Jubilant Chelsea Clinton Graduates From Stanford

With her parents waving and blowing kisses from the stands, an exuberant Chelsea Clinton graduated Sunday from Stanford University.

In keeping with her wishes to act and be treated like any other college student, the 21-year-old history major joined with 1,700 fellow graduating seniors in Stanford’s traditional “wacky walk”--a 20-minute romp as they filed into the football stadium.

As a band played Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” and other jazz tunes, the graduates playfully whacked one another with foam sticks, walked around with television boxes on their heads and held an inflatable boat aloft.

The Clintons’ only child got her parents’ attention by calling someone seated near them on a cell phone, then laughed and skipped as she played kickball on the field with about 15 friends, gold foil dangling playfully from her cap. Former President Clinton, dressed in a blue suit with a blue tie, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), wearing a bright yellow suit, waved excitedly from the bleacher seats.

As students filed to their seats, a reporter asked Chelsea if she was excited. The former first daughter--who has been shielded from the media since her father started his presidential run nearly a decade ago--nodded, and not surprisingly, replied that she was indeed excited.

The Clintons were not available for comment, but the former president released a brief statement to reporters: “Hillary and I are grateful for the friendships and great learning experiences Chelsea had at Stanford and we are very proud of her on this special day.”

Chelsea Clinton will study international relations at Oxford University in England, where Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar.