The day of celebration was kicked off in the morning with an informal and student-minded program in the city center, organized by the student federations. In the old premises of the V&D department store, breakfast had been prepared for students who had registered in advance; among the other activities was laser gaming.

Back on campus, several festivities and ceremonies took place throughout the afternoon. For example, hundreds of Bachelor's students were awarded - during ceremonies held by or involving their own departments - their degree diploma, a gown, a sash and beret. Prior to the award ceremonies in the Auditorium, students of dance association Footloose and theater association Doppio provided a happy surprise in the form of a swinging flash mob.

Additionally, a few hundred former TU/e students made a return visit to their alma mater Friday for a program in Luna compiled specially for them. And alumni who had not yet done so had the chance to engrave their names on Alumni Avenue.

Celebration

The highlight of the day was the MomenTUm Celebration in the market hall, held from three to five in the afternoon. Here, all the graduating students were again put in the spotlight on the Walk of Fame and addressed by among others Rector Magnificus Frank Baaijens, Executive Board President Jan Mengelers and ASML chief executive Peter Wennink.

For the rest, various prizes were awarded during the ceremony. There were Academic Awards for Jos Wetzels, Rabia Zainab and Fons van der Sommen for the best Master's, PDEng and doctoral period, respectively. TU/e researcher Milou Feijt won the Marina van Damme grant, awarded annually to give a helping hand to promising young women engineers at all Dutch TUs.

Similarly, the best lecturers at TU/e were given recognition during the celebration. Eight lecturers were nominated; the honors went Peter Ruijten and Mark de Berg. Ruijten was voted the best Bachelor's lecturer while De Berg won in the Master's category. The British mechanical engineer Ann Dowling was honored during the MomenTUm Celebration with the award of an honorary doctorate from TU/e, with Ines Lopez Arteaga at her side as the proud 'honorary supervisor'.

Countdown

TU/e gave the celebration the allure of a grand show, with performances by, among others, singer Mavis Acquah (together with the Footloose dancers) and the visually spectacular Coloured Wings. The gathering concluded with a countdown by Rector Magnificus Baaijens, after which all the graduates hurled their berets into the air in fine American style. For those keen to carry on celebrating, the evening still held the Student Party in the market hall, with performances by the Dutch rapper Kraantje Pappie, and others.

Here too we'd like to look back on last Friday's events, mainly in pictures. Below you will find our favorite photographs (see Flickr for more photos) and an after-movie capturing the mood, filmed by our video reporter Mathias Verheijden. If you'd like to read more about what happened, you can (in Dutch only) on Cursor's live MomenTUm blog.

MomenTUm 2018 - by photographer Bart van Overbeeke

Happy Instagrammers!
Plenty of festive photos on social media as well, here's a small selection of some of the proud and happy graduates. Congratulations to you all!
#TUeMomenTUm #graduation #gratuated #studentlifte #TUeindhoven