I attended ASU's 2009 Commencement yesterday. It was great! A long, hot afternoon, but totally worth it. I was able to get in thanks to my friend, Dan, who has a lifetime membership in the ASU Alumni Association and was able to get four tickets. (The other two went to his cousin and her husband, whom we met there.)
Anyway, I picked Dan up at his house just after 2:00pm. We stopped by the bank so I could get cash and then drove to the light rail station at Price/Apache. The line to buy passes turned out to be the longest line we'd encounter all day! We took the train to Tempe and entered through the SW gate, which was reserved for alumni. There was no line, but we had to throw out our water bottles... Here's what the stadium looked like when we first got there:
It was hot, so we spent some time walking around. Once the sun went down behind the rocks, it cooled off considerably. There was entertainment on a small stage to side of the main stage. The highlight was Alice Cooper singing "School's Out" in front of a band that had just finished covering "I'm Eighteen." Here's a clip:
Once things got started, the stadium was quite full. Here's a picture a couple of hours later:
A lot happened before President Obama spoke, but most of the crowd was clearly there to see him. Here's a clip of the end of ASU President Crow's intro and the beginning of President Obama's speech:
I REALLY enjoyed his speech. Very inspiring! The full text can be found here. A full video can be found here.
Most people around us left after Obama was finished. It took us a while to get back to the rail station, but once there it was smooth sailing to our car and home. It was a long afternoon, but totally worth it!
Thanks,
Matt
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