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With an esteemed purpose and an odd name, the square-topped, tasseled mortarboard—named for its resemblance to the bricklayer’s tool called a hawk—is shorthand for graduations, which have a way of ending with the appendages tossed gleefully (and perilously) in the air. At BU’s 141st Commencement, many graduates used their caps as canvases, documenting their passions—chess, beer, the Boston skyline—and their gratitude—“Thanks, Dad, Mom and Coffee.” This slideshow is a gallery of 2014’s more inspired mortarboards, some suitable for framing.