Masses of black robes and colored hoods stood at the tops of the steps in Wallace Wade stadium at the 152nd graduation May 9.
In the midst of the blue and white hoods indicating bachelor of the arts degrees were several goldenrod specks announcing new bachelor of science degrees.
Mariana Carrera was one of them. She jumped sides of the stadium to spend a few precious, last moments with her friends, who all received their bachelor of arts degrees Sunday.
For Carrera, like many others, graduation was the culmination of four years of study and a long three days of events.
"The whole weekend was so hectic and busy that you didn't really have time to be sentimental, and I think it won't really hit me until I'm somewhere else and realize what I'm missing," she said.
Student speaker Paul Downs shared the sentiments of many of his classmates as he told of Duke connections and the lingering impact the University will have on his life.
"This campus may not be perfect, but it's much more ideal than the world outside," Downs said. "Now we have a chance to make our new community a little more like the one here."
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gave a keynote address peppered with humor and advice.
"You will have to rely on an inner compass and whether that compass is true will determine whether you become a drifter who is blown about by every breeze or a doer, able to chart your own course and unafraid, when necessary, to set sail into the strongest winds," Albright told the 3,700 undergraduate, graduate and professional school graduates.
She touched just briefly on international relations, her field of expertise, encouraging the graduates to devise a "new foreign policy doctrine that spells out the right role for America in the world--somewhere between isolationism that shuns global problems, and neo-imperialism that leaves us grappling with the hardest problems virtually alone."
The University also awarded honorary degrees to South African court justice Richard Goldstone; former University provost Phillip Griffiths and leading geneticist Oliver Smithies and Albright.
The ceremony lasted about an hour, but graduates savored their last moments as Duke students. "You have more time on the football field than you thought," said Scott Koenig, who received his B.S. as his mother cried in the stands. "It takes a long time to go through all the degrees."
When all the speeches had been given and the faculty had filed out, the new graduates rushed the stands, climbing walls to find the friends and relatives who proudly watched the event.
"I'm pretty excited to go to my job, but I wasn't totally ready to leave the University," said Lutao Ning, who graduated from the Pratt School of Engineering. "Hopefully the summer will bridge the gap."
Karen Hauptman contributed to this story.
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