![\"170528_Senior_Sunrise-1\"](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2017\/06\/170528_Senior_Sunrise-1.jpg\")
<\/a>Durotimi Akinkugbe ’18 for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College<\/p><\/div>\n
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7:57 a.m. \u2014 Guarding the Sheepskins<\/h3>\n
Facility Services staffers Mike Adams (wearing hat) and Kayi Affo (right) join college registrar Mary Meserve (second from right) in arranging the racks holding 458 diplomas shortly their delivery to the Coram Library stage from Libbey Forum. At left is Jay Phillips, director of Facility Services.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Phyllis Graber Jensen\/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College<\/p><\/div>\n
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8:40 a.m. \u2014 Seniors in the Sun<\/h3>\n
The morning fog having burned off, seniors find a spot in the sun on Alumni Walk less than an hour before the start of the academic procession.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Phyllis Graber Jensen\/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College<\/p><\/div>\n
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8:49 a.m. \u2014 Ready for His Closeup<\/h3>\n
Actor, local philanthropist, and Lewiston native Patrick Dempsey, recipient of an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree, gets the star treatment from photographer Phyllis Graber Jensen.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Phyllis Graber Jensen\/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College<\/p><\/div>\n
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8:50 a.m. \u2014 Picture This<\/h3>\n
Dempsey lends a hand to a photograph these seniors on Alumni Walk.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Phyllis Graber Jensen\/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College<\/p><\/div>\n
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9:12 a.m. \u2014 Just Saying<\/h3>\n
Hannah Yibrah ’17, a sociology major from Somerville, Mass., <\/span> chooses Proverbs 31:25 for her mortarboard message: “She is clothed with strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future.”<\/p>\n Phyllis Graber Jensen\/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College<\/p><\/div>\n The 2017 honorands pose with President Clayton Spencer (center) outside Pettengill Hall.<\/p>\n From left, actor, philanthropist, and Lewiston native Patrick Dempsey, Doctor of Humane Letters; art historian Wanda Corn ’62, Doctor of Fine Arts; U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Doctor of Humane Letters; and president of the Harlem Children\u2019s Zone Geoffrey Canada, Doctor of Humane Letters.<\/p>\n Rene Roy for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College<\/p><\/div>\n Just minutes before the start of the procession, Alumni Walk is packed with seniors.<\/p>\n Phyllis Graber Jensen\/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College<\/p><\/div>\n Alongside the traditional black tassel, Annakay Wright \u201917 of Brooklyn, N.Y., wears a multicolored LGBTQ+-themed tassel and a maroon first-generation-to-college tassel, provided to seniors during a year-end banquet hosted by the college’s Office of Intercultural Education.<\/p>\n Phyllis Graber Jensen\/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College<\/p><\/div>\n Associate Dean of Students James Reese (center), who helps to wrangle the seniors during the lineup on Alumni Walk, joins junior class marshals John Dello Russo ’18 of Revere, Mass., and Isabella Miller ’18 of New York City as the two marshals lead the class onto the Historic Quad.<\/p>\n Phyllis Graber Jensen\/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College<\/p><\/div>\n These two Commencement guests seem to know that this bench next to Gomes Chapel is a prime spot to watch the academic procession wind its way across the Historic Quad.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n9:15 a.m. \u2014 Honorable Mentions<\/h3>\n
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\n9:17 a.m. \u2014 Waiting Game<\/h3>\n
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\n9:21 a.m. \u2014 Tassel Bedazzle<\/h3>\n
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\n9:34 a.m. \u2014 Pair Marshals<\/h3>\n
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\n9:37 a.m. \u2014 Riding the Bench<\/h3>\n