Commencement Moments

Sean Drohan ’14 shares sentiments from Judy Garland, including “Always be a first-rate version of yourself and not a second-rate version of someone else,” during the Lavender Graduation ceremony May 10 in Prospect House. The ceremony celebrated the achievements of graduates and honored students, staff, and faculty who support the LGBT community. President Eisgruber ’83 presented 35 graduating students with purple honor cords. Special ceremonies also were held for African-American and Latino graduates.

Office of Communications: Lifetouch

Kelly Ivins-O’Keefe ’14 stands during the ROTC Officer Commissioning Exercises at Nassau Hall June 2 as her mother, Vicki O’Keefe, pins shoulder bars on her uniform. Her father, retired Navy Capt. Gordon Ivins, looks on. Also commissioned were Jacob Herskind ’14 and Nicholas Mirda ’14. President Eisgruber ’83 congratulated the three as “worthy inheritors of the history and the ideals that course through this building.” Herskind received the George C. Marshall Leadership Award, presented to outstanding cadets nationwide.

Office of Communications: Mark Czajkowski

New graduate-school dean Sanjeev Kulkarni congratulates Sarit Kattan Gribetz ’06 *13, who received a Ph.D. in religion and brought her three children to the hooding ceremony to celebrate. Norman Augustine ’57 *59, a retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin and a former Princeton faculty member, told the nearly 1,000 graduate students, “Your presence here today implies that you are equipped not only to play a leadership role in shaping this new world, but that you have an obligation to do so.”

Office of Communications: John Jameson ’04

At the end of the Class Day ceremony, members of the Class of ’14 sing “Old Nassau” for the last time as students — the next day, they would graduate. The student-organized Class Day began in 1856 as a way for seniors to honor each other and to celebrate in an informal way, and the event today includes lighthearted talks. Former vice president Al Gore, the keynote speaker, talked about the serious issue of climate change but threw out several well-timed jokes, suggesting that “Al Gore is so boring, his Secret Service name is Al Gore.”