The pomp and circumstance of Thursday's annual convocation formally welcomed the class of 2003 to the University.
The ceremony in the Chapel, featuring speeches by President Nan Keohane and Director of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag, highlighted the strengths and prospects of the University's incoming class.
"It really gives you a feeling of tradition towards the school," said Trinity freshman Anthony Raab.
Keohane welcomed Raab and his 1,639 classmates in a speech that she hoped would make their Duke experience "seem a bit less abstract, a bit more real...." She discussed their uncertain futures, and urged them not to believe "other people's crystal balls too much."
The main portion of the president's speech ranged across the places that would become important to the new students over their years at Duke. She discussed the history of both East and West campuses and advised the students to visit, among others, the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, Perkins Library, the Chapel and the new sports facilities on campus.
She also encouraged them explore the surrounding areas of Durham, Chapel Hill and North Carolina.
She urged them to give of themselves to the Durham neighborhoods, for "leaving time on your busy schedule for helping others is part of living an ethical life."
Near the end of her speech, the president encouraged the students to develop a different kind of place, "the back room of the mind," a metaphor borrowed from 16th-century French scholar Michel de Montaigne.
Keohane asked the audience members to use their years at the University to "continually update and redecorate the back room of your mind-perhaps the most important space of all." She expressed her hope that they would develop into "people who have rich and fascinating intellectual furniture in those spaces rather than a void between their ears."
By using the University's resources and sharing experiences with each other, Before Keohane's speech, Guttentag presented the class of 2003 to the faculty and administrators of the University and described some of its members' most remarkable achievements.
Hailing it the best academic class in the University's history, Guttentag described how two-thirds of the class was among the top 10 individuals in their high school classes.
Its members include quite a few individuals who have performed unique feats, including a former Green Beret, one of only a few people to memorize the entire Koran and a member of a relay team that swam the English Channel.
He also discussed the diversity of the class, which comes from 47 different states and 44 different countries. "And two of you, a man and a woman," Guttentag said, "are from Paradise... Texas."
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