Above: Valedictorian Lexy Teeter (far left) scales the 77 Steps to Honors Convocation.
Right: Timothy Shook , chair of the performing arts division, receives recognition as winner of the Charles and Verda Kopke Distinguished Teaching Award.
Commencement 2010 Acombination of old and new traditions marked Commencement weekend May 8 and 9. As they’ve done for decades, seniors were applauded as they walked up the 77 Steps to Honors Convocation. This Saturday afternoon ceremony now attracts family and friends as well as faculty and classmates. But a new tradition was made necessary by the construction of the Richard L. Jantz Stadium. The customary outdoor ritual was moved inside Stewart Field House, where nearly 600 graduates were eligible to participate in one of three ceremonies (one graduate, two undergraduate).
Above right: Salutatorian Bernita Paulsen receives applause during Commencement.
Old or new, the traditions of Commencement delighted hundreds who swarmed across the campus to watch their Builders receive degrees. They applauded graduates such as Professor Fran Jabara Leadership Award winners Tanner McNinch and Caitlin Smith. Claudia Geer, professor of psychology, summarized the emotions during her invocation: “As these wonderful young women and men undertake this rite of passage, help them be assured of the certainty that they will succeed as have the many others who have gone before them.”
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