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40 samsung c 100May 23, 2006
Smith's Class of 2006 finally finishes
Graduates in Diploma Circle in front of King and Scales: they pass the diplomas they received from hand to hand until they find the diplomas with theirs names. Photo by Frances Kingsbury.
It threatened to rain all Commencement weekend, but luckily for the Class of 2006, the weather held off long enough to guarantee Commencement ceremonies in the Quad instead of the ITT. The Class of 2006 undergraduates and graduate students received their diplomas on this past Sunday, May 21. The rain did start in the middle of the ceremony, prompting parents to scramble for their umbrellas and a warning to the graduates to be careful of the slippery ramp. But the sun came out again soon, there were no major mishaps during the ceremony, and hundreds of proud graduates went home with their diplomas.
Following tradition, prizes and awards were announced at the "Last Chapel" service in the Quad after the Ivy Day parade on Saturday, May 20.
At Commencement ceremonies on the 21st, the college awarded honorary degrees to Jewel Plummer Cobb, Paula Deitz '59, B. Elizabeth Hormer, and Ruth Ozeki Lounsbury '80, Jody Williams, and Jane Lakes Harmon '66.
Stacey Baird addressed the audience as Class President. She said that her four years at Smith have taught her that great minds often don't think alike, and that Smith has taught her the value of diversity of ideas. She concluded her speech with a quote from the poem "The Whitsun Weddings" by Phillip Larkin.
The commencement address was given by Congresswoman Jane Lakes Harmon ’66. She spoke on the topic of leadership. Several people in the audience commented that her speech seemed a little too self-congratulatory and that Harmon took too long to get to the point, "a typical politician speech" as one student put it. At the end of her address Harmon did give eight pithy statements to graduates about leadership. She said that leadership is “inside out” and that it takes work. Leaders learn from failure, never give up, and that leadership is lonely, for women in particular: “sadly, I have learned that women don’t always support each other.” It gets harder to be a leader the higher one climbs, and “when you succeed as a leader, your most important obligation is to mentor and help the women who come after you.” Finally, Harmon stressed the importance of being there for family members as well: “all of you have families. They need you too.”
Posted by Frances Kingsbury at May 23, 2006 11:17 PM