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HAVING A BALL: A giant
inflatable smiley face made the rounds.
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THE
FIRST ROAR of applause came when the Class of 2003 barreled
into the stadium. Family and friends whooped,
video cameras fired up, and graduates radiated with the feeling
of freedom
one can only have at Commencement—the past is done
and the future is not yet here. There is only the
Wacky Walk.
Some planned their approach in detail. A group of “Jackheads”—complete
with eye slits in their oversized white craniums—paid
tribute to the fast-food chain for all the 4 a.m. study
breaks it provided them. Others seemed to be a little
late in organizing
and ended up throwing corn tortillas Frisbee-style at
one another. One anonymous senior skirted the “no live
animals”
rule, releasing a rumored 80,000 ladybugs onto the
field. Good luck, perhaps, for a class faced with a tough
job market—a
topic four women’s track team members would not hear of
on this day. They preferred to run, barefoot, around
the stadium in
a final moment of glory.
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| HEAD GEAR: Cap toppers
ranged from the whimsical to the sentimental. |
Several more cheers came for Peru’s President Alejandro
Toledo, MA ’72, MA ’74, PhD ’93. The first
sitting president of any country to speak at a Stanford commencement,
Toledo told graduates the world needed their capacity to
dream and emphasized the importance of education in lifting
people
out of poverty. On a less serious note, Toledo recalled his
days in the Bay Area at the end of the 1960s. “Free love
was the order of the day,” he said. “I hope it still
is.” The next ovations came from the graduates of each school
as University President John Hennessy conferred their 4,740
degrees upon them. Then, the newly minted Stanford alumni
let out a final cheer in the form of a “WHOO!” as
the Band answered their chants for one last round of “All
Right Now.” And, indeed, it was. |
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EDUCATIONAL VALUE: Toledo, flanked
by Provost John Etchemendy, PhD ’82, and Hennessy, told
the audience, “Nothing compares to investment in the
human mind.”
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ANTLER ADULATION: Tamar
Malinek, Clea Kaske, Samantha Crow and Robin Thurston commemorated
living together in Toyon Hall’s “Moose Room.” |
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