Before receiving their diplomas Sunday, Stanford University's class of 2010 stood up from their folding chairs, turned to the stands and applauded their parents.
The graduates hooted and hollered and pumped their arms in the air. One waved a sign that said, "Thanks Mom and Dad."
Keynote speaker Susan Rice, a Stanford alumna who is the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also acknowledged the "enormous sacrifices" that the parents in Stanford Stadium made for their children, saying, "This is your day, too."
As parents and students gathered outside the stadium, some took a moment to reflect on advice given and taken over the years that led to this day.
"Starting when I was 8 or 9, my mom would say as I walked out the door, 'Remember who you are,' " said Laura Brignone, 21, from Corning, N.Y., who received a degree in music Sunday. "She meant 'Be true to yourself.' That kind of integrity means a lot to me."
Mary Michelsen of Sebastopol often told her daughter, Hanna, to "do everything, never miss an experience."
It seems like the daughter, who earned a degree in biomedical computation, complied. "She touched a Gutenberg Bible," Michelson said. "She was on the crew team. She met the people who did the first face transplant in France. She watched a brain surgery, and she saved two lives when she was an EMT."
Bud Carpeneti, the chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, who was watching his youngest daughter, Bianca,
graduate with a degree in classics and archaeology, hesitated for a moment before answering. What was it that his wife said to the kids every morning before they left for school?
"Wait, let me get this right," he said, "It's epic." Then his wife, Annie, chimed in, "Learn lots. Have fun. Be good."
"And so far," the chief justice and father said, "it's worked."
Ann and Jim Lazarus of San Francisco said they gave less advice and more guidance to their son, Jack.
"We try to help them work out the pros and cons of their decisions, not to make the decisions for them," Ann Lazarus said.
Jackie Do, 22, from Houston, says advice from her parents has been invaluable: "Take your own path at your own pace for your own reasons," recounted Do, who earned a degree in economics.
"Stay out of trouble, get it done, take care of business," said Ronnie Tisdale, 22, of Perrysburg, Ohio. He earned degrees Sunday in human biology and drama and will be advancing to medical school.
"When I think of it," Tisdale said, "it keeps me on track."
"Stay humble," recounted Monte Malhotra, 21, an economics major who wrote his first book about retiring young when he was still at Saratoga High School. "No matter how achieved or awarded you think you are," his mother told him, "there's always a lot to learn from other people."
Richard Feller from New York often told his son, Ross, to "never close a door yourself because plenty will be closed for you. Take advantage of every opportunity."