Class Day 2016
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Wearing their new class jackets, seniors file into the Princeton University Chapel for the 2016 Class Day ceremony on Monday, May 30. While the threat of thunderstorms caused the ceremony to be held indoors instead of outside on Cannon Green, the festivities captured the cheerful spirit of this annual lighthearted tradition of speeches and awards.

Photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Denise Applewhite (2016)

Members of the Class of 2016 enjoy a moment of camaraderie on Class Day. The annual event, held the day before Commencement, is organized by seniors to recognize the achievements of their class.

Photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Danielle Alio (2016)

Full of smiles and good cheer, students gather outside with friends as they wait to enter the chapel.

Photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Danielle Alio (2016)

Keynote speaker Jodi Picoult, a bestselling novelist and 1987 alumna, and President Christopher L. Eisgruber lead the informal processional at the beginning of the celebration.

Photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Denise Applewhite (2016)

Students react with smiles and laughter as the Class Day speakers salute the Great Class of 2016.

Photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Denise Applewhite (2016)

Eisgruber shrugs after his predecessor, Shirley M. Tilghman, tells him that "Canada goose" is the proper name for the waterfowl he had earlier called a "Canadian goose."

Photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Denise Applewhite (2016)

Senior class President Justin Ziegler tells his classmates that they are graduating "from the number one college in the world."

Photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Denise Applewhite (2016)

Senior speaker Martina Fouquet said that while Princeton has a seemingly perfect campus, it has its imperfections — "and that in and of itself is a part of its beauty."

Photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Denise Applewhite (2016)

Prompting laughter from the audience, senior speaker Anna Aronson likened four years at Princeton to dating, with all its attendant awkwardness and joys.

Photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Denise Applewhite (2016)

Senior class Vice President Gwen Lee inducts Charles Plohn of the Class of 1966 as an honorary member of the Class of 2016. He was given a framed certificate and a Class of 2016 jacket.

Photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Denise Applewhite (2016)

Humorously and movingly, Picoult spoke about her time at Princeton and her life afterward as an "accidental activist" fighting for gender and racial equity.

Photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Denise Applewhite (2016)