The Last Class of the Millennium Leaves Campus

There will surely be few times in your lives when you will be surrounded by so many who care so much about you." So said President James Wright as 1,052 hot but relieved '99s and 460 advanced degree candidates received their diplomas at the College's 229th Commencement on a June 13 that was almost perfect. The sky had cleared as if on cue at the start of the festivities, a welcome change from last year's downpour on the Green. But the assembled community mourned the loss of Jenica Rosekrans '00, who had died suddenly three days earlier of a swift and severe meningococcal infection. Students, still in a state of disbelief, wore lavender ribbons in Rosekrans's honor. "May her memory be a blessing," Rabbi Edward Boraz invoked in the ceremony's opening prayer.

Turning to the happier events of the day, President Wright bestowed honorary degrees on Tony Award-winning director Jerry Zaks '67, social activist Freya von Moltke, Nobel Prize-winning neurologist Stanley Prusiner, anthropologist and former Spelman College president Johnnetta Cole, former Dartmouth Medical School Dean Stephen Marsh Tenney DMS '44 and former Senate majority leader and Northern Ireland peace negotiator George Mitchell. Said Mitchell at the outset of his Commencement speech, "I hope to stop speaking before you graduates stop listening." Unlike many politicians, he made good on his promise with a five-minute speech in which he told the new graduates that "real fulfillment in your life...will come...from striving with all your physical and spiritual might for a worthwhile objective that helps others and is larger than your self-interest. I hope that each of you is fortunate enough to find such an objective in your life."

Calcutta-bred valedictorian Amarinder Grewal, a computer science major who had achieved 34 A's and one A-minus in his undergraduate career, admitted to his classmates that he "did not have a clue" about what to expect when he first arrived at Dartmouth. He said he found that film studies prof Al LaValley "made learning fan" and that computer scientist Prasad Jayanti could explain even the most complex matters with clear, simple examples. Grewal said that at the College he had met a professor from Australia, a black student from South Africa, and students from Bosnia. "It's one thing to hear about events in Bosnia from Christiane Amanpour on CNN and another to hear it from someone who lived through it," Grewal said. He also told the crowd that he had gained a new perspective on his native India here that making Pakistani friends helped him put a face on the enemy his government had demonized. He recalled lighter moments: the all-night Nintendo sessions with his roommate (and missing class the next day), the bonfire, canoeing at Ledyard. Grewal may have been clueless freshman year, but standing at the podium he clearly showed that he had made the most of Dartmouth.

Then, degrees in hand, the class of 1999, the last class of the century, faced the final moments of their student days. They tossed their caps in the air, hugged their friends and family, and walked out to start their new lives.

Clockwise, from top left: Jerry Zaks '67 took an honorary degree. Amy Myers A & S'99 marched with fellow graduate students. Class marshall Rexford Morey '99 led with his cane. Valedictorian Amarinder Grewal '99 recalled his College years. Melanie Kealaokamaililauli'i Soares '99 celebrated with flowers. President James Wright looked on as religion professors Hans Penner and Nancy Frankenberry inducted former Senator George Mitchell into the Dartmouth family.