Some students had expected a lighter speech from someone who is known more as a rock star than a political activist by the general public.

"I was expecting him to just pat us on the back," said Jason R. Mann '01. "I appreciated his honesty and the way he just leveled with us."

The message of encouraging each student to play a role in improving the world carried through much of Class Day.

Yesterday's ceremony also honored two seniors, Rose M. Kakoza '01 and Lee M. Hampton '01, who were presented with the Ames Award for their four-year record of exceptional community service, both on campus and in the larger Boston community.

To close his speech, Bono spoke of the optimism he had felt as a young Dubliner who watched America place a man on the moon.

"We said, this is mad. Nothing is impossible in America," he said. "Is that still true? Tell me its true. And if it's not true, you, of all people, can make it true again."

--Staff writer Warren S. Adler can be reached at wsadler@fas.harvard.edu.