Members of the Class of 2017 pen messages to thank their loved ones for their support.

The last time our entire class came together was in August of our freshman year for convocation. Now, four years later, we will all come together one last time in May for our commencement.

Meet five members of the graduating class who are ready to make their communities—and our world—ever better.

They arrived in the fall of 2013 and soon will take their leave as members of the University of Rochester graduating class of 2017. Here is a collection of photos…

“The thing that really stands out most to me about my time at Eastman has been the amazing community that the school offers,” says the double major in classical saxophone performance and music theory.

Goodlet graduates with a degree in political science and African-American studies. “We know that the number of minority students going into faculty work is low, so how can we get students of color to actually pursue the pipeline of becoming a faculty member?”

Colon will pursue her master’s degree in teaching and curriculum as she works to become a high school English teacher. “Younger students need to see that there are people who went through the city school district who are minorities and are now in college and accomplishing things,” she says. “They can do it as well.”

After graduating with a degree in English—and earning social media fame for his viral buzzer-beating shot—Borst-Smith will be playing basketball professionally in Europe, something he says is both “exciting and nerve-wracking.”

Like many Rochester students who thrive on the school’s open curriculum, Dan Hargrove ’17 pursues multiple interests with equal vigor. The international relations major is an accomplished artist who has a “hidden passion” for coral reefs, and has maintained one in an aquarium at home since he was 14 years old.

In a partnership between the University’s Memorial Art Gallery and the College’s Writing, Speaking, and Argument Program, art objects become teaching tools to help students think and communicate critically.