Don Petersen | Special to The Roanoke Times

Hollins President Nancy Oliver Gray (from left), Board of Trustees Chairwoman Suzanne Smith Whitmore and Registrar Anna Goodwin present an honorary degree to Alexandra Trower Lindsey, now an executive with Estee Lauder.

Graduates walk to commencement at Hollins University on Sunday morning. The event's speaker called Hollins a "safe, supportive place."

The Hollins University class of 2011 consisted of 244 students.

Graduates cheer during commencement at Hollins University on Sunday. Many in the crowd expressed optimism about the future.

Correction (May 23: 12:05 p.m.): Previous versions of this story did not include Alexandra Trower Lindsey's full name. The story has been updated. | Our corrections policy

The graduates in their dark gowns almost seemed to sneak up on their own commencement -- it was perhaps a minute or two before 10 a.m. Sunday when they quietly strode, single-file, onto the quadrangle at Hollins University. As a brass quintet struck up "Pomp and Circumstance," startled friends and relatives bearing cameras suddenly strolled quickly, or ran slowly, across the lawn to snap final photos of those 244 students, whose morning walk would end with their receipt of a university degree.

"How hard it is to leave this incredibly safe, supportive place," said speaker Alexandra Trower Lindsey, a member of Hollins' class of 1986 and now an executive officer for Estee Lauder Cos. "The world out there is nothing like Hollins."

The setting of the ceremony offered a persuasive argument in support of that statement -- hundreds had gathered in the dense shade of the quad's trees, largely protected from the springtime sun, and nearby tables later offered cold lemonade and piles of fresh strawberries. Cardboard boxes, placed here and there, bore signs asking graduates to donate their caps and gowns for recycling.

It was idyllic, particularly at a time when much of the world is not. During the previous week, the cultural climate was overrun with the much-publicized speculation by a California preacher that the world would end Saturday night. While that event did not come to pass, most of the students are nevertheless moving forward in the midst of ongoing wars, historic counterterrorist maneuvers, an economy that's shakily recovering from recession and all manner of other turmoil.

Hanan Abu-Shanab, 21, an Arab-Palestinian student who came to Hollins through the Hope Fund, on Sunday received degrees in mathematics and economics, and will soon start work with the International Monetary Fund.

"A week ago, when I told people I'd be working with the IMF, most of them didn't know what that was," Abu-Shanab said, but the May 16 arrest of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual assault charges has raised that organization's profile considerably.

"Now they know what I mean," she said.

"I know this is a challenging time to be a college student," Lindsey told the audience as she shared word of graduates who had sped up their academic schedule to reach their goal more quickly, or who had held full- or part-time jobs while they studied -- including a mother of seven who worked 40 hours a week while earning her degree.

Lindsey -- who also received an unexpected honorary doctorate from the university during Sunday's ceremony -- said that when she graduated from Hollins and moved to New York City, she didn't have a plan.

"Try to quiet those inner voices that are asking all those questions," she said. "I'm here to tell you, you'll be fine. You'll be great."

And many in the crowd, asked Sunday, agreed they were optimistic about the future.

"I think it depends on what your personal motivations are" for succeeding, said Jayne Lilley, of Roanoke, whose niece, Meagan Cupka, graduated Sunday with a degree in environmental science.

"I think I feel well-armed. I honestly don't feel very scared about it," said Tara Sim, of San Francisco, who plans to use her degree in English to find work as an editor.

As the day drew on and commencement came to a close, it got harder and harder to see those cardboard recycling boxes -- they were filled with discarded caps and gowns, and overflowing.