Amidst the pomp and circumstance of yesterday's inauguration festivities marched a living history of the past 70 years at Penn.
The alumni flag bearers are representatives of each graduating class from 1934 to the present.
Donning black robes with hoods of red and blue, and caps with tassels, each flag bearer proudly wielded a Penn flag proclaiming the year of his or her graduation.
In addition to special occasions like President Amy Gutmann's inauguration, the flag bearers perform their duty at Commencement and Alumni Weekend each year.
The flag bearers are traditionally the senior class presidents from each class. They sometimes pass along the honor of representing their class to fellow Penn graduates.
Harry Gross represented the Class of '44 at yesterday's ceremony.
A Wharton graduate who now writes a business column for the Philadelphia Daily News, as well as serves as the chairman emeritus of Red Cross Biomedical Services, Gross says that bearing the flag is one of his favorite things to do.
"I have a tremendous allegiance and loyalty to the school," Gross says. "I owe Penn a great deal. When I graduated from Penn, I graduated summa cum laude, and just having graduated from Penn opened doors."
Harve Hnatiuk is the Class of '74 flag bearer, and also serves as the president of the Alumni Class Leadership Council at Penn.
Hnatiuk recounts first getting a letter from Penn asking him to carry the flag and thinking it would be an obligation he had to fulfill.
The now-vice president of Maida Engineering, Inc. in Fort Washington, Pa., told his daughter about the idea.
"She said, 'You love Penn. Dad, you're gonna love that so much,'" Hnatiuk says. "When we did that in Franklin Field, I was just so excited to be involved and that was one of the biggest thrills I've had in a long time."
As the associate director of the Alumni Council on Admissions, Andrea Tanner coordinates the flag bearers.
Tanner says it is important for undergraduates to see everyone who came before them, and it is also important for Gutmann herself to be exposed to the alumni population.
"I think that alumni represent [Gutmann's] largest constituency," Tanner says. "There are more than 250,000 living alumni all over the world. They will play a vital role in her tenure."
Classes that graduated prior to 1974, the year the College for Women was integrated into the School of Arts and Sciences, often have two flag bearers who march side by side -- the presidents of the men's and women's classes.
While the procession is very formal, sometimes a bit of humor is involved.
When Gross was the flag bearer for the 2001 Commencement, the Class of '44 flag was missing. In its place, he asked for the oldest flag they had, which was from 1924.
"You can imagine what that did," Gross says. "My God, this guy looks great for 100 years old."
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