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FriedmanStudent Commencement speaker Jordan Friedman, president of the senior class, addressed his his fellow students during Commencment and spoke about how far they have come in the last four years and how much more they have to accomplish. Following are Friedman’s prepared remarks.

A new medication can reduce emergency room visits and improve the overall quality of life for moderate to severe asthma sufferers, according to a study by researchers from the School of Medicine and St. Louis University. Learn more about the new drug in the following St. Louis Post-Dispatch story.

Each day, 3,400 people in the United States are diagnosed with cancer and another 1,500 die from the disease. And while these numbers are disturbing, they also harbor a fundamental inequity: racial and ethnic minority groups form a larger percentage of these totals than their proportions in the general population.

Like throwing oil on a fire or prescribing a high cholesterol diet for heart patients, gastroenterologists traditionally have believed that it would not be a good idea to stoke up the body’s immune system to treat Crohn’s disease. Most treatments for Crohn’s, an autoimmune disorder, are geared to suppress the immune response, but a new study demonstrates that stimulating innate immunity also is effective at improving symptoms of the intestinal disorder.

An experiment that turned out very differently than expected led scientists at the School of Medicine to the first direct link between inefficient metabolism and atherosclerosis.

The following is a transcript of Richard A. Gephardt’s Commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis on May 20, 2005. He delivered the address to an audience of more than 12,000, including some 2,500 graduates, in Brookings Quadrangle.

A collection of images from Commencement 2005

During the University’s 144th Commencement, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton delivered his message to the Class of 2005. He stated that although this year’s graduates will face many hardships, they also have an exciting and bright future ahead and their potential to make a significant impact after graduation has been enhanced by their Washington University education.. “Your individual contributions may have Einstein-like enduring impact through your creative work in art, music, writing, science or some other area,” Wrighton said.

Joe Angeles / WUSTL PhotoGraduating students stand during the singing of “America the Beautiful” at the start of the Commencement ceremony.Much has changed in the world since he sat through his own college graduation more than 40 years ago, said Richard A. Gephardt, former U.S. house minority leader, in his May 20 Commencement address to some 2,500 graduating students at Washington University in St. Louis. But what hasn’t changed is the uncertainty that faces recent college graduates. “We had no idea what we were heading into as we left on our graduation day,” Gephardt told the audience of more than 12,000 in Brookings Quadrangle. “Neither, I suspect do you. And it would be a reckless commencement speaker who ventured too many predictions about a world that in his own lifetime has confounded so many expectations.” Related article: 2005 Commencement photo gallery Related media: View 2005 Commencement ceremony Related article: View the Record‘s “Gallery of Graduates”

Photo by Joe AngelesJohn Woock was named both an NCAA College Football National Scholar-Athlete and an ESPN The Magazine First-Team Academic All-American.