Mother Nature herself must have been smiling upon the College of Arts and Sciences Class of 2000, as the rain that had been falling throughout Sunday miraculously let up for the evening outdoor ceremony on Franklin Field.
Though the students marched out to the time-old tune of Pomp and Circumstance, frantically waving their arms in hopes of catching a parent's attention, the class soon settled down for the commencement address from College Alumna Andrea Mitchell -- now Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondant for NBC News.
And, with her first words, Mitchell had the audience laughing.
"A commencement speaker is like a body at a wake, necessary but not expected to say very much," she quipped.
But she quickly focused her speech on the motivation for the day's event -- the process of learning.
Mitchell advised the graduates to "take learning and forge a personal philosophy of the experiences of life."
To elaborate on these philosophies, Mitchell referred to several of her more recent news assignments -- such as the heated senate race between Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani and trips to war-torn Yugoslavia.
As a woman, Mitchell also took a moment to emphasize to the female members of the College Class of 2000 that "everything is possible."
In conclusion, the Penn alumna-turned-renowned journalist advised the graduates not to accept limits.
"What makes life fun is that it is not predictable and often not manageable," she said.
Graduating senior D.S. Neil Van Leeuwen joined Mitchell in addressing the class.
Introduced by College Dean Richard Beeman as a student whose "intellectual curiosity rivals that of [Benjamin] Franklin," Van Leeuwen remembered how his initial goals for his Penn career were shattered in the unpredictable manner Mitchell described.
"I came here hoping to develop a knowledge base that would parallel the Encyclopedia Brittanica," he said. "But I have failed my original mission."
And, he added, he was quite happy he has failed. Van Leeuwen claimed the opposing viewpoints and contradictory information presented to him at the University were the sources of his fortituous failure.
Beeman also spoke at the event, acclaiming the class' accomplishments.
"You have set a high standard for the next 99 classes in the millenium to live up to," he said.
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