OK, I’ll admit it — this post doesn’t have much to do with city planning (at least directly).

But it’s graduation time — and one tradition I and many other Burlington residents have is to walk over to the University of Vermont and watch the pomp of the commencement ceremony.

This past Sunday, we joined with 3,000 newly minted graduates, their professors, and their families, for a grand crowd of more than 10,000 arrayed across the historic green.

While in some future post, we’ll talk about the frictions of living in a college town, this is a time for celebration. These three thousand students were part of our community for four or more years.

The University of Vermont this year was graced with the presence of renowned jazz musician (and Pulitzer prize winner) Wynton Marsalis — who not only served as commencent speaker, but also witnessed the graduation of his son. Marsalis not only is a wizard with the trumpet (hint: wait till the end of his talk), but he can deliver quite a commencement speech. I urge that you set aside eighteen minutes to watch it; you’ll likely be as moved as I was.