On 18 June 2026, Independence Square in Ungheni became, for one evening, a hall of celebration under the open sky. That is when the 2026 Graduates’ Ball took place — the ceremony marking the end of high school for the district’s young people. The announcement was made by Ungheni City Hall, which organises the event together with the district council and the Education Directorate.
It is the kind of event that, at first glance, amounts to a fine evening: a stage, music, diplomas, photographs. But read against the district’s figures, it says something heavier about today’s Ungheni.
What is known about this year’s edition
Firmly and from an official source, the markers are: the date (18 June), the place (Independence Square) and who organises it (Ungheni City Hall, in partnership with the district council and the Education Directorate). On 18 June, the event’s official poster — signed by the district council, the city hall and the Education Directorate — also made the programme public: the ball begins at 17.00, and Mark Stam takes the stage as headliner, alongside the band CadSuS and DJ Serhio.
After the ball, the district council and the Education Directorate also made the tally public — who was awarded.
Who was awarded
The ball brought together the graduates of all eight high schools in the district, and on stage it honoured those who stood out in their studies, at the olympiads, in sport and in community life. The distinctions went to four categories.
The Academic Excellence award went to Maxim Jurjiu, Vitalina Rusu, Patricia Gîncu, Crina Behmu, Alexandrina Răsîpanu, Andreea Mușet, Cristian Barbarii and Doina Prepeliță. Academic Achievement, for results at the national olympiads, went to Nichita Țurea, Dumitru Poia, Alexandra Dubangiu, Ionela Lefter, Valerii Caterneac, Andrei Mocanu, Maxim Lazariuc, Vitalina Rusu, Carolina Beșliu, Marius Gîncu, Cristian Barbacaru, Alexandru Dîrzu, Dumitru Croitoru and Maxim Angheluță. Sporting Excellence went to Vasile Tarlapan, Gheorghina Rusu, Marius Gîncu, Daniel Mihăilă, Filip Magariu, Nichita Mandatari, Lilian Starosta and Maxim Paraschiv. And Civic Excellence was recognised for Alina Mazîlu, Ana Mocanu, Antonina Beșliu, Alexandra Curmei, Mădălina Baltag, Valeria Iacuțevici, Gabriel Cojocaru and Daniela Margarint.
Separately, two volunteers from the Ungheni District Youth Centre — Mădălina Pascal and Mihaela Marco, recent high-school graduates — were each awarded a tablet for hundreds of hours of volunteering and for an example of active citizenship.
The Ungheni district council will be a reliable support for our education system, and today’s recognition of the district’s best students is proof of that.
Dionisie Ternovschi, president of the Ungheni district
How last year went
The previous edition is the best compass for what is to come. On 19 June 2025, also in Independence Square, the ball gathered the 12th-grade graduates of all eight high schools in the district: the «Alexandr Pușkin», «Vasile Alecsandri», «Alexei Mateevici» (Pîrlița), «Mihai Eminescu», «Ion Creangă» theoretical high schools, the one in Sculeni, «Elada» (Măcărești) and «Gheorghe Asachi».
According to the district council, that year the most active volunteers were recognised, as well as the best students from each high school, and artists known to a young audience took the stage — Carolina Gorun, El Radu and Mark Stam. In other words, not a formal gathering, but an evening designed for those who live it.
Not BAC awards, but a graduation ceremony
A clarification that avoids a frequent confusion: the ball is not an awarding of baccalaureate results. This year’s exam session ran until 19 June, and the grades are posted only on 25 June, according to the Ministry of Education and Research calendar. The 18 June ball therefore comes before the results — it recognises the four-year high-school journey, academic performance and community involvement, not the exam grade.
The stake beyond the stage: a district losing its young
No celebration, however successful, can hide one thing. The Ungheni district is emptying of young people, and the gap shows precisely at the graduates’ age.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2025 the district had about 5,088 young people aged 15 to 19 — that is, the generations now in high school. Just above them, in the 20–24 group, only 3,156 remained. The difference — over 1,900 people — is largely down to leaving after high school: for university, for work, across the Prut or further, in the very first years after graduation. Across the whole district, the population fell from 96,292 inhabitants in 2014 to 74,507 in 2025 (preliminary data).
Against this background, a graduates’ ball is no longer just an end-of-year party. It is also a public gesture by which a district tells its young people “we see you, you matter” — precisely those it statistically risks losing in the coming years. How much such a gesture weighs in the decision to stay or to leave is hard to measure; that it is worth doing, the figures argue on their own.
What is not yet public
For fairness, one thing remains open. The exact number of graduates in the 2026 class was not made public. The list of those awarded and the participation of all eight high schools in the district are, by contrast, now confirmed by the district council and the Education Directorate. And the “third edition” numbering, circulating in the public space, rests on the 2024–2025–2026 sequence; the 2025 edition is documented from official sources, while for 2024 we found no official trace.
The date, place and organiser of the 2026 edition come from the public announcement of Ungheni City Hall, and the time and artistic programme from the official poster published on 18 June; the details of the 2025 edition (date, high schools, awards, artists) come from the official article of the Ungheni District Council. The officials’ positions are confirmed from the official pages of the two institutions. The demographic data belong to the National Bureau of Statistics (population by age group, Ungheni district, 2025 — preliminary data); the baccalaureate calendar belongs to the Ministry of Education and Research. The number of graduates and the list of high schools for this year are confirmed only after the event and were not estimated. Attendance figures circulating in other publications were not used, in the absence of an official confirmation.