Griffith named 2026 UMaine valedictorian

ORONO — Ruth Griffith of Parkman, who is majoring in economics with minors in mathematics and international affairs, is the 2026 University of Maine valedictorian. She was also valedictorian of her class at Piscataquis Community High School in 2022.

Biomedical engineering major Isabelle Irani of Spring, Texas and physics and mathematics double major Andrii Obertas of Lutsk, Ukraine, are the 2026 co-salutatorians. The three will graduate on May 9 during undergraduate commencement ceremonies at Alfond Arena.

“Ruth, Isabelle and Andrii have distinguished themselves through their curiosity, discipline and commitment to others,” said UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy. “Ruth has taken a thoughtful, data-driven approach to understanding economic disparities in Maine. Isabelle has shown remarkable leadership in advancing mental health support for student-athletes while balancing the demands of Division I athletics and biomedical engineering research. Andrii has achieved exceptional success in both physics and mathematics while demonstrating resilience and a deep commitment to learning. Together, they represent the very best of this graduating class.”

Through her honors thesis, Griffith developed a method to analyze sub-county economic trends using regional data, helping illuminate how policies impact local communities across Maine. Drawing on her background in regional economics, she adapted tools used for markets to understand disparities. Beyond academics, she has led service initiatives such as the Maine Day Meal Packout, coordinating efforts that provide tens of thousands of meals statewide.

Having grown up in Parkman, Griffith said she has always been intrigued by the disparities between different regions in Maine. In regional economics, she was taught the dichotomy of the state: the Greater Portland area and everywhere else.

Piscataquis County has the lowest median household income in Maine, just over $61,000 as reported in Census data collected between 2020-24. Having seen the reality of those numbers, Griffith strives to bridge the inequality gap that defines many of Maine’s communities.

At the University of Maine she has used her knowledge and resources as an undergraduate student to track business cycles in small regions of the state and lead community service initiatives.

Majoring in economics with minors in mathematics and international affairs, Griffith developed a methodology to measure economic expansion and contraction in sub-county regions. This approach can help show how state policies impact regional economies.

The project was one of many reasons Griffith was named the 2026 UMaine valedictorian.

“I felt like there were a lot of very substantial economic differences across smaller regions of Maine,” said Griffith, who is also the Outstanding Graduating Student in the Honors College. “I was always interested in figuring out why those might happen and learning more about them. This was a way to do that analytically.”

For her honors thesis, she adapted a business cycle algorithm that is popularly used to analyze stock markets to allow input of regional sales tax data from Maine. Using this method, someone can analyze a region’s economy before and after a local, state or national policy takes effect, allowing them to better understand the regional impacts.

In high school, Griffith worked on a farm and imagined having a career in the fields. She enrolled in UMaine’s economics program because of its focus on agriculture. Little did she know that one course in finance would push her interest toward rows of numbers instead of fruits and vegetables.

After she graduates in May, she’ll be moving to New York City — a “very big change” from her upbringing in Piscataquis County — to work for Canadian company TD Bank. As part of the bank’s risk management team, Griffith will help assess financial threats. 

She didn’t shy away from choosing a path that diverged from her family’s careers. Her mother taught history at a middle school, her father works for an insurance company and her brother is a chemical engineer. 

In Griffith’s experience, a job in finance can be difficult for anyone outside of the field to understand. Her idea of modeling isn’t the mainstream tag found on the pages of magazines, and finance isn’t just crunching numbers in a cubicle, it’s her key to solving great economic disparities. It’s the doorway into a career where she can combine her passion for the numbers and data with her values in life.

“In research, a common thing that we say is to let the data tell your story,” Griffith said. “So you come at the research with a question, and then data will let you know where to go with that question, and it makes it so your outside biases aren’t as impactful on the research.”

Her core values revolve around three pillars: community, action and mindfulness. Since her sophomore year, she has served as the fundraising chair for Maine Day Meal Packout, which included writing grants, organizing small fundraisers and making requests for private donations. This year, she is also the student coordinator and has led a team of 12 other students to plan the packout.

One day a year, the inside of Memorial Gym on UMaine’s campus transforms into a factory line where student and community volunteers pack meals to donate to food pantries across the state. For the past two years, Griffith said they have averaged about 50,000 meals. This year, they’re expecting 80,000. 

Fundraising has been more of a challenge this year, as funding has become more competitive, but Griffith and the other student organizers have used the opportunity to create new approaches. For their annual bake sale, they loaded baked goods into a shopping cart and became traveling salesmen for the day. They also partnered with Athletics to raffle off tickets for hockey games.

“Knowing the work that other students do at UMaine, I’m always so incredibly impressed by the impact that they make,” Griffith said. “It’s very much an honor to see that other people thought I was making an impact in the same way on campus and in the campus community.” 

In addition to her work with Maine Day Meal Packout, Griffith volunteers for organizations that empower and advance opportunities for women. She chairs the Alum Council for the Olympia Snowe Women’s Leadership Institute and is a member of the advisory committee for the Maine Community Foundation’s Maine Women’s Fund.

As a woman in STEM, Griffith has come face to face with gender realities and uses her own personal experiences to empower others. 

She hopes one day to return to school for a master of business administration, moving one step closer toward a career in pursuit of community, action and mindfulness through the lens of finance.