Students from 88 countries, all 50 states and 87 of Indiana’s 92 counties moved their tassels from the right to left side of their graduation caps.
“Lux et veritas,” light and truth, was the backdrop as IU President Michael McRobbie imparted last-minute advice to the rows of seniors sitting in front of him. He talked about the importance of this first generation of the digital age — and joked about it too.
“You’ve never known a life without mobile handheld devices, like the ones many of you are using at this very moment,” he said.
“Hail to Old IU” rang out through Memorial Stadium as parents and friends in attendance sang along.
Come and join in song together,
Shout with might and main;
Our beloved Alma Mater,
Sound her praise again.
Caps, decorated with inspirational quotes and glitter, were flung into the air, and the largest graduating class in the history of the IU-Bloomington campus officially became alumni of IU on Saturday morning.
The oldest graduate was 64 years old, while the youngest was 18.
An honorary degree was presented to Curtis R. Simic, who served as president of the IU Foundation for 20 years. Throughout that time, Simic increased annual giving from $70 million and 60,000 donors to more than $270 million and nearly 120,000 donors.
This year’s commencement speaker Jamie Hyneman, most known for Discovery Channel’s most popular program “Mythbusters,” encouraged the graduating seniors to make mistakes.
Failing isn’t a bad thing, Hyneman said.
“If you fail, you ask why and then you adapt,” he said. “You don’t want to seek failure, but when it happens you should embrace it because that is one of the best ways you can grow and move ahead.”
Hyneman, who stood at the podium wearing sunglasses and reading from his laptop, said it’s OK to be invisible.
If you want to be successful, “just do good work.”
“It is OK to be in the background,” Hyneman said. “Trust that your passion is good work. You define who you are, not other people.”
IU graduate Grace Boya Shen took the stage next. A double major in history and American studies, Shen moved to Bloomington four years ago from Beijing, China.
When she first arrived, she knew very little English.
“If you simply asked me ‘How are you?’ I would look at you weirdly and walk away,” Shen said to laughs from the crowd.
Not only can she now answer that question, Shen stood on stage and told her story to thousands of people.
Her experience working at Starbucks in the Union helped her adjust to American life and learn to balance school with extracurriculars.
“I could never understand why the five-cent coin was bigger than the 10-cent coin,” Shen said.
She participated in the history department’s Inside-Out Program, for which students commute from campus to take a class at the Heritage Trail Correctional Facility in Plainfield, Indiana, alongside incarcerated students.
The program allowed her to understand others who were trying to fit into this world just like her, and everyone else, Shen said.
Shen has been recognized with first place in the Asian American Studies 2014-15 Student Essay Competition and the history department’s Browder-Lewis Summer Internship Prize.
She also earned the IU Provost’s Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research in the Humanities.
Four years ago, she came to a foreign country with a small dream to see a different world, Shen said. And IU didn’t disappoint.
“IU didn’t let me down,” she said. “IU has taught me to be responsible and caring and turn my small dream into a bigger dream, a dream we all share — to make this world a better place.”
We can help change the world by taking small steps toward bigger goals, Shen said.
“I came to IU with my three suitcases, but I will leave IU with a fourth suitcase — full of abilities, confidence and experiences.”
