A Marriage Proposal at Commencement


I have attended more commencements in my life as an educator than I can remember. Happy as they are, they sometimes blur in recollection.   However, FIT’s Commencement 2014 offered one moment that I will never forget.  It took place at our morning ceremony while David Hamilton, our student government president, spoke.  David is an energetic and galvanizing speaker, and as he was winding up his remarks, he started reading a passage from one of his favorite books–a passage about love.  “Where is this going,” I wondered, as did, I am sure, everyone else in the audience.  But David knew just what he was doing. Smoothly moving from the passage about love, he looked down at a young woman in the front row, addressed her by name, and asked, “Will you help make my dreams meaningful for the rest of my life?” With a ring in his hand, he then stepped down from the podium, walked directly toward her, fell to his knees and proposed. The audience went wild–everyone was standing and cheering.   And by the way, his  girlfriend said “yes.”