There is a surplus of beauty here,” said President Paul Alivisatos, AB’81, on the serenely temperate June morning of the University’s 539th Convocation. “Take it in on this special occasion. Take some of it with you in your heart and mind on your journey ahead.”

I was there to cheer on a young graduate receiving his BA and MS. I sat in the crowd with his parents, longtime friends.

It was the latest of many convocations I’ve attended over the years. Most often I was there to help out: welcoming guests, lining up dignitaries, and, once, getting the bagpipers and company where they needed to be (trickier than you might imagine).

This convocation I observed with undivided attention and borrowed pride—stepping out of my usual roles and taking it all in, as President Alivisatos suggested. Looking and listening with fresh eyes and ears, I was struck by the ceremony’s interludes as much as its remarks and speeches, for all their considerable eloquence.

To begin, there were skirls and booms from the bagpipe band. Then each school’s and division’s soon-to-be graduates were announced as they entered the quad. “Please welcome candidates from the College,” and so on through Chicago Booth.

Here was nearly an hour for taking things in: for watching the candidates process to their places while a rainbow of school banners amassed one by one before the stage; for studying the sea of faces and finery and flowers; for wondering about each family’s story; for letting the grandeur of the day sink in and feeling how much it meant to so many.

After Board of Trustees Chair David M. Rubenstein’s (JD’73) congratulations, the president’s warm welcome, and Professor of Medicine Kunle Odunsi’s powerful commencement address, each dean presented their school’s or division’s candidates. The president, in turn, conferred their degrees and, with outstretched arms, congratulated them.

As his words turned candidates into graduates, I felt a happy suspense despite the predetermined outcome. In the small, hushed pause between presentation and conferral, something beautiful was on the brink of happening—in surplus.