At My Graduation, My Dad Told 2,000 People Not to Clap — I Stepped Back to the Mic

the audience, at the graduating class, at the faculty seated in their regalia along the stage. When she spoke, she used the voice she used for commencement addresses — clear, authoritative, filling the space without effort.

“On behalf of Hargrove University,” she said, “I want to acknowledge what this class already knows: that the degrees being conferred continue reading …