U. launches 7,332 grads

While most 16-year-olds are basking in the thrill of new driver's licenses, Teresa Tuan joined with fellow University of Utah students Friday to celebrate her freshly minted college degree.

The youngest graduate from the University of Utah credits her rare success to passion, an attribute she urged her fellow graduates to acquire as she spoke during Friday's commencement ceremonies.

"I recognized that I have the passion for being a student. This not only includes a love for learning and education, but it also includes announcing I have a lot to learn," Tuan said to the U.'s class of 2006.

Tuan was one of 7,332 students who graduated from the U. Friday at the Jon M. Huntsman center — 5,279 bachelor's degrees, 1,711 master's and 416 doctorates.

Michael O. Leavitt, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, also addressed the graduating class, giving them an extra dose of warning at the commencement ceremonies. Leavitt spoke of the possibility of an avian flu pandemic and how the graduates should prepare personally to fortify against such an outbreak.

"Personal preparation needs to become an American ethic. It is the foundation for a safe nation," he said. "We have to think about the unthinkable. The preparation that comes before an emergency is more important than anything we can do after."

Leavitt also noted that influenza pandemics dotted the 1900s and that pandemics generally occur three times in a 100-year span.

"There's no reason to believe the 21st century will be any different. Nature is overdue," he said.

Leavitt did have a few inspirational words for the grads, urging them to "step forward and volunteer when others do not." The simple act of showing up when others don't can often decide who will lead and who will get left behind, he said.

Friday's graduating class represented 66 countries, all 50 U.S. states and 25 of Utah's 29 counties. The class of 2006 also includes three of the "lost boys" from Sudan, Africa, who walked parentless after devastating civil wars for years before landing in Utah. The graduates ranged in age from Tuan at 16 to Jean Frances-Treschow at 71.

Tuan may have missed her high school prom, but she said her biological chemistry degree was worth sacrificing a normal teenage life. Tuan started taking college courses after passing a college entrance exam and found she preferred the discussion-driven classroom of college to the test-centered high school curriculum.