Inclement weather forced some last-minute changes to Northwestern’s 151st annual commencement ceremony at Ryan Field Friday night. The threat of rainstorms almost moved the ceremonies to McGaw Memorial Hall, but officials decided to carry on with the outdoor location. Once people sat down, officials handed out a few makeshift ponchos and the 2009 graduates began to walk out.

The impending storm pushed all speeches off and left just the formalities to get out of the way. Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, the guest speaker for the event told the audience that he’d prepared a sixteen-minute speech that he had decided to cut down to the first and last page. “Always be appropriate to the situation,” he said. Marsalis then serenaded the audience with a piece on his trumpet and the ceremony wrapped up from there.