Temple University graduating class largest in school history

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Rainy skies aren't dampening the enthusiasm and excitement of thousands of Temple University graduates on Friday.

Inside Temple's Liacouras Center Friday morning the smiles from graduates brightened up the rainy day.

The class of 2016 is the largest in the university's history, with more than 9,300 graduates in all.

One of those graduates, Syreeta Thomas, tells us, "I feel excited. It's been seven years since I went back to school. I'm a little older. I was the oldest one in the classroom, but I did it."

The class comes from 76 countries, 49 states, two U.S. territories and 56 Pennsylvania counties. About 80 percent of the members of the class are from Pennsylvania, 20 percent are from Philadelphia. And now they all join an enormous network of Temple alumni.

Temple President Neil Theobald said to the graduates, "Over 300,000 alumni of this university who are leaders in Philadelphia and in cities around the world - they will be your lifetime partners."

The youngest graduate to earn a bachelor's degree is 20, the oldest 63.

Some are still figuring out what to do, while others have their plans lined up and ready to go.

Eric Montague says, "I'm feeling very excited to go out in the real world and apply all the knowledge id learned through the Fox School of Business."

A few fun tidbits about the graduating class: There were 14 sets of twins in the class; 167 people named Michael - the most common name by far; and 30 of the graduates had a birthday today, giving them a little something extra to celebrate.

Congratulations everybody!