Emma James ’13 is headed to Morocco in January to start a two-year Peace Corps assignment, so she won’t be able to attend the official graduation ceremony this spring. (James didn’t graduate last year because she took a semester off to live in the Philippines, where she interned with a Filipino senator and worked in a school garden.)

To make up for missing out on one of life’s more significant rites, James’ friends recently planned a surprise graduation ceremony on the Museum of Art steps. All of James’ housemates were involved: seniors Christine Rholl, Clare Stansberry, Maddie Smith and Stephanie Lynn. Lynn was the mastermind behind the event and ran the ceremony. Besides these four friends, a sizable group of peers, staff and faculty gathered a little after 2 p.m., Dec. 13, at the Museum, knowing James would be walking by shortly after. Watch what happens when she encounters the group.