Graduation Day is all about the graduates.
Isn't it?
Recently, the spotlight has been on the A-list Hollywood and Beltway stars serving as commencement speakers rather than on the kids in the caps and gowns.
Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington stepped off the movie set and on to the Ivy quad to headline Yale University’s and the University of Pennsylvania���s graduations last week. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandburg left Silicon Valley to address the graduates of Michigan State University and Barnard College this month. Controversial cyclist Lance Armstrong, President of Mexico Felipe Calderón and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel delivered commencement speeches at High Point University, Stanford University and Washington University, respectively.
Here, a list -- and video clips -- of the five most buzzed-about Class of 2011 commencement speeches to date, plus a look at three speakers set to make stir in the coming weeks.
5. Toni Morrison, Rutgers University, May 15
Toni Morrison has a long list of achievements: she won a Pulitzer Prize for "Beloved" in 1988 and became the first African American to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. So it was natural that Morrison address the largest university in New Jersey this month. Though Morrison eloquently challenged the Class of 2011 to rise above the world they have inherited, her speech will forever be remembered as the one that was upstaged by Snooki. Rutgers paid the 4-foot-9 reality TV star $2K more to speak at a Q-and-A session than it did for Morrison to deliver the commencement address.
4. Bill Clinton, New York University, May 18
Former president Bill Clinton is no stranger to commencement speeches. He spoke at Yale University last year and University of Michigan in 2007. This year, Clinton followed in the footsteps of his wife, who spoke at NYU’s commencement in 2009 and addressed a sea of purple gowns at Yankee Stadium. Clinton continued Morrison’s cautionary tone by warning graduates about global warming and the growing issues that accompany an interdependent world. "The great challenge of your life will be how to life out your personal story," he said.
3. Michelle Obama, Spelman College, May 15
While her husband took the commencement podium at Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut and Miami Dade College, First Lady Michelle Obama spoke at Atlanta’s Spelman College, the oldest black college for women in America. She stressed the duties of this year’s graduates: "Wherever you go, I guarantee you that you will find folks who have been discounted or dismissed, but who have every bit of much promise as you have,” Obama says. "It’s your obligation to bring Spelman to those folks."
2. Denzel Washington, University of Pennsylvania, May 16
Denzel Washington, speaking to the graduates of his youngest son Malcolm's university, opined on the importance of taking risks at the Philadelphia school's 255th commencement. Washington admitted that he faced two such risks when traveling to Philly for the ceremony: first, wearing a Yankees cap in the City of Brotherly Love and second, appearing before the graduates: "You can dress in army fatigues or throw me on top of a train or ask me to play Malcolm X ... I can do that. But a commencement speech is a very serious affair and a whole different ball game."
1. Tom Hanks, Yale University, May 22
Two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks, age 54, used Yale University's podium to prove he's no fuddy-duddy. He encouraged graduates to live-blog his speech and to turn him into a Rebecca Black-esque "viral sensation" on YouTube. He also showed he's up on his Twitter trends when he warned students not to rejoice over the previous day's failed Rapture. "My appearing today at Yale University is surely one of the four horseman of the Apocalypse," he said.
Think this is as good as it gets? Not so fast.
Graduation season's future line-up includes:
• Amy Poehler, Harvard University, May 26. As a Boston College alumnus, the Parks and Recreation comedian will address the graduates of one of her alma mater's Boston rivals. Poehler's appearance will mark a drastic departure from Harvard's previous commencement speakers: Christiane Amanpour and Matt Lauer.
• Brooke Shields, Princeton University, May 30. Twenty-four years after her own graduation at Princeton, Shields will return to give the school's Class Day speech. If there is any doubt that Shields is right for the job, rest assured: Shields belonged to the "Cap and Gown" eating club during her time at the school.
• Conan O'Brien, Dartmouth University, June 12. Despite years of turning down his rival university’s requests -- O'Brien is a Harvard alumnus -– the late-night comic will address over 1500 of Dartmouth's graduates. "I was honored to be asked to give the commencement address to Dartmouth's graduating class of 2011, until I found out their first choice was Pauly D," O'Brien said in the commencement announcement.
Dartmouth's Student Body President, Eric Tanner, announced O'Brien's speech:
1. Tom Hanks, Yale University, May 22
Two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks, age 54, used Yale University's podium to prove he's no fuddy-duddy. He encouraged graduates to live-blog his speech and to turn him into a Rebecca Black-esque "viral sensation" on YouTube. He also showed he's up on his Twitter trends when he warned students not to rejoice over the previous day's failed Rapture. "My appearing today at Yale University is surely one of the four horseman of the Apocalypse," he said.
Think this is as good as it gets? Not so fast.
Graduation season's future line-up includes:
• Amy Poehler, Harvard University, May 26. As a Boston College alumnus, the Parks and Recreation comedian will address the graduates of one of her alma mater's Boston rivals. Poehler's appearance will mark a drastic departure from Harvard's previous commencement speakers: Christiane Amanpour and Matt Lauer.
• Brooke Shields, Princeton University, May 30. Twenty-four years after her own graduation at Princeton, Shields will return to give the school's Class Day speech. If there is any doubt that Shields is right for the job, rest assured: Shields belonged to the "Cap and Gown" eating club during her time at the school.
• Conan O'Brien, Dartmouth University, June 12. Despite years of turning down his rival university’s requests -- O'Brien is a Harvard alumnus -– the late-night comic will address over 1500 of Dartmouth's graduates. "I was honored to be asked to give the commencement address to Dartmouth's graduating class of 2011, until I found out their first choice was Pauly D," O'Brien said in the commencement announcement.
Dartmouth's Student Body President, Eric Tanner, announced O'Brien's speech:
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