IU School of Medicine Graduation – A Doctor’s Journey Begins (1995)
Looking back at a moment that changed everything.
Sunday, May 14, 1995…I stood in a packed stadium in Indianapolis, wearing a navy gown and mortarboard, waiting for my name to be called. The venue was the RCA Dome back then — formerly the Hoosier Dome, long before Lucas Oil Stadium replaced it. The place was massive, echoing with noise and energy. It was the graduation ceremony for IUPUI, and every school was represented. My family was somewhere in the stands: my parents, my wife, my daughter.
There were hundreds of graduates across various programs, and when they announced the IU School of Medicine, we all stood together — over 250 of us. A gasp rippled through the crowd. The other schools had much smaller classes, and the sheer number of future physicians standing at once left a visible impression. It was a long day, but an unforgettable one.
That photo above? That was the moment. Me, reaching out to shake hands with Dean Walter J. Daly and accept my diploma. A symbol, really, more than a piece of paper. It marked the day I officially became a doctor. That was the moment my life started anew.
It was, quite literally, a different world. There were no electronic medical records. The Internet hadn’t yet become the dominant force it is now. We still wrote notes by hand. We still used actual textbooks for research. And yet, even with all the changes that would come in medicine, technology, and culture, that moment of graduation still feels close. Raw. Personal. Monumental.
Restoring this photo brought it all rushing back. The image was scratched and weathered by time, much like we all are after 30 years in practice. But I cleaned it up as best I could, not to make it perfect, but to preserve what it meant.
This was the first step of a very long journey. And somehow, I’m still walking it.
William B. Bebout, MD
Indiana University School of Medicine, Class of 1995
RCA Dome, Indianapolis, Indiana
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