Clintons arrive for Chelsea's graduation
( 2001-06-17 09:39 ) (7 )

Hillary and Bill Clinton are in California to watch daughter Chelsea graduate from Stanford Sunday.

Former President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived Saturday for their daughter's graduation weekend, in time to attend an outdoor religious service for Stanford University seniors.

Chelsea Clinton's four years at Stanford end Sunday when she joins 1,600 other seniors at commencement in the football stadium.

All three Clintons wore sunglasses and hats for Saturday's baccalaureate. The difference was that Chelsea Clinton donned a black graduation cap to match her robe.

Her parents sat with the public - amid Secret Service agents - as Chelsea posed for pictures with friends. After the service, Bill Clinton posed for pictures of his own with eager parents while his wife joined their daughter in front of Stanford's Memorial Church.

"Hillary and I are grateful for the friendship and great learning experiences Chelsea had at Stanford and we are very proud of her on this special day," Bill Clinton said.

Chelsea Clinton, 21, once talked of becoming a pediatric cardiologist. She leaves Stanford with a degree in history and will study international relations at Oxford University, where her father was a Rhodes Scholar from 1968 to 1970.

Her honors thesis discussed the role her father's administration played in mediating the Northern Ireland peace agreement.

Stanford officials carefully protected Clinton's privacy, keeping her name out of the campus directory and refusing to talk about her.

From the beginning, the student newspaper had a policy of mentioning her only if she involved herself in a newsworthy event.

Students say Clinton tried to blend in as well as she could with an ever-present Secret Service detail.

Despite her political genes, she didn't take a role in student government. But she lived on campus and often could be seen rooting at sporting events, dining with friends in restaurants in Palo Alto, studying in the library and exercising in the gym.