Parkano graduate Noora Juusenaho aims for medical school despite modest matriculation results

Parkano resident Noora Juusenaho, 19, celebrated her matriculation this week as one of roughly 4,800 autumn graduates and is now preparing to sit medical school entrance exams next spring, YLE reports.

She sat exams in eight subjects and received M-level results. Proud but demanding of herself, Juusenaho says she is not completely satisfied and plans an intensive study period for the spring tests. She wants to show by example that persistent work can open competitive fields even with modest matriculation results. For motivation she had a line from rapper Cheek engraved on her graduation cap, and she credits Parkano Upper Secondary School's small size and flexible approach for letting her collect more than 200 credits instead of the required 150 and take part in student council, music theatre and two Erasmus exchanges.

Statistics from the Matriculation Examination Board show autumn graduations are uncommon: based on autumn 2025 data, about one in five schools has no autumn graduates and one in ten has only one. Tiina Tähkä, the board's secretary, said graduation timing reflects each school's resources. Parkano principal Jenni Annala added that small schools can build personalised study paths and that she still gets moved when students receive their caps. This autumn five students graduated from Parkano, the largest cohort there in at least a decade.