James Madison University - Bluestone Schoolmaam Yearbook (Harrisonburg, VA)

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PASSAGE AS IF THEY WERE KIDS AGAIN.

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bring more than just their caps and gowns to celebrate their passage from college into the real world. From bubbles to decorated hats and colorful beach balls, graduation was as much a party as an official commencement. Phofo courtesy ofJMU Photo Services. DESPITE THE HEAT, THE CLASS OF 2000 CELEBRATED THEIR FINAL RITE OF

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Unable to contain his excitement, a graduate stands to say hi to family and friends. Several graduates used their mortar boards for special messages or slogans, including Outta here in Y2K. After the main ceremony in the stadium, the different colleges went their separate ways and continued their own ceremonies around campus. Photos courtesy ofJMU Photo Services mmimmnm BY COOK As the 2,800 graduates of the Class of 2000 filed into Bridgeforth Stadium in their traditional caps and gowns, a crowd of approximately 23,000 friends and family members looked down onto the procession with pride and excitement. President Linwood H. Rose conferred 2,645 undergraduate and 1 58 graduate degrees during the 10 a.m. main ceremony on May 4, 2000. The weather, unusually warm for early May, brought beautiful blue skies and light winds to the valley, allowing the audience to break out their hats, sunscreen and summer wardrobes. After traditional introductions, keynote speaker Richard H. Brown, CEO or Electronic Data Systems Corp., a leading global information technology services company, implored graduates to use the power of the information age not only to better themselves but also to better the world. As the first graduates of the new century. Brown told the class that they faced a new age of information technology that has changed life faster than at any other time in history. Power and connectedness, he continued, had created vast opportunity and greater responsibility on our part. Power won ' t make you smarter. It won ' t make you more successful. It won ' t make you happier. And I don ' t believe it will make the world a better place - power rarely has, said Brown. But using this power responsibly affords your generation amazing opportunities - opportunities to help humankind. And that will make the world a better place. Brown encouraged graduates to give technology its soul and heartbeat to ensure a bright and safer future for humankind. In closing, he challenged graduates to go out into the world to make that difference. Technology can give you the tools today to build an extraordinary tomorrow. It can link your soul to the world ' s and light up the sky. It can connect your heart to its people and keep them safe, said Brown. So, take that technology and astound yourselves, astound your parents, astound vour community, and astound the world. END - - % iV A .