Class of 2008 inducted to IU

In the backward world of post-secondary academics, commencement comes at the end. \nIn the beginning, there is induction. For the class of 2008, that beginning arrived Wednesday night.\nWith an audience of thousands filling the seats in half of Assembly Hall, IU President Adam W. Herbert emceed the annual Freshman Induction Ceremony. With all the décor and pomp of an old academic ritual, Herbert and other University officials delivered their bombasts with the necessary air.\nAs he stood on stage, framed by the University seal, Herbert's vibrato spread through the arena to soothe parents preparing to leave their babies in a strange place.\n"I know how you feel," Herbert said. "I was a freshman president last year."\nHerbert also shared a story about an incoming freshman of years past who fought back tears the first day and almost left the University but decided to stay at IU out of perseverance.\n"It made us feel like part of the University," said Carol Kostrzewsky, mother of a freshman. "It really let us know it starts now."\nTyson Chastain, president of the IU Student Association, spoke after Herbert and warned students about being caught in a trap of "beer and pizza."\n"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life," Chastain said, channeling the zenith of the college movie "Animal House."\nAnna Kostrzewsky, the baby Carol is leaving behind, found affirmation in Chastain's presence.\n"I liked how they included the student leaders and not just the administrators," she said.\nAfter Chastain, it was IU-Bloomington Interim Chancellor Ken Gros Louis' turn at the pulpit. He took a more sentimental tone, quoting T.S. Eliot.\n"What we call the beginning is often the end, and to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from."\nSuch was the case Wednesday. Induction usually comes after something -- a baseball player is inducted into the Hall of Fame after an illustrious career, a young dynamo is inducted into the police academy after a lengthy training process -- and after a long college search for some, induction marked the end of the transition into a more independent, if not a more responsible, stage of life.\nWhen Gros Louis was finished with the sentimental section of his speech, he asked each freshman to stand as he affirmed their place at the University. At that point, thousands of high school graduates officially became college freshmen.\nTo finish the ceremony, Ann Sauder, a student in the School of Music, matched the sentiment of the night, singing Indiana's Alma Mater, "Hail to Old IU."\nThe newly minted collegians and their parents walked up the hill to a celebratory picnic. Families sat on blankets and listened to music to mark their bittersweet parting. \n"We feel like we're leaving her in good hands," Carol Kostrzewsky said.\nGoodbyes were plentiful and easy to come by -- fortunately for parents, the college years come at a time in a child's life when it is acceptable again to be seen in public with folks. Kisses and hugs went all around.\nAfter parents were all but gone, a new crop of young people stood around, most thinking the same thing: "Well, we're here."\nAs for Anna Kostrzewsky's father, Greg, he had but one complaint for the induction ceremony.\n"Next time," he said, "they should explain what 'Frangipana' means."\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.