By Zack O’Malley

At approximately 2:50 p.m. on April 15, as runners crossed the finish line at the Boston Marathon, a bomb detonated. Just 13 seconds later, a second explosion occurred a few a blocks down Boylston. The two explosions caused three fatalities and over 250 people were injured.
Fast forward to April 19, four days after the marathon bombings two brothers are suspected of killing an MIT campus police officer and carjacking a vehicle. The police pursued the brothers to the intersection of Dexter Avenue and Laurel Street in Watertown, about five miles from the Bentley campus. A shootout ensued between the brothers and the police and the elder brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed.
Friday morning, Dean Shepardson sent out a campus-wide email informing students that the university was aware of the situation and asked students to remain inside. With no news of an apprehension and the university in full lockdown mode, Seasons opened briefly from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m. and then again from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. to provide food to hungry students. Around 8:45 p.m., the police announced that they had apprehended the remaining suspect.
Obviously the events of this weekend were tragic and had a profound effect on the residents of the city of Boston and the surrounding areas, including Watertown. But how did this tragedy affect Bentley students, just a few short miles from the final hiding place of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev?
The Vanguard asked several students to share their experiences with us to find out how they were impacted by the heartrenching events:

Vanguard: Can you describe for us the moment when you first heard about the marathon bombings?
Freshman Arianne Bourgault: When I first heard about the bombings, I was on my way back from watching the marathon with my [cross country] team. I almost didn’t believe what was going on and then I was bombarded with calls and texts making sure I was okay. I was thankful I was okay but immediately got concerned that the bombings could have affected some of those I cheered on at the marathon.
Sophomore Ned Furtney: I had just got back from cheering out on the course at mile 19, and had walked into Fenway. I had eight texts which asked if I was okay, so I put on the news and was appalled at the events that unfolded.
Junior Erika McKay: It was a very eerie feeling of helplessness and of fear because although things like this just don’t happen here is Boston.
Junior Connor Deneen: I was on the green space hosting an event with RHA. At first I did not think much of the situation, but I continued to look through my Twitter feed as it became more clear. The news just kept getting worse and I was anticipating this trend to continue. Thankfully, the number of victims who died remained relatively low after the first few hours.

Vanguard: Did these tragic events change the way you felt about the city of Boston as a whole?
Furtney: The events of the past week made me feel more connected to the Boston community certainly. It was a devastating attack and one that made the whole city stop. But from the awful events came images of humanity. People opening their homes, going above and beyond and showing that the human spirit cannot be suppressed. It made me proud to consider myself part of the Boston community.
Deneen: It was remarkable to see the city of Boston, the surrounding community and the country come together. The response of the people of Boston reaffirmed my faith in our society. We went from such a low (the bombings), to an extraordinary high (the unity and solidarity among victims, first responders, and greater community). I am glad that Boston is able to see some of the silver lining in such a horrific and cowardly attack.

Vanguard: How did you feel about the university’s response and the way it handled the situation?
Furtney: I think Bentley had a very appropriate response. I felt safe with all the entrances guarded and didn’t mind a day of being locked in. Students, faculty and officers alike were all on the same page, which made the whole process move along much smoother.
McKay: I honestly believe that the university handled the situation with such professionalism. They were able to instill a sense of safety within the campus in addition to keeping us informed about what was going on.

Vanguard: What did you do with your time during the lockdown?
Bourgault: I mostly used the time to get some homework done. I watched the news like a hawk and contacted family and friends back at home informing them I was okay.
McKay: My roommates and I watched to news constantly for hours, only deviating to take two hours to watch a movie to get out minds off of everything, but that was short lived and we went back to the news.

Vanguard: Set the scene for us: 8:45 p.m. the suspect is apprehended, what is happening around you?
McKay: My roommates and friends are all around me glued to the TV and we sit in silence for a minute then high fived and talked about how we could actually sleep that upcoming night.
Deneen: My friends and I were listening to the police scanner and watching the news, and leading up to the apprehension, we could tell that something big was about to happen. When we first heard that the suspect was apprehended, we all started screaming and hugging. I honestly did not know exactly what happened or how it happened until the next morning, because we went directly into celebration mode.

Vanguard: What was your favorite/least favorite part of the weekend?
Bourgault: My favorite part was seeing all my friends after being in lockdown. I was so happy when they caught the suspect. I immediately went to my friends and hung out with them and then later went to the lower green space to celebrate with the campus. Least favorite part… Cabin fever!!! There are only so many papers you can write in one day before your brain is fried.
Deneen: My favorite part of the weekend was seeing the unity among the people of Boston and Bentley. It was amazing to see people come together and respectfully honor the victims, while celebrating responsibly. My least favorite part of the weekend was hearing the news early Friday morning of the MIT police officer who was killed. As the situation was unfolding between 10:30 p.m. Thursday and 5:00 a.m. Friday, I was actually very worried, as I was unsure of what was actually happening. Officer Sean Collier goes down as a hero in my book.

By Zack O’Malley

Let’s drop some knowledge: You may know that in the most recent annual ranking of the Forbes Fortune 500, only one company ranked ahead of Wal-Mart. But did you also know that its headquarters are located in Bentonville, Arkansas? Probably not. Not to worry, though, because the members of the Bentley AIS chapter can probably give you directions if you’re still looking for that summer vacation spot.

While you were sleeping early Thursday morning, the Bentley chapter of the Association for Information Systems (currently pending recognition on campus) sent a team of IPM (Information Process and Management), ISAC (Information Systems Audit and Control) and CIS (Computer Information Systems) majors to compete in the 2012-13 AIS Student Competition in Arkansas.

By now you’re probably wondering, what exactly is the Association for Information Systems? The AIS is an international organization working toward the pursuit of excellence in the study of information systems. The Bentley community has strong ties to the organization. Bentley professor Jane Fedorowicz is the current president-elect of the organization and she, along with co-worker Heikki Topi, worked to establish the AIS chapter at Bentley.

In January, the team designed a system for a theoretical company for the virtual round of the competition. The students, working in the systems analysis and design track, had their submission graded by professors at the University of Indiana, who then picked the top five entries to attend the next stage of the competition in Arkansas.

A week prior to arriving in Arkansas, teams were asked to make a revision to their submissions. Seventeen different schools were represented at the event including Carnegie Mellon University, Brigham Young University and Temple University. After weeks of hard work, the Bentley team made a strong showing, placing second overall at the competition. The second-place team consisted of juniors Brendan Colford and Ryan Hebert and sophomores Mackenzie Segura-Cook and Alina Usmanov.

In addition to the main event, which they sponsored, Wal-Mart had its own challenge for the individuals at the competition. The 2013 Wal-Mart IT Summit Challenge asked students to innovate and develop a technological improvement for the Wal-Mart customer experience. Students were broken up into teams with various universities represented in each group. The winning team, which included Colford, developed an app that allows a customer to view a map of items in their inputted shopping list, thereby optimizing the customer’s route through the store.

Chapter president Eric Ohlson’s team brought home second place, with Usmanov also representing Bentley in the top five teams. The first and second place teams were rewarded $5,000 and $2,500 respectively to be given to the charities of their choosing. In light of the recent tragedy surrounding the city of Boston, the first place team decided to generously donate the money to the Boston One Fund to help provide aid to the families of victims. “I was happy to be able to bring something like that, from the competition, to this area in a time of need,” said Colford.

By Benjamin Klein

Mathematics Professor Richard Cleary hadn’t run more than 14 miles since last May, but that didn’t stop him from competing in this year’s Boston Marathon. If it weren’t for some friends, a jacket, a bit of food and something to drink, he may not have been able to cross the finish line.

Cleary, who usually runs around 25-30 miles per week now, started running his junior year of high school.

“I was always somebody that liked sports and really wanted to get a varsity letter,” said Cleary. “So I was hanging around in junior varsity baseball and it wasn’t clear that that was going to happen. So I went out for cross country, liked it and did well.”

The former varsity baseball hopeful has now run in the Boston Marathon each year since 1979. He’s crossed the finish line 32 times in his career, dropping out four times due to heat and other reasons.
But this time was certainly more different than any other.

Cleary’s qualifying time placed him at the back of the 10:20 a.m. starting group. He ran the first 18 miles at a “sensible pace” of 8:30 per mile. He hadn’t been able to complete his usual pair of 20-mile runs due to the overly snowy winter so when he saw a group of friends at around 20.5 miles, he stopped and contemplated dropping out because he was so tired.

“I borrowed a jacket from one of them, which turned out to being a really good thing because I had been getting cold and the wind had picked up,” said Cleary. “I had a little bit to eat and drink with them that really revived me quite a bit. So I left them feeling quite a bit better and was able to run all the way to the finish.”

Although it was Cleary’s slowest time ever, he crossed the finish line in four hours and 21 minutes, which he recalled was about three minutes before the first explosion went off.

“When you finish, they really try to move you briskly away,” said Cleary. “I was a couple of blocks past the finish, but I certainly heard the sound and saw the smoke. I wasn’t really near where there was panic or where people were really injured.”

Cleary said that he started to tighten up when walking so he just kept on running. This helped him cross the finish line as quickly as he did and avoid any potential harm.

“I feel fortunate to have gotten across when I did,” said Cleary.

The inability to train seriously had Cleary doubting that he’d ever run in the Boston Marathon again after this year, but after all that has transpired, it’s likely he’ll attempt to cross the finish line for a 33rd time.

“Now, I think I have to do at least one more,” said Cleary. “I’m going to be willing to give it a try again.”

Highly anticipated day costs nearly a quarter million dollars to fund

By Benjamin Klein

T-Pain. Tyga. Pulled pork. Duct tape.

These are just four of many line items on the Campus Activities Board’s (CAB) budget for Spring Day, scheduled for this Saturday, April 27.

As many students know, the Student Activity Fee sponsors events presented by CAB. Two weeks ago, The Vanguard published an article explaining which clusters the Allocation and Internal Audit Committee (AIA) allocates all of that money.

Digging for more information about the process and the logistics of the year’s biggest event, Spring Day, The Vanguard recently sat down with several members of CAB and AIA. The exclusive interview revealed for the first time the complexities and concrete costs of putting together Bentley’s largest student event.

CAB’s leaders see Spring Day as an entire day of activities, not just two artists getting on a stage in the Dana Center to sing a few songs in front of around 3,500 students.

“A lot of people fixate on the concert, which is understandable because it is a big event, but we always try to have Spring Day be seen as more than just a concert,” said CAB president Patrick Maguire. “We really work toward that every year and it’s not something that you can do in a year; it’s a cultural change both within the organization and throughout the university.”

There are two sides of Spring Day: the concert and traditions, which are the activities that students partake in before the concert begins. In total, CAB’s budget for Spring Day is just over $225,000, which is relatively consistent compared to the last couple of years. CAB budgeted $170,225 for the concert and $55,950 for traditions.

But don’t take those numbers out of context. T-Pain and Tyga make up only 76 percent of that $170,255. T-Pain is budgeted to receive $100,000. The remaining 24 percent of the concert budget is made up of line items that many wouldn’t even think about when planning a large concert.

For example, CAB has $275 budgeted for 50 rolls of duct tape, which will be used to keep all of the tarp on the Dana Center floor intact. CAB’s agent charges 10 percent for negotiating with the artist and opening act, and will get paid around $13,000 this year. Security for inside and outside the Dana Center will cost $2,500.

On the traditions side, food is the largest cost to CAB. And yes, pulled pork will be back this year. Food, purchased from Sodexo, makes up 53.6 percent of the traditions budget. The remaining money is used to purchase wristbands ($2,000), t-shirts ($3,750), food trucks ($7,800), novelties and activities ($5,000) and giveaways ($6,250), among many other line items.

While CAB is in charge of planning Spring Day, AIA also plays a big role, taking into consideration that it’s AIA’s money to allocate and monitor.

“It’s very much a collaborative process,” said AIA president Tim Dean. “We work with [CAB] to talk about ‘well, what if we move this to here?’ or ‘do you really need X amount for this line item?’ From our perspective it makes sense financially and for them, they still get to do what they need to do.”

AIA also makes sure that CAB uses the money its allocated for the items for which it was originally intended for. For example, if only 40 rolls of duct tape are purchased instead of 50, CAB cannot use the extra money elsewhere without permission from AIA. AIA doesn’t have to grant permission, either.

In general, the student body is getting quite a deal on Spring Day. It costs $64.62 for a student that participates in the activities throughout the day and attends the concert. For those just attending the concert, it costs $48.64 per student.

“If you think about concert tickets to anywhere else and if you’re just going and sitting in your seat and watching the show, they’re way more than [$48.64],” said CAB vice president of marketing and communication Sarah Swidler.

“What you’re getting, like the amount of food, activities, shirts and giveaways and all of that sort of stuff provided in the morning as well as the concert in the afternoon, we feel that that’s a relatively reasonable number and we work hard to give the students the most for their money,” said Swidler.

Like most years, Spring Day tickets were sold at $1 through MyBentley and the proceeds will be donated to charity. CAB had not decided which charity the money would go toward at the time of press, but Maguire and Swidler both felt that The One Fund—the foundation created to help the people affected by the tragic events at the Boston Marathon—was a likely candidate.

Spring Day activities will commence at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday when Season’s opens for breakfast. Doors to the Dana Center for the concert will open at 4 p.m.

By Zack O’Malley

As it turns out, walking around campus in a bright aqua colored t-shirt will get you a lot of attention. Having donned the official Consent Day shirt after participating, I noticed the murmurs around me asking, “What is Consent Day?” Basically, Consent Day is an event that makes a number of topics accessible that people otherwise might not be comfortable talking about.

Based upon a partnership between the Residential Center and the Center for Health and Wellness, the event focuses on the importance of sexual consent and how to incorporate it into relationships today. Consent Day poses a number of important questions to Bentley students including: What does a healthy relationship look like? How do you talk to a partner when you’re in a relationship? How do you ask someone for consent? What does consent mean? Essentially the goal of the event is to help educate students on how to answer these questions for themselves.

The event itself consists of a number of tables running games and activities with a subtle academic twist to promote the value of consent. In all, 23 student organizations were represented at the event manning the various tables and activities. If participating students successfully completed eight of the activities and received a completion stamp for each, they received the bright blue shirt emblazoned with the slogan, “Keep Calm and Talk First.”

From the moment the doors opened at 2:30 p.m., until they closed around 6:00 p.m., the Back Bay was flooded with students taking part in the entertaining activities including Twister. And while everyone would have loved to have the event outside on the green space, the weather simply wouldn’t cooperate that day. Despite this, the event still managed to bring in approximately 400 Bentley students.

The structure and planning process for the day has remained much the same over the five years with a continual increase of student involvement. The planning committee, co-chaired by Jessica Greertrow from the Health and Wellness Office and Justin Woodward of the Residence Life Office, was composed of a diverse group of 20 nominated students with varying class levels and levels of involvement on campus.

Unlike in previous years, a number of first-year students were asked to sit on the committee this year. Mr. Woodward expressed how proud he was of the students saying, “I’d like to give tremendous props to the student committee that really challenged us to freshen up the day. We couldn’t even incorporate everything they came up with this year.”

For this, the Fifth Annual Consent Day, the committee decided to freshen up the event with a series of new games and activities for participants to enjoy. In addition to improving the activities available at the event, the committee placed a renewed focus on the marketing of the event to Bentley students, increasing their utilization of Facebook and other social media.

Especially well-timed following the Consent Day festivities, the Bentley Women’s Center held their annual “Take Back the Night” event later that night, an empowering occasion where those impacted by sexual assault can reflect and discuss their experiences. The event culminated in a walk around campus where students lit glow sticks in support of sexual assault victims.

Professor Traci Abbott, who attended Consent Day representing the Gender Studies minor program, offered insight into how the two events tie together and share a common goal: “Bentley students are unfortunately victimized every semester, yet most are not clear about what constitutes sexual assault, how drugs and alcohol may play a role, or how they can effectively combat it. Consent Day provides information which corrects common misperceptions about the topic along with practical skills about communication and relationships that are useful in many facets of their life.”

By Zack O’Malley

On March 19, the Bentley Marketing Association launched a campus-wide marketing campaign, partnering with a local photo-marketing startup, Pongr, to bring awareness to the new Bentley brand. Following the Bentley marketing department’s recent re-branding efforts, the BMA’s goal was to get students excited about the new image and to hopefully add strength to the brand.

Though still in its infancy, the most recent re-branding effort has been met with confusion, criticism and disapproval by Bentley undergraduates and alumni alike. However, at the BMA launch event, many students actively expressed their approval, citing the ability to showcase their favorite parts of “the real Bentley” through their own photos. During the launch event in the Back Bay, the BMA eboard was busy giving away 400 t-shirts to interested students. A clever slogan was placed on the front of the dark blue shirt reading, “Make it Strongr with Pongr” along with the image of a barbell. The back of the shirt read “#bspirit” along with the new Bentley logo.

“We thought the t-shirts that were being given away at sporting events were all pretty similar and we wanted something that was catchy and would attract all Bentley students. We really put a lot of thought into them,” explained BMA president Karina Ripps.

But you can only build so much brand awareness with free t-shirts, so with the help of Pongr, the BMA found a way to give all Bentley students more free stuff. For clarification, Pongr is a new photo-sharing service much like Instagram and Pinterest, but with one unique identifier: branding. As a “photo-marketing” company, Pongr attempts to connect photos of places and products with the brands that may be interested in or associated with the image represented. Always ahead of the curve, Bentley is the first college or university that Pongr has partnered with. Pretty darn nimble.

Together with Bentley chief marketing officer David Perry and Mike Loftus, senior director of brand accounts at Pongr, the BMA team spent weeks developing and planning a comprehensive marketing campaign aimed at Bentley students.

Since March 19, the team has been running weekly photo competitions on Pongr each with their own unique hashtag theme. These are based upon each of the words found in the new Bentley brand as well as one developed by the BMA: #bsmart, #bnimble, #bcompassionate, #bprepared and #bspirit. For example, during the first week, participants were asked to take provide a creative photo that most accurately represented the tag #bprepared.

Students can then upload their photo using the iPhone or Android app and “tag” Bentley in each photo. Each entry is judged by its creativity as well as the number of “loves” it received from other participants on Pongr. The overall winner each week is awarded a gift basket of Bentley gear from the bookstore, full of items associated with the theme of the week. Four other student winners are chosen each week to receive an item from the gift basket each week.

This week’s competition, ending on Sunday, asks students to take a creative picture at any Bentley sporting event, with the hashtag #bspirit, to show their school pride. The final week of competition, April 22-28, is based upon the highest point total overall acquired during the four weeks of the competition. Points are determined by the number of photo uploads, photo “loves” received, as well as any shared updates on Facebook or Twitter.

By Zack O’Malley

“Cancer affects all of us, whether you’re a daughter, mother, sister, friend, coworker, doctor, patient,” said Jennifer Aniston.

If you ever wondered what running around in a frozen t-shirt for charity might be like, consider your day made because it’s not getting better than this. The annual Bentley Relay For Life event will take place on April 19 in the Dana Center, with the fun-filled festivities running from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Unlike many misconceptions people tend to have about the event, participants don’t need to be running or walking the entire time, but rather can take part in many of the other fun games and entertainment set up by Bentley’s Colleges Against Cancer group. “Basically it’s one big, all-night cancer-hating party,” explained CAC president Brian Shea. “It’s the one event on campus that will make you laugh, cry and go out of your comfort zone all together.”
Games and activities will be set up at tables placed around the track in the Dana Center for the entertainment and enjoyment of the relay participants. These will include: Minute-to-Win-It games, different musical performances by Bentley student groups, 90’s trivia, musical chairs, a viewing of Space Jam and yes, the Frozen T-Shirt contest.

Interested students can sign up for Relay for Life at www.relayforlife.org/bentley. If participants meet the individual fundraising goal of $100 they will receive a t-shirt. Any and all forms of fundraising are allowed and encouraged. Special awards are given away at the event for the top individual fundraiser, the top team fundraiser, and the most spirited individual.

This year, the New England Patriots will be sponsoring the event and have graciously donated a Jerod Mayo autographed football and a VIP Patriots experience to be raffled off at the event. The VIP experience consists of a visit to Gillette Stadium where the winner will get to meet and watch a game with former members of the New England Patriots.
The week immediately following Spring Break, CAC conducted their “Paint the Campus Purple” campaign where they put up ribbons, streamers, and balloons to attract the attention of people and hopefully get them to sing-up for the Relay.

As of now, CAC reports having over 500 participants signed up, with 60 teams registered, many of these sponsored by Bentley clubs and organizations. Participants will include a variety of students, faculty, administration and alumni as well as 25 invited cancer survivors. “We welcome any and all cancer survivors,” said secretary Danielle Carter. “We will celebrate them in the beginning by doing a survivor lap and then later have a dinner for them.”

Registration will remain open until the day of Relay. As of now, the sign-up fee is $10, with an expected increase to $15 starting this Sunday, and a $20 fee to sign-up at the door on the day of Relay.

Over $30,000 has been raised thus far, with CAC expecting to meet their goal of matching Bentley’s tuition, with housing, of $54,888. Sporting an intense planning process, an up-beat attitude, and a unifying spirit based on their experiences, the CAC executive board is truly one of the most committed and passionate groups of students the Bentley campus.

By Zack O’Malley

On April 4 the Bentley Model United Nations club traveled to the 8th annual Los Angeles Model United Nations Conference, or LAMUN, hosted by UCLA in southern California. The venue was unmatched for the occasion, boasting one of the most culturally diverse regions in the country, gorgeous springtime weather and a variety of ethnic cuisines for the delegates to enjoy.

“It was a great experience going to LA, we got to meet a diverse group of people from all around the country, as well as internationally,” said junior Kelsey Miller.

The goal of Model UN is to effectively simulate the activities and proceedings of official United Nations committees. Participants in the conference are able to learn about international politics, brandish their debating skills and expand their knowledge of other cultures. These participants, known as delegates, are assigned to various committees during the conference.

The group flew out early Thursday morning and arrived in LA around 1 p.m. Opening ceremonies took place around 6 p.m. and the first committee was held an hour afterward. Most off time the students experienced took place in the evening due to the meetings being held all day. Several Bentley MUN members were reportedly glad to have received the chance to bond with their fellow club members who they rarely see outside of official club functions.

After each committee session, the club went out together and did something fun. On Friday evening, a Pub crawl was held for those participants over the age of 21 as well as a tour of the sites in LA. Several of the Bentley students visited Universal Studios Saturday evening, and traveled to the ocean-side city of Santa Monica Sunday afternoon prior to returning to Bentley.

As it is broken down at many Model UN conferences, the LAMUN was divided into several committees such as Historical General Committees, “Eco-Soc” Committees, and Crisis Committees. Miller was a member of the Scotland Yard crisis committee, representing one of the inspectors solving the infamous case of Jack the Ripper, an unknown serial killer responsible for murdering countless Londoners in 1888.

One of the more interesting and out of the ordinary elements of the conference was the Pandemic Crisis Committee of 2015. In this crisis committee, delegates representing world leaders had to figure out how to counteract and defeat a simulated international pandemic to “save the people of the world.”

Freshman Jon Miksis and senior Nick Lucchetti, president of Bentley MUN, took part in the World War II historical crisis committee. During the proceedings, Lucchetti accepted the role of a British General, with Miksis assuming command of the British intelligence operation. While the outcomes varied, the scenarios were very much the same in comparison to historical precedent, offering the students a unique opportunity to experience wartime, international politics.

“It was a very rewarding experience, playing the role of such important individuals who’ve had such a large impact on our lives today,” explained Miksis. “It’s inspiring to know that you have young, people working together to accomplish common goals, albeit during a simulation.”

By Zack O’Malley

On March 30, the 19th annual Festival of Colors was held in the Koumantzelis auditorium to celebrate the diverse cultures represented at Bentley and to bring people of differing backgrounds together as one unified student body.

After last year’s Armageddon-themed event, entitled “The End is Near, Where Will You Be?” this year the executive board of the International Students Association voted in favor of a Mario Brothers theme. Despite happening to coincide with Easter weekend and experiencing a scheduling conflict with La Raza, an event simultaneously put on by the student organization La Cultura Latina, participation surpassed expectations with approximately 275 students in attendance.

Despite the relative enormity of the task, the Festival went off seemingly without a hitch, running like a well-oiled machine with innumerable parts, each one more important than the last. According to several IFA members involved, the weeks of hard work and preparation helped to create the fun-loving atmosphere so critical for the event’s success.

“We like to make sure that when we’re planning the FOC, every member has an equal say in the many decisions we make as a group to create a dynamic and exciting event,” explained ISA senior advisor Sivfong Liu. Several singing and dancing performances were held on the stage of the Kouzmantzelis auditorium to the delight of the attendees. Of particular note was the popular authentic Kazakh dance routine, with two female students dancing to a lively beat produced by the definitively unique Kazakh “dombra.” The crowd favorite, however, belonged to the African dance group with their series of energetic songs and creative dances.

While this year’s event consisted primarily of singing and dancing performances, previous years have provided a variety of different activities and presentations such as last year’s cultural fashion show. After the conclusion of the musical renditions, an expansive buffet with an array of authentic ethnic foods was provided for those lucky enough to be in attendance. The event ran from 7:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., with many attendees remaining until all the food had disappeared.

“We’d like to thank our sponsors: Santandar Bank, Bentley Career Services, the Bentley CSS office and the Bentley International Relations Organization for their support,” added president Joacim Borg. “We’re happy the event went so well and we’re proud to announce that we donated all the proceeds from the entry fee to the upcoming Relay for Life event on campus.”

Look out for next year’s edition of the Festival of Colors as it celebrates its 20th anniversary and its title as the longest running ethnic event on campus. The executive board has already begun the planning process with a promise to make the event bigger than ever.