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You came here, for the most part,
Four years ago, in the midst of a Presidential campaign,
and you leave, not surprisingly,
in the midst of another Presidential campaign.
In your four years you have seen a lot of construction,
and been patient, sometimes,
and enthusiastic, sometimes.
As we opened in February of 2005 the new Athletic and Fitness Center,
and in August of 2006 the Joe Rosenfield Center,
and then in January of this year, Phase II of the Noyce Science Center.
[cheering]
You hail from all over the world:
two of you are from Greece,
five of you are from India,
one of you is from Serbia.
Many of you are from Los Angeles.
[cheering]
And, significantly, one of you comes from one of the finest towns in America:
Yellow Springs, Ohio.
[laugher]
Five of you were born today,
and, ironically, May 19 and June 5
are the most common birthdates among you.
[cheering]
While here, you have had your ups, and some downs.
We remember with love and sadness
Paul Shuman-Moore,
who we all searched for as you cared for each other
and for Paul's family.
[applause]
147 of you graduate with honors in your major,
21% of you have had at least two majors,
50 of you have completed a concentration,
and 205 of you participated in an off-campus study program.
More of you took a class with Emily Moore of Mathematics
than any other faculty member.
[applause]
121 of you participated in organized athletics,
where you won championships in tennis, swimming, cross-country,
soccer, basketball, water polo,
and, perhaps, Ultimate Frisbee, depending on what happens the week after next.
[cheering]
59% of you took advantage of our Music programs
by taking a course or private lessons or participating in a perfomance group,
including two of you who took Advanced Harp.
Three of you, who are African-American women,
form the largest cohort that we know of
who have graduated with majors in Physics in the United States.
[applause]
All together, you have dropped or withdrawn from 2,154 classes.
[cheering]
While you did all these very concrete things,
you also grew and developed,
made friends and lost friends,
lost beloved family members,
developed new passions, dreamed new dreams,
and discarded earlier dreams.
We have benefited from your questions,
your challenges, and some of your wild ideas.
[laughter]
As you leave, we ask you to remember this time,
this place, this moment.
Not as an artifact, but as part of the foundation on which you stand,
and we hope it will enable you to rise to the challenges
of a wonderful but struggling world,
a world in which certainty exceeds wisdom,
confusion exceeds insight,
and inattention exceeds care and dedication.
Finally, as you go out from this spectacular day,
in which you have learned that the clouds can part,
to a world of limitless horizons and wonderous possibilities,
may God bless you and give you good speed.
Now I request that everyone else stand for the benediction.