The graduates, said Hanks, must not live in fear, but rather in faith, helping others — especially the returning veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — to cultivate the faith to carry on.
"Your job is to stand on the fulcrum between fear and faith. Fear at your back and faith in front of you … move always forward and … tweet out a picture of the results," said Hanks.
Student speeches and prizes followed, with Yalies speaking about the joys of attending the school and the sadness of leaving it.
Senior Riley Scripps Ford talked about how the school had taught students to fall in love with ideas, disciplines and places around a campus that had become their home.
"We will never have this, precisely this, ever again," said Ford.
Class Day, a Yale tradition that is held the day before commencement, ended with students waving handkerchiefs as they sang "Bright College Years." As might be expected from a college with more than 30 singing groups, the rendition was relatively in tune.
Commencement is scheduled for Monday morning.
(编辑:赵颖茹)