JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM University of Hawaii at Manoa graduates waited to get their degrees yesterday during the 97th annual spring commencement exercise, held at the Stan Sheriff Center. Undergraduate students received their degrees in morning ceremonies, while graduate students received theirs in the afternoon.

Great achievements

Green gowns and leis abounded yesterday as more than 1,800 undergraduates and 1,100 graduate students received their degrees during the 97th annual spring commencement exercise at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

In separate ceremonies, one for undergraduate students in the morning and a second for graduate students in the afternoon, candidates received their diplomas at the Stan Sheriff Center and then filed onto the athletic fields to greet throngs of relatives and friends.

"Success isn't measured by job titles or pay scales," advised Dee Jay Mailer, chief executive officer of Kamehameha Schools, in remarks prepared for the undergraduate commencement. "It is defined by a job well done, by choices made according to your principles and values, and by the blessings you have returned through service to others."

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM More than 1,800 undergraduate students and 1,100 graduate students received their degrees yesterday as part of the University of Hawaii at Manoa's 97th annual spring commencement exercise, held at the Stan Sheriff Center. Troy Wagner, middle, a psychology major, raised his cap yesterday prior to lining up to get his degree.

"We were, back then, living to a large degree concretely versus virtually," she said. "My college acquaintances were those I met on this campus, not on Facebook. My school research was based on information available in Hamilton Library, not over the Internet."

Yet that retreat from the concrete has also brought advantages, she said.

"Thanks to the advances of the last three decades, we are able to connect instantly with perspectives and cultures from all over the globe. Our opportunities now stretch far beyond the geographic boundary of our shorelines, and the possibilities are endless."

The afternoon commencement speaker was University of Maryland professor Rita Colwell, former director of the National Science Foundation and an expert in emerging infectious diseases and safe drinking water.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Creative caps also were abundant yesterday, as seen above with test tubes perched atop a graduate's cap.