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Conversations with alums about what BU meant — and still means

Video by Devin Hahn and Chris Maggio (COM’08). Text by Bari Walsh

Click on the video above to watch alumni reminiscing about their BU experiences.

Each Boston University student crafts a distinct experience, and the chance to chart your own path is one of the joys of studying on a large and multidisciplinary campus. But when BU Today gathered a group of alumni at Reunion & Alumni Weekend last month to ask them what BU means in their lives, the story lines converged in ways that defied the stereotype of this university as a place that’s too big to foster a real sense of community or collegiate tradition.

The alums told us that BU is the place where they met their best friend or their spouse. It is the place where they first realized they could achieve their goals or the place that first tested them beyond what they thought they could handle. In its diversity, it is the place that showed them what the world looked like and started them thinking about what impact they wanted to make on that world. And it’s the place that houses all those memories: the Dugout, the Pub, Warren, West, commuting by T, afternoons on the Beach, and the professors who made a difference.

As one alum put it, summing up what others implied, BU meant (and means) opportunity — intellectual, social, professional. Over the years and the generations, it comes down to that.

Devin Hahn can be reached at dhahn@bu.edu. Bari Walsh can be reached at bawalsh@bu.edu. Chris Maggio can be reached at cmaggio@bu.edu.

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