Saugus students share bonding experience over bombing

SAUGUS – On the Friday night after the Boston Marathon bombing, while Boston and several surrounding towns were on lockdown, Saugus High School students on a 10-day trip to Europe received an unexpected tribute while staying in Wales.Junior class president Jonathan McTague said that while they were staying at the Hand Hotel in Llangollen, guests asked where they were from. When they found out the students were from Boston, they invited them into the reception room for an impromptu musical performance.”There was a reception going on in the reception hall, and they invited us in and they sang a song that was ? basically Great Britain and the United States coming together that was sung way back when,” he said. “Then they ended up having us sing “Sweet Caroline” and the National Anthem. It was a great night and an emotional night. It was definitely a night I don’t think any of us will forget. It was awesome.”McTague said their hosts in Wales took the students “under their wings” that night, saying “they all felt like they were from Boston and felt the same pain as us.”“I can’t even describe it,” he said. “It was just unbelievable ? We were one of them and they were one of us ? They kept us strong and kept us Boston strong. They made everything feel all right.”The students arrived in Ireland the day before the marathon and McTague said they found out about the bombing the next night.”It was nerve-wracking because over there it was hard because we couldn’t get in touch with home,” he said. “We had that curiosity of what’s actually happening and it was scary. We didn’t know how close to home it was or if any of our family or friends were involved.”As they made their way through Ireland and eventually to Wales and London, McTague said “the worry was still there” as news of the bombing continued to develop.Now that the students are back in America, McTague said he’s planning a five-mile run to help raise money for victims of the bombing that will start and end at the high school.The “Run for Boston” will be held on Saturday, May 11 at noon, which is the same day as the junior class’s community yard sale.”We want to commemorate the lives lost and the wounded, and the people who never got to finish the marathon,” said McTague during Thursday’s School Committee meeting. “It will help the community cope and pay tribute to the city of Boston. We’re going to try to do some kind of donation. I do think we’ll have a small collection box. And we plan on giving all the proceeds to the One Fund Boston.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].