Class of 2016 bids adieu to Cornell with mixed emotions

Jessica Hubbard graduate
Joe Wilensky/Cornell Chronicle
Jessica Hubbard '16, of Bassett, Virginia, talks with a friend on the Arts Quad prior to the procession to Schoellkopf Stadium for the 148th Cornell University Commencement.

Duyen Bui ’16 enjoyed the pre-downpour morning with her mother and father on the Arts Quad prior to the 148th Cornell University Commencement.

The fact that Hien Nguyen and Quang Bui traveled all the way from the northern Vietnamese province of Hà Giang to watch their daughter receive her Ph.D. in molecular biology and genetics brought a big smile to Bui’s face.

But as this is the close of one important chapter of her life, Bui’s emotions, too, were all over the map.

“It’s such a nice day, and lots of emotions, sad and happy,” said Bui, who wore a traditional Vietnamese dress under her graduation gown. Her mother was also dressed in Vietnamese attire.

“It’s hard saying goodbye to friends, and thinking that it will be a long time if there’s no real reason to come back,” she said wistfully. “Ithaca is such a small town, and there is a certain level of isolation. That’s what makes it very nice and beautiful and authentic.”

Also with Bui was her husband, Tuan Cao, Ph.D. ’13 in philosophy.

Bui was one of many from the Class of 2016 riding an emotional rollercoaster as they gathered on the Arts Quad for the procession – a rainy one, as it turned out – to Schoellkopf Stadium.

Procession in rain
Joe Wilensky/Cornell Chronicle
Students react to being drenched by a sudden downpour as they head from the Arts Quad to Schoellkopf Stadium for commencement.

“I’m excited to be moving on to the next chapter, but at the same time a little bit sad to be leaving here,” said Andrew Sparks ’16, who graduated with a degree from the ILR School. Parents Jim and Macy were in town from Chicago, where Sparks has secured a job at consulting firm Accenture.

“Overall, it’s excitement over what I’ve been able to do and what my family and friends have been able to help me accomplish over the years,” said Sparks, who transferred to Cornell two years ago from the University of Missouri.

“It’s definitely a different environment coming here, a new set of things to get used to,” he said. Sparks wore a colorful sash representing his affiliation with the Office of Academic Diversity Initiatives.

Fredrick Blaisdell proudly wore a kastoweh, the headdress of his Oneida Nation of the Thames people, in place of his mortarboard. The kastoweh was adorned with three eagle feathers – two pointed up and one down, representing the Oneida nation, one of the five original nations of the Haudenosaunee confederacy.

Blaisdell, from Dearborn Heights, Michigan, earned his bachelor’s in biological sciences, with minors in American Indian studies and nutrition/health, and is headed to medical school to “serve my role and use my tools in Western medicine as an additional resource to help improve the health status of First Nations and American Indian communities.”

American Indian graduate
Robert Barker/University Photography
Fredrick Blaisdell '16, of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, and the Oneida Nation of the Thames, wears the traditional kastoweh headdress as he prepares for the procession from the Arts Quad to Schoellkopf Stadium for commencement.

Most of the approximately 6,000 graduates opted for the traditional cap, although many customized theirs based on majors or other considerations. Jessica Hubbard, from Bassett, Virginia, earned her degree in atmospheric sciences from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She adorned the top of her cap with a blue-and-green globe and the message, “I’m gonna (climate) change the world!”

One cap urged her contemporaries to “Keep calm, carry on,” and another was decorated with a big, white tooth and the exclamation, “Holy molar, I did it!” One young woman expressed her “love” for Ithaca in no uncertain terms: “CU Later! LOL, JK, I’m never coming back.”

Louis Widom ’16, from Acton, Massachusetts, accessorized with the monogrammed red bandana he and all trumpet-playing seniors in the Big Red Marching Band wear. Widom was the trumpet section leader in 2015; section leaders serve for calendar, not school, years.

Under a tree, two young men posed for a picture as they pondered a future apart. When they go their separate ways this fall, it will mark the first time twins Spencer and Alex Ogden of Rochester won’t be together. Spencer is off to New York for a job with EY in its transaction advisory group; Alex is off to medical school at the New York Institute of Technology’s College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Graduate celebrating on slope
Robert Barker/University Photography
A member of the Class of 2016 celebrates near the top of Libe Slope prior to the procession from the Arts Quad to Schoellkopf Stadium for commencement.

“I’m a little unsure of what I’ll do,” Alex admitted. “I won’t have my girlfriend there, either, so I’ll have to branch out a lot more, meet new people.”

“We don’t really know what to expect,” Spencer said, “but we’re positive and excited.”

Alex’s girlfriend, Stacy Rosenberg ’16, graduated Sunday with a degree in biological sciences. She is also a twin.

Nearby, Big Red men’s hockey players Christian Hilbrich and Reece Willcox were like the thousands of others on the Arts Quad – savoring those final moments of being together before the future tears them apart. The 6-foot-7 Hilbrich’s plan is to play professionally for a few years, then return to Cornell and get his MBA.

Willcox signed a professional contract with the National Hockey League’s Philadelphia Flyers, and had a goal and two assists in six games this spring with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He’s already had a taste of the “real world,” but hadn’t fully left East Hill.

“It’s bittersweet,” he said. “I’m excited for the future, but at the same time it’s tough to leave my friends and the school. It’s just been a great four years.”

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Melissa Osgood