

Fellow graduand Samantha Ramphal found her studies and extracurricular involvement at St. Mike’s to help integrate many parts of her life. A transformative experience in the Gilson Seminar on Faith and Ideas her first year led the Environment and Health major to pick up Christianity and Culture as a minor. She will be receiving the Mercier-Knowlton Prize for Philosophy in Christianity and Culture and the Marina Santin Award at the USMC graduation awards ceremony on Wednesday.

“I enjoyed the experience of being in such a small and intimate classroom and having the chance to deepen my faith,” Ramphal says. Her experiences in the classroom led as well to a variety of extracurricular involvement including presenting a paper at St. Michael’s student research colloquium in 2017, volunteering as a student representative on the St. Michael’s Collegium, and serving as a student leader in the Christianity and Culture club.

The awards being given recognize the achievements of these and many other talented students, but they also point to bright futures after graduation. Wu will be entering a PhD program in the University of Toronto Department of Biochemistry, while Elbardisy will be starting medical school this fall, also at U of T. Muia’s next stop is a three-year Master of Architecture program at the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University.

But Ramphal has perhaps the most unique next step of all. She welcomed her son Raphael into the world on the afternoon of Sunday, June 6—only weeks before convocation. Is he a future St. Michael’s student? We can only hope.

The University of St. Michael’s College Graduation Awards Ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, June 23.

Set to graduate from the University of Toronto in one week, the St. Michael’s Class of 2021 is exceptional for many reasons. Many members have spent almost half their time in university taking online classes. Some have joined in those classes from around the world. Still others have come face-to-face with the realities of COVID. 

What is certain about this cohort of students is that they are ready to take on the world. Members of the class will be conferred with their degrees in an online ceremony at noon EDT on Wednesday, June 23.  

With 817 students receiving degrees, the St. Michael’s class is characteristically large by University of Toronto standards, and students receiving Honours Bachelor of Science degrees make up the largest share. Graduand Ruikai Wu, College Gold Medal winner in Science, says he originally chose St. Michael’s in part because of its emphasis on interdisciplinarity and the humanities.  

“I thought that would be a nice exposure as a science student, because I think we should have a balance in what we learn about,” Wu says. He and other award winners will receive their awards from St. Michael’s in a video ceremony at 10:30 a.m. EDT the day of Convocation.  

Some graduating students have already received awards from the University of Toronto, such as recipients of the Student Leadership Awards, formerly known as the Cressies. Student Leadership Award recipient and St. Mike’s graduand Adam Da Costa Gomes found deep and rich community at St. Michael’s while studying pharmacology, a field in which he will be pursuing doctoral studies at U of T this fall. “Community life at SMC is unparalleled and really helps mitigate the academic stress that can quickly bubble up,” the SMCInclusive co-founder says in a profile for the Faculty of Arts & Science.  

The Class of 2021 will see some firsts for St. Michael’s, including the graduation of the first cohort of the SMC One Gilson Seminar in Faith and Ideas, one of the University of Toronto’s most popular One programs for incoming students. Students in the seminar credit it with helping them find their place at U of T both academically and socially, and they graduate with as strong a sense of connection to one another as they enjoyed in their first year.  

Although St. Michael’s graduands will be tuning in to their Convocation remotely, they will also receive special graduation packages that include St. Michael’s keepsakes such as SMC pins and a letter from President David Sylvester. Staff from several departments gathered on campus to prepare the mailing last week, filling dozens of boxes with over 800 mailers. The University of Toronto is also making gown rentals available for students to wear while watching the ceremony at home, and St. Michael’s students can spruce up their Zoom backgrounds with a bit of SMC flair.  

As students become graduates, they will find many perks and benefits by joining the Alumni Association. New St. Michael’s grads gain access to an extensive alumni network, the ability to continue using the University of Toronto Library system, a complimentary subscription to St. Michael’s Magazine, and much else.  

Interim Principal Mark McGowan has seen the efforts students have put into completing courses and concluding their studies over the past year, and is deeply impressed with St. Michael’s students’ commitment to finishing well.  

“Your achievement is made even more profound in that you completed your programs of study amidst one of the gravest health crises to strike the world in a century,” McGowan says. “You persisted valiantly and your patience and extraordinary labours make your achievement today that much more profound. As you move into a new chapter of your lives, please remember those special times at St. Michael’s and come back and visit us in person when public health permits it.”  

For now, the best place to find coverage of St. Michael’s Convocation is on social media, but as vaccine rates continue to go up, there is hope for future meetings on campus, where the early summer flowers are now in full bloom.  

When University of Toronto Vice-Dean, Undergraduate Randy Boyagoda introduced the Gilson Seminar in Faith and Ideas in 2017, he had two hopes for what his students would take from the seminar into their larger careers at UofT.  

“First, an openness to making connections beyond specialized fields of study and knowledge,” the former St. Michael’s Principal says. His second hope for his students? “Friends.”  

Four years later, as the first Gilson Seminar cohort prepares to graduate from the University of Toronto, it’s clear that creative links between disciplines and a deep sense of community are exactly what his students carried forward from the program.    

Inspired by the Catholic intellectual tradition and designed for first-year students, the SMC One seminar explores questions related to faith and ecology, science, literature and politics, and includes readings that draw from ancient philosophy, contemporary fiction, and everything in between.  

The two-week international learning experience in Rome complements the seminar’s coursework with site-specific talks and tours around the ancient city while exploring roles the Catholic Church and the Vatican have played in a variety of fields.  

“It’s how to integrate all the different parts of your life,” says Gilson grad Samantha Ramphal, when asked about her main takeaway from the program. “I was studying the sciences and saw my faith as separate,” she continues, but “taking Gilson helped me realize there’s one truth and it must be coherent with all other aspects of your career and personal life.”  

Her classmate Jordan Chiappetta had a difficult time narrowing down a favourite memory, but calls out the group’s visit to the Vatican Observatory during the trip to Rome as a highlight. “It was such a special privilege that I don’t think I would have ever been able to experience had I not been a St. Mike’s student,” he says.   

“Gilson helped me find myself both academically and personally,” Natalie Barbuzzi says. Beyond cultivating her interest in eco-theology—a field she will pursue via a Master’s of Theological Studies program in St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology in the fall—Barbuzzi credits Gilson with providing her with a sense of close-knit community in the larger university setting. While she developed important friendships through “dodgeball and meatballs,” a regular gathering Professor Boyagoda hosted for Gilson students, she also became deeply involved in student life at St. Michael’s via the Commuter Don program, Orientation, and Mentorship.  

Emily Barber started writing for The Mike while participating in the seminar, and found a community dedicated to sharing and exploring ideas in a similarly wide-ranging fashion to that of her Gilson classmates. Her studies in English led to an independent study on the poet T.S. Eliot during her final year with three other Gilson students—guided by Professor Boyagoda. She will continue her studies this fall in an MA program in English Literature at McGill.  

“I was able to find such a respect and gratitude within Gilson,” Barber says. “I think we all just feel really close because even though we’re all quite different, we have this common respect for each other.”  

Ramphal echoes her classmate. “As an international student from Trinidad coming to school in Canada, it felt like such a far-fetched dream” to participate in the seminar, she says.  

“For first year students to have this experience in such a close-knit community and pursue these friendships while beginning studies is fantastic, really unique to this college, and something I’m grateful to have been a part of.”