More than 6,000 students graduated from UNC on Sunday.

UNC Chancellor Carol Folt told the soon-to-be alumni that the connections that were made on the Chapel Hill campus would endure for a lifetime.

“You’ve been an inspirational class, filled with leaders and people who care deeply about helping others,” Folt told the graduates. “And you’ve awed us with your accomplishments and inspired us with your character.”

Of Sunday’s graduates, the youngest to receive a degree was 18 and the oldest was 66, according to the university.

UNC alumnus, Marine Corps veteran and social entrepreneur Rye Barcott delivered the commencement address, encouraging students to find ways to confront the “pain” in the world and find a way to solve it.

“Our beloved university has helped open our eyes to the world,” Barcott told the crowd. “Keep this perspective, nurture it; it can help you better take the pain and create something useful, possibly even something transcendent out of it.”

UNC issued honorary degrees to UNC alumnus Phillip Clay, who served as the chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 2001-2011, James Goodmo, the CEO and chairman of the board of Capitol Broadcasting and world-renown dancer and choreographer Judith Jamison.

Photo via UNC-Chapel Hill

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