Martin Soros never expected to be named valedictorian of the University of Notre Dame’s class of 2026.
“I didn’t really think about it until I got the email saying I got selected as a valedictorian candidate,” Soros wrote in a statement to The Observer. “I knew my GPA was high, but I imagined that others had higher grades than me.”
Soros will graduate magna cum laude, in the top 15% of his class in the College of Engineering. He holds a 3.966 GPA.
The selection process for valedictorian and salutatorian is coordinated by the Office of Undergraduate Education in the Office of the Provost. The College of Arts and Letters, the College of Engineering, Mendoza College of Business and the College of Science each nominate four students among those with the highest GPAs. The Keough School of Global Affairs and the School of Architecture each nominate two students. Nominees submit a resume and a draft of their valedictory address.
Finalists are selected and interviewed by a committee consisting of representatives from each college and school, the Office of Undergraduate Education, the Division of Student Affairs and student government. A valedictorian and salutatorian are chosen by the same committee, subject to approval by University President Fr. Robert Dowd.
Now, the Bethesda, Maryland, native will graduate as valedictorian after four years defined not only by academic success, but also by engineering service projects and campus leadership.
Soros majors in civil engineering with minors in theology and education, schooling, and society. During his time at Notre Dame, he served as a resident assistant in Coyle Hall and spent two years with NDSEED, a student engineering organization focused on sustainable development projects.
Through NDSEED, Soros helped design and construct a suspended footbridge in southern Bolivia alongside members of a community during the summer of 2025.
He described the experience as one of the most impactful of his college career.
“After a whole year of arduous work on campus, actually being on site and physically building the bridge was transformative,” Soros wrote. “It taught me what a classroom can’t.”
Soros said many of the experiences that shaped him at Notre Dame extended beyond academics.
One of the moments that best captured his college experience, he said, was attending Mass at the ice chapel he helped to construct on North Quad this winter.
“It was such a deep moment of community,” Soros wrote. “It felt like the culmination of everything I have experienced in this place. It was overwhelmingly beautiful.”
That sense of community was also central to his experience as a resident assistant in Coyle Hall.
“I didn’t think senior year could get much better, but the community I was able to be a part of was unforgettable,” he said.
Soros added that Notre Dame’s residential life experience fundamentally shaped his understanding of community and leadership.
“The fact that we can bring so many individuals, so different from one another, together, is such a powerful message for the world,” he wrote.
Outside of academics, Soros often found peace walking, running or sitting near Notre Dame’s lakes.
“Being in nature and observing the geese helped calm my mind,” he wrote.
Soros also credited faculty mentors for helping shape his academic and professional goals, particularly Tracy Kijewski-Correa, professor of global affairs.
“She has been an inspiration for me, particularly in the way she combines her engineering background with social impact,” Soros wrote.
His own future plans reflect a similar blend of service and community engagement.
After graduation, Soros will move to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to work as a manager at La Nazarena, a community center serving children and families experiencing poverty that he first served at the summer before his freshman year at Notre Dame.
“This is the place in the world where I feel most at home,” Soros said of La Nazarena.
Although many students feel pressure surrounding life after graduation, Soros said uncertainty does not frighten him.
“I have no idea where I will be in 10 years,” he wrote. “But I find a certain freedom in that.”
Soros said he hopes classmates take away a simple but meaningful message from his valedictory address, which will be delivered at Sunday’s commencement ceremony.
“The change we can hope to make in the world begins not in grandiose plans,” Soros wrote, “but in the small, personal ways we serve others.”
When reflecting on how he hopes to be remembered, Soros avoided focusing on accomplishments or titles.
“If anything,” he wrote, “as someone joyful, imperfect, who is trying his best to follow God’s will for his life.”
For Soros and his family, the recognition represents gratitude more than prestige.
“It’s a moment of gratitude for everything that Notre Dame has given me,” he wrote.
