Farewell to Harvard College

In procuring Christmas photographs from Karen's camera this year, I also got some bonuses, including a few photographs from my college graduation.

The day began with the collective ceremonies in the large green between Widener Library and the nondenominational chapel, where we filed in via house, listened to speeches, and then filed out again. Because I graduated Summa Cum Laude, I entered early and got to shake hands with professors as they came down the center row on the way to their seats and congratulated us. Then near the end of this section of the ceremonies all of the Summa graduates went up on stage to shake the hand of Harvard's president (then Dr. Summer's). The highlight of these ceremonies was the Latin speech, which a very peppy graduating Harvard classics concentrator read so dynamically that we needn't refer to the English translation in the program to enjoy it.

After these collective ceremonies, which included all graduating undergraduates and graduate students from all schools (law, medicine, Arts and Sciences, etc.), we dispersed to our respective houses, where each student went up to get a diploma after the house master announced his or her concentration, any honors, and future plans.

We seem to have arrived early:


But Karen had a good view:




Afterward, Josh and I both have diplomas, but I seem absent my requisite headgear...


We then had lunch in a Thai restaurant to celebrate, where I received my first laptop, courtesy of Mamama!

One of my cards definitely featured both a rotund athlete and the words, "Summo Cum Laude." I suspect my father may have had something to do with this...





After lunch, we returned to the original spot for the afternoon ceremonies, which included alumni speaker actor John Lithgow, who told us: be creative, be useful, be practical, be generous. (You can find the entire speech if you click on this link: http://harvardmagazine.com/commencement/commencement-address-john-lithgow-67-actors-own-words)


At the end, he read a children's book that he had recently written and dedicated to our class, entitled "Mahilia Mouse Goes to College," about a little mouse who makes it, getting her degree in the hard sciences. It came out about a year later, and I own it, including a CD of Lithgow reading the story (I believe from our commencement).

That evening, I was already in the car with Josh's family on the way to the Cape, and that was that. But it was a lovely day, and I still get a little sentimental thinking about it. Because my time at Harvard college genuinely was a spectacularly rich and joy-filled experience, and, as I have come to appreciate increasingly since, will remain one of my happiest.