A New(Balance) Field for BU

Late this February Boston University announced that the Boston based company, New Balance, would donate  $3 Million toward the creation of a new stadium for the Field Hockey and Lacrosse teams. The New Balance field will be a state of the art facility set to be built on the current Babcock street parking lot. The field should be ready by 2013 to bring the field hockey team back on campus. The D1 team has played on both BC and Harvard's fields since 2000 after a renovation to the turf on Nickerson field that made it impossible to play on. It is unthinkable that such a successful team (5 time America East Champions since 2000) has to play far away from campus making it difficult for students to attend the games. 

BU Field Hockey player in action

The new field will also be useful to attract prospective students and athletes who look at sports as being an important factor when applying to colleges. This project almost doubles BU's already large recreational area. The men's Lacrosse team is set to become a varsity D1 sport starting next year.  The promotion of the Lacrosse team from club to D1 is the first instance at BU since 2004 and has been happily welcomed by current students and alumni.

The existing parking lot on Babcock Street is frequently used by BU staff and others who benefit from this parking space.  The construction of the field will enable 350 new covered parking spots, thus preventing car damage from the neighboring softball field. The field itself will seat up to 1,000 people and will even have a 500 square foot press box. The hope is that the facility will be constructed quickly in order to get the much needed parking space back.

With the field being placed on campus near student dorms, there is hope to create an increased interest in BU sports and school pride.  "New Balance Field will be a major addition to our athletic and recreational facilities" school president Robert A. Brown told BU Today. "I am very grateful to New Balance for its leadership and support and to our alumni who have given generously to make this facility a reality. The field will benefit not only our student-athletes and the greater BU community, but it will allow us to expand our very successful NCAA Division 1 athletics program."

Here's how the field should look

The investment New Balance is making for BU is part of their program to give back to the community.  "As a Boston-based company with a long-standing commitment to promoting health and fitness and giving back to the local community, we are excited to help provide this valuable athletic resource for the Boston University community" said New Balance President and CEO Rob DeMartini. Boston University students are already excited about this new field, which will also act as fields for intramural sports.  One of the problems to consider is the leveling of the parking lot that has a visible slope. This will add on to the cost of the project, which is estimated to be around $24 Million. 

On the 6th of March a task force dealing with the planning of the field gave a final, positive decision to start building.  Construction is expected to finish by July 2013 says Tim Whitney, the project architect. There are many people working on this project right now. Pamela Beale is the chairman of the task force and thinks “It’s all about really making it a better place to live and be a student.”

I am confident the New Balance field will be a great success and will add to the already glamorous reputation held by BU. Every aspect of this new field is being studied in detail to ensure that neighbors and students can enjoy the field without being disturbed. I wish this field would've already been completed in my time at BU but it will certainly benefit the future Terrier generations! The BU administration and New Balance ought to be congratulated for enhancing the campus and making a better use of space. 

New Balance Field Soundslide

Map of Field Hockey fields around Massachusetts

View Field Hockey Arena's in Massachusetts in a larger map

The Toulouse Killer

Toulouse was theatre for a dramatic incident involving an Arab man of the Al-qaeda terrorist group who killed 2 military officials and 3 kids and a rabbi in two separate instances. The man Mohammed Merah, was confined to his room for the past 2 days as French police blocked off the area where he was living and surrounded his apartment.

Mohammad Merah Video

 It was difficult for the police to determine a course of action because the man was heavily armed. When a swat team tried entering the apartment he fired back and injured 2 other officers. This tragedy ended early this morning when the Mohammed launched himself from the bathroom window brandishing a gun and firing continuously towards the policemen outside his house. 

The GlobalPost had a great reportage of this event and tweeted continuously whenever news was uncovered. The article is descriptive and also focuses on the external actions taken by French political leaders to bring this drama to an end. 

The article is complete with an informative photo gallery that shows a few different moments of the story. An upsetting aspect is the continuous pop-up AD that really makes me want to go to another website to read about this story, not only is it annoying, but it pops up every time you want to see a different picture. 


An important coverage has been given to this story around Europe because of the continuous rise of Anti-Semitism and Anti-Semitical acts like this. I was happy to notice how the GlobalPost was constantly on the story and had great updates all along. On the other hand, other important American newspapers reduced the story to a quick update on international news. From this coverage, i can tell the GlobalPost really get a feeling of how important a story is globally and not just in the US. 

21 Jump st.

Homepage Update

Yesterday, GlobalPost changed their homepage. 

This more dynamic and interactive homepage offers the reader more immediate and relevant articles in a "list" style. The new homepage definitely adds sharpness to the website and creates a more straight forward outlook as a whole. The tabs which made the GlobalPost a very expansive news website are somewhat more hidden leaving more space for breaking and trending news.

Under every article it is possible to comment using almost every social media tool. A list of about 20 articles including recent news and more relevant news appears in the front page with a section on global blogs on the side. I really like this new layout because it is easy to find relevant and very recent information. When it comes down to news, people want to know what is happening in "this" moment and the GlobalPost did a great job adjusting to this theory. 
Tomorrow is International women's day and the GlobalPost has a very interesting special report on "Women and Justice in Afghanistan" 




The GlobalPost is stepping up their game and making impressive changes to their website in order to become one of the web's most viewed and read newspapers. I am very happy I decided to follow this website as I always feel up to date with current events around the world. What the GlobalPost really needs now is a way to market their news-site in order to get more readers and subscribers than ever. 

A day in the life of Sarah

A very BU Exhibition