More than 8,000 people gathered outside Roberts Hall on Saturday, in spite of the rain, to watch the largest class ever graduate from High Point University.
HIGH POINT, N.C. -- When High Point University opened its doors more than 80 years ago, the campus consisted of three buildings, nine faculty and 122 students. But Saturday, more than 8,000 friends, family and loved ones gathered outside Roberts Hall, in spite of the rain, to watch the largest class ever graduate.
“High Point University is experiencing explosive growth and our job here is to keep the quality, extraordinary quality, the academic as well as the student life programs,” said school president Nido Quebin.
Quebin knows what is attracting the students to this particular university. He says it connects with the soul and the life of the student.
Bill Cosby spoke Saturday at the High Point University commencement ceremony.
“We are making sure that parents are informed,” he said. “We communicate about the issues that truly matter we are investing very significant capital in buildings and academic programs.”
Besides being a part of the largest graduating class ever, the students also got some no-nonsense advice from comedy legend Bill Cosby. He talked to the students about being responsible, although he says he kept it short.
“This was a short speech,” he said. “I had a longer one, I had videos and graphs all set up for your higher learning, but now it’s time to just move this along before the Scottish people come back.”
Graduate Jessica Johnson says Cosby speech was better than she expected.
“Usually, they have these long, drawn out boring things but it was so much fun,” she said. “It was relaxing. It was like we were all just a big family sitting around and it was dad giving us real advice that we would use every day.”
Armed with that advice, these students are just relieved this milestone is over.
“I thought that I would be bouncing off the walls, but it is so much of a relief to finally be finished and walk across that stage,” Johnson said. “It was absolutely wonderful.”
Quebin says while this is the largest graduating class in the school’s history, it's not the last. In the fall, the university will have the largest incoming freshman class in its history, a more than 75 percent increase in just two years.