ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 7, 1996 TAG: 9606070056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LEXINGTON
SOURCE: JENNIFER MILLER STAFF WRITER
SENIOR CHRISSY HART became the 1,000th woman to graduate from W&L since the school admitted women in 1985.
Seniors at Washington and Lee University had predicted sunny, blue skies for their graduation Thursday.
Weather forecasters "said it was going to rain during graduation," graduate Todd Fontaine from Pittsburgh said. "But we knew it wouldn't because it rained the day we moved in."
There's a tradition at W&L: If it rains the day a freshman class moves into the dormitories, it will be sunny when that class graduates.
About 373 graduates sweated out Thursday's heat during the two-hour ceremony on the school's front lawn. Even though the temperature soared into the 80s, seniors kept their long black robes on until the end of commencement.
Senior Robert Turner, vice president of the student body executive committee and tri-captain of the Generals football team, spoke on behalf of the senior class.
"The past meets the future at this very moment," the Dallas resident said.
Keeping in mind the motto of the school - which translates to: "Not unmindful of the future" - Turner encouraged his classmates not to forget the virtues that W&L tried to instill in them.
"I know that each one of us have had to struggle with what is honorable and what is not. W&L has taught us to respect each other and to keep our word," he said. "We are not done with honor, nor are we done with excellence.
"Our charge is to take what we have learned and apply it. ... To strive, to seek, to find, but not to yield."
University President John Elrod reflected on the achievements of the class of 1996 and said he felt confident that their experiences at W&L had prepared them for the future.
Valedictorian Graig A. Fantuzzi of Toms River, N.J., earned the second highest grade point average - 4.190 on a 4.33 scale - in W&L history. Fantuzzi graduated with a bachelor of science degree for both physics-engineering and business administration.
Senior Chrissy Hart, of Newport News, became the 1,000th woman to graduate from W&L since the school started admitting women in 1985.
Elrod encouraged the graduates not to forget the sense of duty they learned at W&L.
"While the fact of duty links you in special ways with others, it also announces a special obligation we each owe to ourselves to strive to achieve the highest standards of excellence in the work that we do," he said. "You will do well to remember that those to whom much has been given, much may also rightly be expected."
"I wish that you will enjoy the pleasures of great success wherever you are. ... And come back as often as you can," Elrod said.
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff 1. (Above) The Wiegmannsby CNBof Rockville, Md., enjoy some shade as Shannon Wiegmann graduates.
2. At left, graduates pass a bottle of champagne Thursday.|