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UMass Amherst graduating seniors to be the stars of their own show
For the 133rd time, UMass Amherst seniors are donning caps, gowns, and multi-colored tassels before heading out into the world beyond campus.
For the 133rd time, UMass Amherst seniors are donning caps, gowns, and multi-colored tassels before heading out into the world beyond campus.
This year’s commencement exercises will place the spotlight on the achievements, vitality and diversity of the nearly 4000 graduates of the Class of 2003. Their achievements have come in all areas.
Showing that “performance counts,” the academic honors earned by the class were a USA Today College All Academic First Team award, a state finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship, a state finalist for the Truman Scholarship, three Fulbright Scholarship Grants, a Marshall Scholarship Regional Alternate, and the Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics.
Nor was the class any slouch on the courts and playing fields. Among its members are the University’s first WNBA draftee,players from the record-setting men’s lacrosse and hockey teams and skiers from the USCSA champion women’s team. Club sport athletes succeeded as well. The coed fencing team won the national championship and the women’s ice hockey club, in their first year in the league, captured fourth place in the national tournament.
The Class of 2003 stood out in the community as well. A number of its members shunned the usual sunning and swimming during spring break to participate in alternative programs in which they lived and worked in needy neighborhoods.
Capping off the celebration of student excellence at Commencement will be the naming of the first recipients of the 21st-Century Leader Awards, recognizing exemplary standards of achievement, social awareness, and leadership. Eleven graduating seniors who excelled as researchers, community activists, teachers, or creative, performing, or athletic talents will be honored.
2003 Undergraduate Commencement