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4/23/13 12:57 PMWith Admitted Student Weekends Disrupted,
Universities Went Online | Boston Magazine
Page 1 of
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With Admitted Student Weekends Disrupted, Universities Went
OnlineWith the city in lockdown, universities that would have
welcomed prospective students had to recruit in creative ways.
By Lisa Kashinsky | Boston Daily | April 22, 2013 5:15 pm
As universities shuttered their campuses and canceled activities
during Fridays lockdown, prospective students who had come from
around the country
for open house visits suddenly found themselves stranded and
without answers to the many questions that would influence their
college decision.
After acceptances get sent out, April is typically the final
push for universities to lock in their new freshmen class by
inviting them to campus through
scheduled open houses. But as the manhunt began, suspending much
of the travel to and from Boston and requiring that much of the
city stay inside,
schools with scheduled admitted students weekends, including
Boston University, Harvard, Tufts, and Northeastern quickly pulled
the plug on their
events.
To cope, Both Harvard and BU took their prospective student
outreach online. Representatives and students who volunteer in the
Admissions Office
began posting on the BU Class of 2017 Facebook page and using
the hashtag #BU2017 on Twitter, offering to answer questions for
students who were
either stranded in Boston or hadnt begun their journey here yet.
But it didnt stop there.
Once I realized that this was starting to go viral in the BU
communitywhen other current students, alumni, staff members, and
other departments
started offering to join in and helpI decided to created the
Google spreadsheet so we could have a resource to help organize
what was going on, said
Gordon Ryan, digital and social media marketing manager for BU
Admissions.
The document, which was created around 10:25 a.m., had grown to
around 450 students and alumni by 7 p.m., according to Ryan, as
more and more of
the BU community found links to the document through social
media.
N EW S RESTAU RAN TS F ASH I O N & STYL E H EAL TH ARTS
& EN TERTAI N M EN T W ED D I N GS H O M E D ESI GN BEST O F BO
STO N I N TH E M AGAZI N E
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4/23/13 12:57 PMWith Admitted Student Weekends Disrupted,
Universities Went Online | Boston Magazine
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Were thrilled, to say the least. Im humbled, Ryan said. While I
knew there would be a core group of our Admissions students who
would help out to
some extent, I did not anticipate such an outpouring of help
from the entire BU community.
At Harvard, too, current students, alumni and faculty were
reaching out to prospective freshmen through the hashtag
#virtualvisitas. The Harvard
Crimson also reported that students stepped up to lead
unofficial tours and answer questions on Saturday for prospective
freshmen and their families that
had made it to Boston.
At Tufts, where Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Lee Coffin
estimated about half of the 800 expected visitors made it to Boston
for the schools Jumbo
Days open house, the event was restructured and moved inside for
safety.
We offered them an abbreviated program the welcoming remarks, a
student-to-student conversation and a spontaneous presentation by
Tufts
president while we assessed the external situation, Coffin
said.
Rather than outright reschedule it, BU, Harvard and Tufts are
already working on providing alternatives to the missed
weekend.
Were already talking about a virtual open house and how we can
give them [the prospective students] as close to the same
experience online as we do
when they are on campus, Ryan said of BUs plans.
Similarly, Coffin said Tufts is planning to videotape elements
of this Fridays Jumbo Day to share with students from last
week.
Northeastern University, which also canceled its open house, has
already rescheduled it for Sunday, April 21.
Colleges pay close attention to their yield, and given the
violence and tragedy that occurred in Boston, coupled with the
canceled accepted students days,
its fair to wonder whether universities will have more trouble
than usual attracting the students theyve admitted this year.
According to John Baworowsky, current vice president for
Enrollment Management at Dominican University of California, Boston
should prove resilient
in the end.
It doesnt implicitly speak to the nature of the safety of Boston
or to the people who live in Boston, said Baworowsky, who has
worked in college
admissions and higher education for about 30 years. From what I
see, Boston has always been a very popular location with some of
the best colleges in
America, so I suspect that they will recover.
Baworowsky said, however that acts of violence do play into the
decision process.
I think it affects the parental influence in the process, he
said, as parents take a closer look at campus safety.
But quality of education remains a strong factor as well.
Baworowsky said that college attendance in New York City following
the September 11th attacks
remained strong due to the quality of education, and that he
expected a similar reaction in Boston.
People rally around schools and institutions when stuff like
this happens and they tend to do fine, he said.
Ryan said he has already seen a reaction along these lines from
prospective students.
Nearly all the students I have talked to or seen posts from
through social media have expressed that they are even more excited
to come to BU and to
Boston because of how strong the sense of community is both
within the university and throughout the city, he said. Bad things
can happen anywhere, at
any school; they know that when they come here, they become part
of a community they can count on.
Source URL:
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2013/04/22/with-admitted-student-weekends-disrupted-universities-went-online/
Copyright 2013 Metrocorp, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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4/23/13 4:15 PMCopley residents, workers face tighter security,
closed offices - Back Bay - Your Town - Boston.com
Page 1 of
2http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/back_bay/2013/04/copley_residents_workers_face.html
BACK BAY, NORTH ENDCopley residents, workers face tighter
security, closedofficesPosted by Anne Steele
April 16, 2013 02:33 PM
By Lisa Kashinsky, BU News Service
In the moments and hours following the explosions at the 117th
Boston Marathon on Mondayafternoon that threw Boylston Street into
chaos, people who live and work in the surroundingbuildings were
faced with confusion, disorientation and ultimately,
evacuations.
Rebecca Hildreth, 22, a Boston University student, was with
friends at her apartment in Avalon at thePrudential, just behind
the entrance to the Prudential Center shopping mall on Boylston
Street. Assoon as her friends, who were watching the race from her
15th-floor window, saw smoke billowing intothe street and people
pouring out of the food court, they knew they had to run, taking
the stairs to getout of the building.
Hildreth doubled back for her cell phone, worried about finding
her father, who was working within ablock of the finish line.
I went to try to run to Copley to find my dad but saw people
running toward me crying and soterrified, Hildreth said. They
wouldnt let anyone go near the blast. A girl who saw both
explosionstold me what happened and we were both bawling
together.
Unable to get closer to the explosion site, Hildreth said she
ran to her parents apartment where hermother and young niece were.
Her father returned two hours later.
He said he saw pools of blood and it was chaos, Hildreth
said.
David Marx, 37, a North End resident who works near Copley
Square, said he first learned about theexplosions through a text
from a friend at 3:30 p.m. He was evacuated from his office at 4:55
p.m.
When I got outside it was eerie because you knew what had
already happened, yet things seemed kindof normal for a post-race
day lots of police, ambulances, runners, race volunteers, which is
normalfor the race, he said. But there were lots of stunned looks
on faces.
Marx said he is working remotely today as the Copley Square area
remains closed off.
With all of the people in the area, photos and videos they took,
surveillance cameras, there must besome clue or clues that can help
the FBI, he said.
Within the designated crime scene area, security has been
greatly increased for residents.
Hildreth was unable to get back into her apartment Monday night
as police said no one was allowed inthe area. She was finally able
to gain entrance shortly after noon on Tuesday, but was met
with
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4/23/13 4:15 PMCopley residents, workers face tighter security,
closed offices - Back Bay - Your Town - Boston.com
Page 2 of
2http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/back_bay/2013/04/copley_residents_workers_face.html
heightened security.
I couldnt go in the normal ways and had to go through this
tunnel in the garage, she said
This article is being published under an arrangement between the
Boston Globe and the BostonUniversity News Service.
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4/23/13 4:07 PMJournalism student watches the chaos from a 15th
floor window - Quincy, MA - The Patriot Ledger
Page 1 of
1http://www.patriotledger.com/topstories/x333079861/Journalism-student-watches-the-chaos-from-a-15th-floor-window
HOW TO HELP: Where to donate to Boston Marathon bombing
victims
BOSTON
Journalism student watches the chaos from a 15th floor windowBy
Lisa KashinskyFor The Patriot LedgerPosted Apr 15, 2013 @ 09:22
PM
Four hours into the 117th Boston Marathon, fans outside the
Prudential Center cheered and held up signs as runnersneared the
finish line in Copley Square. Nine minutes later, the first bomb
went off. Seconds later, a second bomb.
From a 15th floor window, I watched the Prudential Center
courtyard on Boylston Street turn to chaos. Spectators began to
backaway, then run towards the Hynes Convention Center. People
poured out of the Prudential Center Food Court and followed the
crowdaway from the finish line.
Runners on the course stopped in their tracks. A few turned and
began running in the the opposite direction.
My friends and I ran down the Fairfield Apartment Complex stairs
and ended up on Huntington Avenue, where Boston PoliceOfficers
directed people away from the Prudential Center.
The sound of sirens filled the air as police officers, fire
trucks and ambulances rushed toward Copley Square.
Cell phone service was down, as many people tried to make calls
that would not go through. Text messages were delayed in
bothsending and receiving messages, and 3G service was slow, if it
worked at all.
Red Sox fans and Boston University students crossed through the
Boston Marathon path on Commonwealth Avenue just pastKenmore Square
on Charlesgate Street, mingling with runners who had yet to finish
the marathon as they made their way back downCommonwealth Avenue
towards Allston.
Lisa Kashinsky is a BU journalism student and former news intern
at The Patriot Ledger
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Page 1 of 3 16/04/2013 12:32 PM
'It was borderline chaos at times': Locals, witnesses discuss
Boston MarathonexplosionsWritten by Staff reportApr. 15
pressconnects.com
Paul McMahon had every reason to be in a celebratory mood upon
finishing the Boston Marathon in 3 hours, 39minutes, 29
seconds.
For me, turning 64 in three weeks, I didnt think I still had a
sub-3:40 in me. But how can you celebrate? hewondered, given the
tragedy that struck Monday afternoon.
A Binghamton resident who has run Boston eight of the past nine
years, McMahon was hoping to settle in for hiscustomary post-race
massage a couple of blocks from the finish line when he heard one
boom, then a second, butdid not know the nature of the blasts.
Bombing forensicsMap/timeline
There was an announcement that they were evacuating the
building. They said to take your time, but that they hadto
evacuate, he said. Once outside and unaware of what had transpired,
he and the rest of those evacuated wereinstructed not to head
toward the finish line.
Paul and wife Jan had secured lodging about three miles away.
With subway service shut down, he was forced towalk to the
room.
It was crazy that runners didnt know what was going on, but you
walk into a bar and look at a television that saidTwo dead, 23
injured, he said.Paul does not carry a cell phone when in marathon
mode, and enlisted the help of a stranger to text-message Jan
thathe was OK.
As I was walking back to the room there was a moment when I felt
like I was disappointed, he said. I wanted tocelebrate a good
marathon. Then it hit me: This doesnt matter, Im alive! You realize
that this is so small in the bigpicture.
He added, My son remarked, You guys should never go back to that
race. I said, No, this is the American way.You dont let terrorists
stop you from doing what you want to do. People get scared, but you
cant let them stopyou.
Below are accounts from people with ties to the Binghamton area
and their accounts of the tragic explosions:Tuesday at the Boston
Marathon
'Blessed we're OK'
Having completed her first Boston Marathon, Liz DiCosimo, along
with husband Joe and 8-year-old daughterAdriana, were in their
car.
There was a ton of traffic and we heard a huge explosion,
sounded like a truck back-firing. Soon after, we heardanother, Liz
said. The windows were down and we heard a lady yell, Two bombs
just went off at the finish line!They were stuck in traffic.
Helicopters hovered, emergency vehicles tried to negotiate the
traffic Sirens andnoise and people looking around with panicked
looks on their faces. No one knew what to do, she said.
We feel thankful and blessed were OK, and feel for the people
and the families of those who are not.
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Page 2 of 3 16/04/2013 12:32 PM
She had received messages from friends congratulating her on her
finish, but it was clear that those sending were notyet aware what
had happened. So Liz informed them what Boston was
experiencing.
My husband told me afterward, If you finished 20 minutes later,
youd have been right there.
From Lizs perspective, one uplifting experience came out of an
otherwise tragic situation. A local newscasterreporting on the
incident was choked with emotion as he shared accounts of
marathoners passing directly from thefinish line to a medical
facility to donate blood.
Thats the human spirit, she said.
'Heard the bangs'
It was hardly what Brian Cupp expected of his first running of
the Boston Marathon.
It was the toughest course Id ever run but the crowd support was
amazing. Everyone was happy, smiling, cheeringeverybody on
unfortunately it was marred by that incident, said Cupp, a
48-year-old resident of Newark Valley.
He completed the race and was at the family meet area two blocks
from the finish line.
You heard the bangs but didnt think a whole lot of it, maybe a
car backfiring or whatever, he said. But then, thecommotion
commenced, people running here and there, word spread as emergency
responders rushed about. (I) Justwanted to get out of there.
It was not until making it through traffic to the Thruway and
stopping at a rest area when it hit.
I got down about half-a-slice of pizza, that was about it, Cupp
said. There were a number of runners there, someof them in tears,
trying to get a hold of friends and family.
Separated at first
Ten or so minutes had passed since Binghamton resident Drew
Wasko had felt the satisfaction of completing his 21stBoston
Marathon. But then, about a block from the finish line, other
senses spelled something was amiss.
The bomb went off and I felt something, like compression, and I
saw smoke. We had no clue (what was going on),then the second one
went off, he said. People had blank looks on their faces, like no
one knew what was going on. You saw all the SWAT teams and the
ambulances.
An eerie feeling. It was like, this cant be happening here. It
was borderline chaos at times.
While driving home from work, Drews wife Julie flipped the radio
on and first heard about the explosions at therace. Their two
children Andrew, 20, and Emilianna, 16 and other family members
were at the race asspectators.
My son and daughter were waiting in the area where the runners
meet their families and theyre all thankfully OK,Wasko said,
following a frantic scramble to reach her family.
Her first contact came through text message exchanges and
eventually got a cellphone call through to her children,all the
while watching graphic images from the scene flash across her
television.
I was just relieved to hear them; I just needed to hear their
voices, she said.Drew, who was running his 21st Boston Marathon,
had finished shortly before the first explosion, Julie Wasko
said,adding he said he felt a blast prompting mass confusion among
the large crowd near the finish line. Meanwhile, theirchildren had
been at a gathering point nearby and rushed to find Drew amid the
chaos.
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Page 3 of 3 16/04/2013 12:32 PM
Theyre all OK, and theyre just trying to find their way home
now, she said.Drew Wasko, 60, was separated from family members at
the time of the explosions, and used the word emotionalto describe
the moment they met up with one another We all hugged each other.
They were in as much danger asI was.
Bridge Run organizers saddened
Stacey Duncan, race director of Greater Binghamton Bridge Run,
said they are deeply saddened by the tragic eventsat the Boston
Marathon.
A day filled with joy and inspiration should not end on such a
tragic note, she said. Our thoughts and prayers goout to the
victims and their families.
Confusion on the streets
Lisa Kashinsky, a Vestal native now living in Boston, was on the
15th floor of an apartment building about twoblocks away from the
Boston Marathon finish line.
She recalled looking out the window and seeing confusion on the
streets before hearing the second explosion a fewseconds later.
I saw people on the street outside the Prudential Center on
Boylston Street panicking and both spectators andrunners running
away from the finish line, said Kashinsky, a former Press &
Sun-Bulletin intern and current BostonUniversity student.
She then ran down to the street where police were directing
people and traffic, adding nobody seemed to have detailsabout what
happened. Everyone was concerned about getting away from the area,
she said.
I spoke to police and they did not know what was going on beyond
that, Kashinsky said.
'Very relieved'
Terry Spring, of Binghamton, followed a stream of text updates
from her daughter, Colleen Spring, 25, who hadfinished the race
about an hour before the explosions. The mother remembered spending
a few moments fearing theworst before hearing from her
daughter.
I heard from her almost immediately. She sent group text
messages out throughout, and everybody was relieved.Thank God for
that technology because I dont know what I would have done, Terry
Spring said. Right now, Imjust relieved, very relieved.Shortly
after the story broke, Terry Spring also relayed news of her
daughter to concerned neighbors who had startedstopping by her
Binghamton home. Colleen Spring, who had yet to work out her return
to Binghamton because hercar was parked near the explosion site,
was participating in her second Boston Marathon.
She had run track at Seton Catholic Central High School and went
on to compete at Marywood University inScranton, Pa.
-
BU Student Reporter Hears BlastPublished on April 15, 2013 Add
Comment
By BU News Service Staff
Lisa Kashinsky, a student covering the marathon for BU News
Service, was standing at a window in an apartmentbuilding behind
the Prudential Center when she heard two back-to-back explosions.
She immediately left andheaded towards her apartment near Boston
University.
When I got to Kenmore, I saw a woman sitting on a bench trying
to call someone on their cellphone, crying, shesaid.
She was one of a team of reporters who were expecting a routine
day coving a marathon and instead became a partof the story.
Standing at the window, she saw the response.
I heard the second one and at that point I saw people running
away from the Prudential Center food court, shesaid. I saw a couple
runners on the track turn around and start running in the other
direction.
When she reached the ground, police were directing people away
from the Prudential Center and surroundingbuildings. While there
was confusion, everyone remained notably orderly.
No one was flat-out panicked running, she said, but they were
worried and hurried. Lots of people were trying touse their cell
phones but there wasnt cell phone service.
Kashinsky reports that text messages also wouldnt go through
immediately and that Green Line T services wereshut down by the
time she got to Kenmore Station.
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4/23/13 4:46 PMBoston Marathon 2013 Runners Served Pasta,
Smiles
Page 2 of
4http://bunewsservice.com/marathon2013/runners-served-pasta-smiles-at-annual-dinner/
Boston Chief of Public Property Michael Galvin (right) serves
food to runners outside City Hall on Sunday evening during the
annual pre-marathon pasta dinner. (Lisa Kashinsky/BU News
Service)
By L isa KashinskyBy L isa Kashinsky
BU News Service
City Hall was transformed into a sea of blue and yellow Sunday
evening as thousands of runners donning their official race
jackets poured into the sunlit plaza for the annual pre-marathon
carbo-loading dinner.
Groups of Wellesley College students enthusiastically greeted
runners, their families and friends, as they exited the
Government
Center T stop, causing many to break into grins. Music floated
through the air as runners chatted animatedly while waiting to
fuel
up for the 117th Boston Marathon tomorrow morning, imbuing the
plaza with a festive atmosphere.
Its a celebration of people who run, said David Lindgren, 55, a
Minneapolis resident who is running the marathon for the 11th
time in a row this year. Its part of the ambiance of the whole
event.
More than 400 volunteers were on hand to help run the event and
serve approximately 3,000 lbs of pasta to 9,000 guests this
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4/23/13 4:46 PMBoston Marathon 2013 Runners Served Pasta,
Smiles
Page 3 of
4http://bunewsservice.com/marathon2013/runners-served-pasta-smiles-at-annual-dinner/
yeara third of the 27,000 total runnersaccording to event
coordinator Melissa Goodhart.
Its a labor of love, Goodhart said. This is my 27th year doing
this and I watched it grow from a 4,000 person thing into a big
deal.
Of the volunteers, 175 were Wellesley students, the mark of a
longstanding tradition of student involvement with the race.
First time volunteer Stephanie Kim, a Wellesley senior, had a
constant smile on her face as she directed runners through the
waiting line for food.
Theres a sense of camaraderie there that theyre going to be
doing something amazing tomorrow and for us to be a part of it,
said Kim, 22. One of them thanked me for volunteering and I was
like, no, thank you!
Wellesley College senior Jean Lee also said she enjoyed meeting
the runners. Lee, 21, has volunteered at the pasta party dinner
for four years and has been a coordinator for the last
three.
Its very different than cheering them on during the marathon,
Lee said. Here you actually get to interact with them. Theyre
very
supportive of us. They love Wellesley and the Wellesley scream
tunnel.
Lindgren grinned as he spoke about the signs made by Wellesley
students in the tunnel, many of which include phrases about
kissing.
The fan support is fantastic, he said. You dont go very far
without hearing someone cheering for you.
Bostons Chief of Property Management Michael Galvin gave runners
encouragement and support from the city as he spoke on
behalf of Mayor Thomas Menino, who was in the hospital
undergoing surgery for a leg injury.
Other speakers included 1973 Boston Marathon champion Jacqueline
Hansen and 1983 winner Greg Meyer, the last American
male to win the event. The speakers joined volunteers in serving
pasta, salad and rolls of bread to runners.
Meyer plans to join Lindgren and a sea of other repeat runners
who are racing either professionally or for charity. While
Lindgren said he has qualified in the past, he is running this
year as part of the American Medical Athletic Association.
Its wonderful wandering through the New England countryside,
Lindgren said. This is my 116th marathon and Boston is my
favorite.
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