Networking at the SU and SUNY-ESF commencement

The annual spring exercise honors nearly 5,500 SU graduates, many of whom stayed connected with Facebook, Twitter and their social networks throughout the ceremony.

As has been a tradition for more than a century, the school year on The Hill concluded Sunday with a graduation ceremony.

This year, 5,459 degrees were awarded to Syracuse University students while the joint commencement with SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry students honored 475 of its students as well.

Photo: Samantha Okazaki
With many graduates' caps adorned with personalized messages, this particular one reiterated a message that student speaker Teresa Soldner suggested in her speech: "There are many bad apples, but there's no such thing as a bad orange."

More than 14,700 attended the morning-long ceremony in the Carrier Dome that included an address by scientist J. Craig Venter, known for his work on decoding the human genome. Prior to the ceremony, the buzz was less than enthusiastic from graduates who had hoped for a celebrity or more commonly known speakers. 

A campus celebrity of sorts made up for some disappointement. Student speaker Teresa Soldner shared her thoughts on Orange Pride having spent a year of her college career cheering on the school as an Otto mascot.

Almost as noticeable as the beach balls bouncing across the crowd was the prevalence of mobile devices buzzing away while those in audience updated their statuses on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social networks.

Following is a slice of what was shared about the commencement experience -- a Storify collection of select comments, photos and videos as shared by graduates, families and friends at Sunday's ceremony.

Samantha Okazaki contributed to this report.

NewsHouse on Storify!! I love

NewsHouse on Storify!! I love this.

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