As the bagpipes rang out in Dunedin on Saturday, hundreds of people lined George St to celebrate their family members and friends who were graduating.
Excited graduands flooded the street as they marched in the procession, making their way down George St from the Otago Dental School to their final destination, the Dunedin Town Hall.
There, former Pacific Edge chief executive David Darling, who spoke at both the 1pm and 4pm ceremonies, spoke to the graduands about the growth of the Dunedin cancer diagnostics company.
Every one of the team made a difference in a company that positively impacted people’s lives, he said.
Often their start was as an academic scientist, a technician or a software coder.
Years later, he was patched up by medical graduates after being shot in the head in his 20s.
He was hard to kill, he quipped.
Emphasising how important people were and what a difference their actions could make, he challenged the graduands to "go out there and make a difference".
Former director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield was also scheduled to speak, but was unable to because his flight to Dunedin was cancelled.
Graduands were accompanied by family members and friends, including one woman who could be spotted with a person dressed as a giant teddy bear, and another dressed as a dinosaur at her side.
Some family who stood taking photos along the street joined the graduands, and some watched from afar.
The mother of Dunedin graduate Kelsey Mee was with her son, who had travelled from Christchurch to see his sister receive her master of planning degree.
One woman had travelled from Auckland to see her granddaughter Ciana Campi receive her bachelor of science and recounted going to Wellington for another grandchild’s graduation.
"You have to come and see them, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing," she said.
