June 22, 2006

Way to Go Grads!

University officially welcomes the class of 2006 into the family of Northwestern alumni

On the sunny and humid afternoon of June 16, graduates, parents and guests filled Ryan Field for Northwestern’s 148th commencement exercises.

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama delivered the main address before President Henry S. Bienen, Provost Lawrence B. Dumas, Board of Trustees Chair Patrick Ryan and other assembled University officials welcomed the class of 2006 into the family of Northwestern alumni.

Obama was among seven individuals to receive honorary degrees.

Also on hand were members of the class of 1956, including famed Hollywood actor and director Garry Marshall.

William Russell Armstrong, a new graduate of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, paid tribute to the love and support of families and loved ones.

Obama began by sharing with the audience how Daily Northwestern writer Elaine Meyer, also a new graduate, influenced his speech. He shared several life lessons and challenged students to shoulder others’ burdens, take great risks and persevere through trial.

Grads make future plans...

Kunal Modi
I’m serving in AmeriCorps for a year in Washington, D.C., starting in August. Until then, I’m working for Sen. Obama. 

Katherine Hahn
I’m going to the Feinberg School of Medicine.

Joe Gulotta
I’ll be working with Darwin Capital at the Chicago Board of Trade.

Mike Carney
I’m working for Accenture Consulting in Chicago.

Matt Rosenthal
I’ll be in Minneapolis working for Target Corporation.

Alicia Mumbert
I’m a recruiting associate at the Boston Consulting Group in Chicago. I recruit consultants out of graduate schools, mostly in Chicago.

Nora Gardner
My plans, starting in September, are to teach English in Spain for the Ministry of Education.

Andrew Bentley
I’m doing research for Washington Post reporter Jonathan Eig who is writing a book about Jackie Robinson. And I’m coaching beach volleyball and taking an LSAT course.

Michelle Paul
I’m going to work for a year in the architectural/real estate field, and then I plan to get a Masters of Architecture at the Southern California Institute of Architecture.

Max Brett
I’ll be the managing editor of Extra bilingual newspaper.

Tristan Arnold
I’m going to be teaching middle school in Guyana.

Sid Misra
I’m going to Temple University to get my masters in opera next year.

Javier Gallegos
I’ll be consulting for Accenture in Chicago.

Jonathan Marino
I’ll be working for the Chicago Public Schools’ service learning office. It does outreach to all the high schools.

Evan Drake
I’ll be doing life coaching for a group called CoachNet in Los Angeles.

Gerald Tang
I’m going to the Arizona Republic for a newspaper fellowship. Hopefully I’ll be able to make it a full-time sports writing job.

- Reported by Elizabeth Sabrio

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Thanks to families, friends...

Following are excerpts from the speech by graduate William Russell Armstrong. Read the entire speech at the NewsCenter.

On Behalf of the Doctoral, Masters and Baccalaureate candidates, welcome to the families and loved ones of the Class of 2006.

...Here in the classroom, our own professors have taught us a lesson of life: that we do not know all there is to know. They have challenged and inspired us, and we are humbled by their wisdom. Thank you to the faculty, staff and advisors for giving us a path — though often not the easiest — to our passions.

...We have forgotten lines onstage.

We have defended dissertations until we wanted to tear our hair out.

We have waged epic wars against problem sets.

We have taken long walks out to the lake in the middle of February and screamed for the frozen waves to listen.

We have missed tackles in the last seconds of the game.

We have been petrified about what on earth we are doing next year.

We have had our hearts broken in broad daylight and wept in the middle of Chipotle.

We have reached, only to have the wind knocked out of our chests, and we have fallen and crumbled.

But when we fall, we fall without apology. We fall because we are fearless, fearless because you have never told us to give up our passions. We fall because we have grown to grasp our dreams. Because you have helped us get back up.

...For giving us the passion, the security, and the love,

To Mom, Dad, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, grandparent, husband, wife, lover, son, daughter and all those who are not here with us, from the bottoms of our hearts, thank you.

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Class of 1956 looks back...

Sherry (Hellyer) Lemieux
I had a marvelous experience in the Pi Beta Phi sorority, and my senior year I did student teaching.

Max Nathan
I remember the wonderful professors I had. I remember the fabulous students who were here, and the friendships that we made. I felt like the four years that I had here were the way a flower must feel when the bud opens and it begins to bloom. It was intellectually exciting and it was emotionally very rewarding. I loved every bit of it.

Lester Crystal
I remember in journalism school, having to be up at the south tower of old Dyche Stadium doing football play-by-play, where the wind was whipping through the open windows, and we were behind the goal line. It was hard to call the game.

Garry Marshall
I was sports editor of of the paper, and we had finally won a few games. That was the best part. That’s where I learned to write humor, because we lost a few. Another highlight was when the sun came out in spring, always a great day.

Pete Leahy
Working on the co-op program in engineering, where you spend one quarter at school and one quarter at work. That was very helpful to see how engineering was done in the real world.

Don Honig
My favorite memory was the associations that I made with the other chemical engineers in my class. Even though we worked long hours in the laboratory, it was great fun.

Dick Gern
My favorite memory was working as a waiter in Rogers House and meeting my wife of 50 years, Karla Gern.

- Reported by Elizabeth Sabrio