Groton - As much as the large white tent was beautiful on the manicured lawn between the mansion and the Sound, and the tassels and mortarboards were appropriately ceremonial, none of it represented the real message of a graduation celebration held Friday at the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus.

Instead, it was this: a professor calling up the members of a school's graduating class and, one by one, telling the audience of about 500 people a little about each graduate.

This one is perhaps the only person ever to have been attacked by a penguin. That one has a husband serving in Afghanistan. She bakes a mean apple pie. He has a sister who was the first student enrolled in Marine Sciences here. That woman disproves the adage that a dream deferred is a dream denied.

"That's what our campus is about," Trudy Flanery, director of Student Services, said afterward. "We're small."

Graduate Tania Ranelli of Niantic, who will receive a bachelor of general studies and plans to get a master's degree in social work, said she tells friends who are considering attending Avery Point to take a class there.

"A great reason (to go to school here) is because the professors get to know you," she said, adding, "You get hugs from the professors."

Friday's event was a celebration rather than a formal graduation because actual degrees are conveyed during ceremonies held at UConn's Storrs campus on Sunday.

Brittany LeMontagne of Mystic, who will graduate with a BA in marine sciences, said she transferred to Avery Point from Keene State in New Hampshire after having a sort of epiphany. It was at Keene, where LeMontagne was majoring in Spanish, that she took an environmental studies class around the time the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" came out.

LeMontagne said she realized she wanted to do something to benefit others, not merely for herself. She plans to "communicate science to non-scientists," she said, hoping to bridge the gap between groups of people who haven't always understood or related to one another.

At Avery Point, it was the first year the branch was able to celebrate with all of its students at the same time after its new director, Michael Alfultis, said the school would put up a large tent that could hold everyone.

In past years, the school had to hold two events because if the weather was bad it couldn't fit everyone inside of Branford House.

Graduate Katelyn Arruda offered separate snippets of advice for family and friends as well as the graduates during the closing address.

"Stop asking us if we're ready for the real world," she said, gently chiding the audience. "What does that even mean?"

Arruda quipped later, "Every A and every F was real."

Arruda urged her fellow graduates to do what they can to improve the world, despite seemingly long odds, and to take responsibility for their lives.

W. Frank Bohlen, professor of marine sciences, told the graduates to make a difference locally as he wrapped up a keynote address that was equal parts science lecture - complete with thoughts on hydrocarbons, photovoltaics, porous plate batteries and cloud whitening - and graduation speech.

"As you leave us and proceed with your life, continue to view adversity as opportunity," Bohlen said during a section on optimists and pessimists. He added: "Begin small, at home. Start where you can make a difference."

k.crompton@theday.com

The graduates

The following is a list of Avery Point students honored at the Graduation Celebration on Friday:

Graduating in American Studies: Kristen Becher, Lyme; Joe Evola, Old Saybrook; Reagan Garside, New London; Samantha McCarthy, Gales Ferry; Matt Nixon (magna cum laude), Ledyard; Peter Omdahl, Madison; Julia Peterson, Groton; Dayne Rugh, Groton; and Ian Thomas, New London.

Graduating in Marine Sciences: Katelyn Arruda, Old Lyme; Daniel LaPointe, Canterbury; Brittany Lemontagne, Mystic; and Seth Megargle, Norwich.

Graduating in Maritime Studies: Jonathan Layton, Deep River; William Price, Mystic; and Michael Sullivan, Salem.

Graduating in General Studies: Jennifer Bradley, Groton; Sarah Carlson, Old Lyme; Jennifer Carroll, Gales Ferry; Lisa Coleman, Stonington; Julia Gorham, Norwich; Marie Hall, Groton; Meredith Jarvas, Quaker Hill; Elsie Johnson, Griswold; Patricia Lannon, East Lyme; Katherine Lowenstrom, Voluntown; Amy Oulundsen, Oakdale; Elizabeth Provenzano, North Stonington; Tania Ranelli, Niantic; Kaitlynn Richmond, Gales Ferry; William Simons, East Lyme; Anna Sofia, New London; Lisa Tess, Mystic; Alice Vargas, Groton; Annette Viall, Gales Ferry; Tacha Wasilewski, Groton; Kerry Watterson, Groton; and Dee-Ann Wierzbowski, Old Saybrook.

Other majors: Gina Arnold (political science), Westerly; Justin Barnhill (political science), Groton; Valerie Doughty (English, summa cum laude), Gales Ferry; Eric Dyson (biology), Waterford; Leah Hendricks (nursing), Groton; Chiron Otero (ecology and environmental biology/psychology), New London; Julia Otero (ecology and environmental biology/psychology), New London; Martina Parashkevova (anthropology/sociology), Westbrook; Kimberly Smith (history), Colchester; and Rachel Troy Smith (psychology), Groton.