Complete coverage of Commencement Day 2013 at Johns Hopkins University

Published May 23, 2013

A look back at Johns Hopkins University's commencement ceremony

Commencement address videos

Watch the complete remarks of three featured speakers:

That's a wrap

11:53 am: We're all done—every student has a degree, right through Public Health Studies major Arielle Aleksandra Zina.

Congratulations to all of our graduates, and to all those who supported them from the beginning to the end of their Johns Hopkins journeys. Be proud.

Name calling update

11:41 am: We're up to the Rs, for those playing along at home. Congrats, Amanda Joy Ross (and everyone else, of course)!

Weather is holding out nicely—overcast but warm with a nice breeze stirring. Near-perfect commencement weather, actually.

Name calling

11:03 am: The presentation of degrees to doctoral students and undergraduates began shortly after 10 a.m. Every grad gets a complimentary squirt of Purell before walking across the stage to receive his or her degree and shake hands with President Daniels. There are 1,758 bachelor degree recipients this year, 1,332 of them from the schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering at the Homewood campus.

Wisdom from Dr. Q

9:55 am: Featured commencement speaker Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, a renowned neuroscientist and neurosurgeon at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, tells the graduates "Your future is bright but if I told you it will be easy, I would be lying."

He references rapper Pit Bull, Christina Aguilera, Cesar Chavez, and "Lord of the Rings" wizard Gandalf. He also pays tribute to 2009 Johns Hopkins graduate Anne Smedinghoff, a U.S. diplomat who was killed in Afghanistan in April.

Remarks from President Daniels

9:23 am: "You and I started at Hopkins in the same year," JHU President Ronald J. Daniels tells the Class of 2013. The first time he spoke to them, he says, they were "understandably in a state of terrified anticipation. What I didn't tell you was so was I."

He compares the graduates to an app: "Today we are launching you onto the world. We have coded you and so have your parents. ... This is your release and we know you will get great reviews."

Fourteen presidents have presided over the university's 137 commencement ceremonies.

Overheard

9:04 am: Judging by what a food vendor outside the O'Connor Rec Center has observed as grads walked by, "the wedge sandal is back in style." You heard it here first.

A light rain has started to fall and ponchos are out, but the ceremony is proceeding as expected (watch live here). Interim Provost Jonathan A. Bagger told the crowd that the ceremony will continue in the rain unless things get "dangerous," a remark that was met with tepid applause and some laughter.

Parting advice?

8:40 am: Ruth Aranow attended her first JHU commencement in 1988, when today's graduates were, as she put it, "just a gleam in the eye, as they say." As senior academic advisor, she has dispensed a lot of advice over the years. But today, she doesn't have any last-minute advice for the class of 2013. She said she knows their time here at Johns Hopkins has prepared them well.

Stepping out

8:08 am: The threat of rain pushed the procession preparation indoors. Students were directed to line up inside different buildings near Gilman Hall.

Two longtime friends and roommates for the past four years, Andrew Hersch and Andrew Lee, had gotten hot sitting in their robes indoors, and walked outside for some fresh air. They chatted and laughed while taking in their final glimpses of the Keyser Quad and Gilman Hall as students.

"If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change anything," Lee said.

About our graduates

7:15 am: Today marks the end of the 137th academic year at Johns Hopkins University. Approximately 7,185 earned degrees, certificates, and diplomas are expected to be awarded, including 1,758 bachelor degrees and 5,424 graduate degrees from across the university: 1,295 from the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences; 1,076 from the Whiting School of Engineering; 547 from the Carey Business School; 579 from the School of Education; 203 from the Peabody Institute; 107 from the School of Nursing; 479 from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS); 279 from the School of Medicine; and 859 from the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

For more about our graduates, see this nifty infographic.

Rain, rain, go away

5:17 am: The universitywide commencement ceremony will start on time at 8:40 a.m. Rain is expected, so please dress accordingly. Ponchos will be available for graduates and guests. If conditions warrant, consideration will be given to shortening the ceremony. This may mean that some or all graduates will not be called to the stage.

Today's forecast in Baltimore calls for a high of 79 degrees with a chance thunderstorms throughout the day. There are alternate weather plans in place should a change in schedule or venue be necessary.

For the most up-to-date information, visit the JHU emergency web page, call the emergency weather hotline (410-516-7781 or 1-800-548 -9004), or sign up for the commencement text message alert system at www.JHUCommencementTickets.com.

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