Graduation bingo winner Maggie Hopkins (MBA/MD ’12) led a second line out of McAlister Auditorium as part of this year’s Graduate Diploma Ceremony.
The Freeman School’s 2012 graduate diploma ceremony was Ira Solomon’s first as dean of the business school, but in a number of ways it marked a return to traditions of the past.
In May, Dean Ira Solomon presided over the largest commencement exercise in school history.
For the first time in three years, a brass band was on hand to lead students in and out of McAlister Auditorium, lending a festive New Orleans spirit to the proceedings. For the first time in more than 10 years, the ceremony featured a distinguished guest speaker. Stanley Motta (BBA ’67), chairman of Copa Holdings, delivered the charge to the graduates. And for the first time in more than 20 years, the ceremony featured “graduation bingo,” a tradition in which students are given bingo cards featuring random words and phrases from the ceremony. The first student to get five words or phrases in a row—and shout “Bingo!” at the top of his or her lungs—wins a prize.
Richie Gray (MBA ’12), left, received the Roger L. Cornelius Award and Rob Lynch (MBA ’12), right, received the Marta and Peter Bordeaux Award.
Maggie Hopkins (MBA/MD ’12) earned that honor, and won a Tulane second-line umbrella and the right to lead the class out of the auditorium.
What was definitely not a return to the past was the size of the event. The Freeman School awarded diplomas to 857 graduates this year, the most in the school’s 95-year history of conferring business degrees.
Arielle K. Drucker (BSM ’12) received the BSM Scholastic Achievement Award, which recognizes the graduate of the Bachelor of Science in Management program with the highest cumulative grade point average. Robert W. Lynch (MBA ’12) received the Marta and Peter Bordeaux Scholastic Achievement Award, which recognizes the graduate of the Master of Business Administration program with the highest cumulative grade point average.
“This year’s graduates, like those who came before and those who will come after, have completed rigorous, state-of-the-art courses of study,” Dean Solomon said in his remarks. “This year’s graduates have been challenged to make a positive impact on society using their knowledge and skills learned and honed here at Freeman. I have no doubt that they will be successful, making all of us proud to recognize them over the coming years as members of the Freeman and Tulane families.”
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