Rain can’t put a damper on this graduation
With smiling faces, some brightly decorated graduation caps and plenty of proud family members looking on, University of Houston and Rice University ushered the 2016 graduating class out into the world.
Heavy storms forced UH to move its universitywide commencement from TDECU Stadium to the Hofheinz Pavilion.
Staff scurried to make the switch and get students and families out of the driving rain. The ceremony was delayed by 30 minutes to accommodate the switch.
Empty seats dotted the basketball arena as many families and graduates opted out of the ceremony as the weather worsened.
It was the second consecutive year that the UH commencement had to deal with rain.
Recently retired astronaut Scott Kelly gave the commencement address.
As an astronaut, he spent a year on the International Space Station.
Kelly started his speech saying one of the things he missed the most during his year in space was the rain. He remembered hoping it would rain a lot in Houston when he returned.
“Here’s my first piece of advice for you: be careful what you wish for,” Kelly said.
His speech emphasized the importance of tackling challenges and risking failure
Kelly told graduates he barely made it to college and didn’t think he was a good pilot when he started. He worried he wouldn’t cut it in the Navy.
He described living in space as fun and incredibly difficult but worth it.
“If we choose to do the hard thing, the sky is definitely not the limit,” Kelly said.
More than 8,000 students graduated from UH on Saturday.
Rice University’s commencement, held at 8:30 a.m., dodged the inclement weather.
Pulitzer Prize winner and former New York Times reporter Sheryl WuDunn gave the commencement address. She told a story from when she and her husband, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, were reporting in China in 1990.
An acquaintance of theirs told them a friend was a spy for the Chinese government.
When the friend asked for a recommendation for a fellowship to an American university, WuDunn and Kristof had to decide whether they would help a Chinese spy get to America or reveal their acquaintance knew about the spy.
They chose to write a less-than-glowing letter of recommendation and call the university through an untapped phone to share their concerns.
“Not surprisingly, he didn’t get the fellowship,” WuDunn said. “And we betrayed someone we had considered a friend.”
WuDunn warned students that even though people will tell them that the world’s biggest problems can’t be solved, that doesn’t mean people can’t make a difference.
“We can help individuals,” WuDunn said. “That’s a legitimate way of changing the world. It’s also a way of changing you.”
More than 1,800 students graduated from Rice University on Saturday.