More than 1,000 days ago, in the fall of 2002, the Class of 2006 walked through balmy rain on the way to its matriculation. Today they gathered together for the last time on Nickerson Field in the rain again — huddled under umbrellas and ponchos during Boston University’s 133rd Commencement.
Approximately half of the 6,134 Class of 2006 graduates and more than 7,500 guests braved the rain and wind and crowded onto the stands and thousands of folding chairs covering the field, according to BU spokesman Colin Riley. Event materials said more than 20,000 were expected to partake in the celebration.
Riley said even with the rain, the ceremony went well with minimal problems.
“I’m impressed with the students who came and made the effort to represent their schools,” he said. “I’m sure in the future they will remember this as a very, very special day and the rain is just a factor.”
Riley said he has dealt with rain the last three years during the ceremony, so the university is prepared for the weather – even if that means making last minute alterations to the program.
Cheers went through the crowd when President Robert Brown announced at the beginning of the ceremony that the proceeding would be cut short, “by about 50 percent,” he said.
The event still included student speaker Thomas Duncombe, who graduated with dual degrees in the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Communication.
Duncombe spoke about the community and positive acts he has seen throughout his four yeas at BU, focusing on giving to others.
“It was a moment of clarity when I realized there was more to life than my problems … when I started looking for those moments around Boston University … I found them,” he said.
Provost David Campbell, along with the deans of the colleges, presented the graduates to Brown, who was overseeing his first BU graduating class after his recent inauguration. Following the presentation, Brown welcomed the graduates into a community that now exceeds more than a quarter-million living alumni.
The ceremony was cut significantly, with shortened honorary degrees and award presentations and a truncated speech by CBS President Leslie Moonves. The honorary degrees and Metcalf Awards were presented in the Case Gymnasiums after the seventy-minute commencement ended.
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Moonves said in his commencement speech that with the honorary degree he was finally fulfilling his father’s dream of him becoming a doctor. He recounted his young adulthood, when he realized that his hope of becoming a doctor would be inhibited by his dislike of science and that acting was really his passion.
“Looking back, a lot of it seems ridiculous,” he said. “But it turns out that’s exactly what it was supposed to be — moving around in pieces.”
He challenged the Class of 2006 to indulge themselves and follow their dreams and explore what is the right path for each individual.
“Your professional lives are all ahead of you,” Moonves said. “Each day, each week, each year offers opportunities for rebuilding, rediscovering, reexamining. And you have to have the courage not to have a clue. Until you do. You have to be ready at all times for the unexpected and embrace it.”
— Stop by 842 Commonwealth Ave. to pick up a special graduation edition of The Daily Free Press —
