These TDSB students graduated with 100 per cent averages. They've learned some lessons along the way

Graduates of Martingrove Collegiate, Bloor Collegiate and Virtual Secondary School form the top three.

Two summers ago, Munjal Patel earned his glider pilot’s licence. Last summer, his private pilot’s licence. This summer, he’s still flying high — earning a 100 per cent average in Grade 12.

The Martingrove Collegiate graduate, who is heading to the University of Toronto this fall to study engineering science, was part of the trio at the top of the Toronto District School Board, along with Umayeer Ahsan of Bloor Collegiate and Joshua Han, who attended the board’s Virtual Secondary School. All had a 100 per cent average. Patel, who learned to fly under a program with the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, is considering a career in aerospace engineering.

“It’s very different when I’m inside the cockpit,” Patel said in an interview. “Before, I was very intrigued by the physics of flight and the whole concept of aerospace and rockets, and all the math and physics that were behind it,” he said. But “once I had the chance to experience it from the other side — it’s a very in-the-moment experience, and it forces you to be really calm in the moment, which is applicable to lots of things outside of the cockpit.”

Around Greater Toronto, boards are starting to release the names and averages of their highest-achieving Grade 12 scholars, including Marcela Castellanos of St. Thomas Aquinas in the Halton Catholic board — who had perfect scores in the International Baccalaureate program — and Nolan Barreto of Loyola in the Dufferin-Peel Catholic board, whose average was 99.7 per cent across six Grade 12 credits. While those good grades vaulted them to the top, these days marks in the 90s are the norm for acceptance into a number of competitive universities and programs.

At McMaster, almost 94 per cent of first-year students in computer science had an incoming average of 95-plus, and the rest 90-94 per cent, according to the most recent data available at Common University Data Ontario (2022). At the University of Toronto, almost 82 per cent of incoming students in engineering had an average of 95 per cent or higher; overall, two-thirds of incoming students at U of T in 2022 had a 90-plus average. At Queen’s and McMaster, 75 per cent or more incoming students had 90-plus high school averages.

Patel said he has maintained an average of 99 to perfect throughout his four years in high school, while also taking part in the swim team, Model United Nations, DECA business and robotics competitions, as well being a peer leader and part of Martingrove’s trivia team. He has volunteered at the library, the Royal Canadian Legion, and has also mentored cadets, including those in the flying program. Han said his academic success took root at the board’s online high school, where he began in Grade 9 and “had several very excellent teachers who really helped me find my spark for learning.

And in addition, the virtual environment allows me a degree of flexibility and control over my own learning experience that meshes perfectly with my work style.” That includes trading commute times for time spent on outside interests, and “perhaps my favourite part is during my lunch hour, (where) I’ve been able to cook some food for myself.” He’s been involved in student council, business club, and the AI and safe schools committee, volunteered with the United Way and is a youth leader at church.

Han was part of the in-person Grade 9 orientation, and plans to help out again this fall. “I would say my life overall is a great hybrid between the virtual and the in-person worlds,” Han told the Star. This fall, he’ll be at the University of Toronto Scarborough to study co-op management, and hopes to attend law school after that with the aim of addressing access to justice.

Ahsan, who took part in the TOPS science program at Bloor Collegiate, said in a written statement that his extracurricular interests include making video games and photography. He will attend the University of Waterloo in the fall, taking systems design engineering. “The best advice for doing well on any evaluation — whether that’s academic, an interview, or a sports tournament — is to study at the very least a few days in advance, and get good sleep the night before.

You can’t answer questions you never studied for, but also your brain can’t recall what it learned if it’s tired.”