The Early Years
We stayed in a rooming house on Marlborough Street and pooled our lunches together. Once a month, when we received our GI check, we ate at Durgin Park. From Marlborough Street we walked around the corner to Boylston Street, where Bentley School of Accounting and Finance was located. Harry Bentley would not recognize your campus today.
JJ Scully ’48
I attended summer night classes: There was no air conditioning, so we had the windows wide open. We not only listened to the classes, we also heard the music playing in the alleys behind the buildings.
James Tallo ’50
Those of us who went to Bentley in 1960-1961 will never forget the constant “thud” of the pile drivers that were driving the piles that would hold up the future Prudential tower across the street in what was then a railroad yard. It went on for a year!
Al Bergeron ’61
One memory was sitting in class on Boylston Street and listening to the pounding of the pilings for the Prudential Center that was not there when I started. It is amazing to see what is on Boylston Street now! I was one of the last classes to graduate from downtown Boston, and to see the campus today is really great. The school has come a long way and I am proud to be a graduate.
Ron Baird ’62
I worked during the day for New England Electric System in the building behind the Copley Plaza Hotel and walked down Boylston Street to my evening accounting and finance class. Professors had the challenge of competing with the construction taking place at the Prudential Center. The swinging wrecking ball and the jackhammer noise was deafening, plus there was the flying dust. We survived, as did the Prudential Center, and I went on to graduate as part of the evening Class of 1964. Those were the good days of Bentley, Boylston and Boston!
Donald Nicholson ’64
In the mid-60s just about all freshmen students who were not commuters lived in the dorm on Commonwealth Ave. I lived in the dorm my freshman year, then in an apartment on Comm. Ave. sophomore and junior years, and on Marlborough Street in my senior year. In May of my junior year there was a fire that started in an apartment below ours. Marty Kolb ’68, a student living in the dorm, spotted the flames and ran across the street and rang all of the buzzers, awakening the residents and telling them to get out of the building. The floor under my feet was hot as I climbed out of bed. Our apartment was severely damaged, and the college arranged for the four of us to live in the dorm for the remainder of the academic year.
Bob Boehm ’68
I was in the last class to spend the entire four years at the Boylston Street campus. At the time, Bentley did not have a gymnasium. If we wanted to play basketball and were not on the team we had to go to the YMCA to practice: a long, cold walk down Mass. Ave. to Huntington Ave. past Symphony Hall. Every time I go back to the campus for Homecoming I make it a point to visit the gym. I sure wish I had the opportunity to use such a nice facility when I was there.
Ralph Reckis ’68
I have such fond memories of the then-brand-new campus in the fall of 1968 as I entered my senior year. Having spent my first three years in two buildings in Back Bay, the opportunity to experience the new campus was wonderful. That fall, winter and spring, there were not even paved walkways between the original five buildings, so we had to trudge through snow and lots of mud to get from building to building. But we didn’t really mind, because it was great to be part of the new Bentley. Congratulations, Bentley, as you approach your 100th anniversary and as the 50th anniversary of the new campus is not far behind!
Rich Silver '69
The winters were mean, but they were always beautiful from the top of the hill; the springs brought life back to the campus.
Stanley Feather ’74
1980s
Back in the late 1970s, the steps from the back of the library down to the space between Jennison (then “the Classroom Building”) and LaCava (the “Student Center”) had walls on either side that were wide enough to sit upon. Every day, that wall was crowded with students; I met and befriended so many people at that spot. I even met my husband there. We would discuss classes, assignments, concerts, campus events and just about anything going on at school at the time. I loved being at that wall after classes.
Enza A. Rapatano-O’Connell ’80
I loved the path cutting through the Trees from up top to Brook Hall (circa 1979-1983). All gone now ... ah! Progress!
Perry St. Louis ’83
I was in Waltham from 1981-1985 and there was construction the whole time. I vividly remember being in class many times when a construction whistle would blow, followed by a blast that shook the building.
Mark Semanie ’85
My father was born on Forest Street, not far from Bentley, and I spent a lot of time in Waltham visiting family. To me, Bentley looked like a classic New England college. It was self-contained, proud-looking and the perfect size. I imagined going there when I got older. So attending Bentley was like a dream come true!
Sharon Nikosey, MBA ’87
My now-husband (Hugh Rooney ’88) and I met at Bentley and started dating my senior year. We both loved the winter, so every time it snowed we would meet at the park bench on the pond at the entrance and drink champagne to celebrate. We have kept up the tradition ever since, just not at Bentley.
Monica (Colby) Rooney ’87
2000s
The Greenspace on the first warm day of spring!
Bill Mortimer ’03
My favorite time on campus was playing rugby with my fellow ruggers on the football field (since we didn’t have our own field).
Andrew Packin ’05, MBA ’11
I liked the Falcon, which to me was a symbol of the power that my education at Bentley could offer.
Patricia Sorenson, MSHFID ’06
Best hidden spot on campus is the big rock near Slade Hall toward the right side of the dorm. Late at night, you can climb up and mellow out with conversations about how the night went or get into deeper conversations about where your life is going. It’s a small campus, but being up on that rock looking up at the sky makes you realize how big the world is.
Daniel Menendez ’08
I have so many great memories at Bentley that I can’t peg just one. The only thing they all have in common is stairs. Sometimes sprinting up the stairs from Maple 211 in what I woke up in, other times trudging up them in winter boots while puddles of melted snow settled in the corners of the stairs by the overpass from lower campus. Lots and lots of stairs.
Missy (Martineau) Orr ’08
In early December 2005, six inches of snow fell. With no cars and no ski club trip, Jason Kroot ’09 and I decided the time had come to ski the campus. Over the course of the day, we picked out lines from Lindsay down to the Trees.
Stephan Demers ’09
2010s
My favorite spot on campus is the library. It’s a lovely open space, very neat and clean, and sunny with a very nice view. People there are full of energy, even if the place is silent!
Aljohara Alafaleq, MBA ’14
I love finding parking on the first level of the Orchard deck!
Austin Demski ’17
My favorite spot at Bentley is the lower Greenspace! Perfect location to chill.
Molly Gross ’17
After my freshman year, I accepted that maybe college wasn’t going to be the amazing experience for me that everyone else says it is. Then I transferred to Bentley, and everything changed. Kresge 409 might not be the most glamorous room on campus, and I never actually lived there, but it is the place where I got to know the people who have become some of the best friends I’ll ever have — the people who made me fall in love with Bentley and college itself. For that, it will always be my favorite place on campus.
Kasey Huntress ’17
I secretly love walking up to 8:00 a.m. classes. While it’s early and the walk is actually a hike, I know every student is genuinely eager to learn and that makes me excited for the future of not only Bentley, but the world.
Erika Rouleau ’17
My favorite place to study is the bottom floor of the Adamian Academic Center. There are tables and couches and never more than a few people down there. Also, it’s very convenient if you need to get help from a professor or tutor.
Jordan Alexander ’18
My favorite place is the benches outside of the library that look to Smith.
Claudia Beguiristain ’18
I always liked Bentley as my school, but God knows I love it as my home.
Erika Garcia ’19
I transferred to Bentley second semester of senior year. Once I got there, I got stuck having a class at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In the beginning of the semester, I hated it. I was always so hungry during class and it was pitch black by the time I got out. But one day, I walked out of Smith and down the dreaded stairs, and noticed it was still light out. I looked up because I was blinded by the sun and saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen, right over Bentley’s campus. That was one of the best walks I’ve ever had back to my dorm, and because of that, 6:20 is now my favorite time of day at school and 5:00 classes are now my favorite.
Abigail Souza ’18
My favorite spot is the pool with my swim team family.
Brooke Jameson ’19
Staff
When we were located in Lewis Hall while our Rauch offices were under renovation, I had chosen a great office on the first floor at the far end of the hall. The office had an exposed brick wall, and a view of the woodsy ravine overlooking the Dana Center. I had my own back door that led out to a grassy area where the picnic tables were set up. There was a small landing just outside my door where I could store my bicycle on days that I rode in. The best part was the iron rail fence where I could hang my biking clothes. I used to wonder about the history of that room. It was a terrific place to spend the summer months!
Diane McNamara, Human Resources