I arrived at the Institute in August of 2009 with two suitcases, a backpack, and a lot of enthusiasm. I was eager to begin my college life — to stay up absurdly late, make friends while psetting, have a swank dorm room, be independent etc. — and I had arrived at school early to participate in my Freshman Pre-Orientation Program (FPOP), the Freshman Arts Program.

Over 2,600 students will graduate from MIT today, receiving over 3,300 degrees. Killian Court is expected to be filled with over 13,000 guests at the Institute’s 147th Commencement.

30 percent of MIT students who responded to The Tech’s survey (427 people) have dressed up as a character from Harry Potter, Firefly, Star Trek, Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings. While many of this number are very likely casual fans who threw on a Gryffindor scarf to see the premiere of The Deathly Hallows, hidden within this statistic is a number of devoted MIT students who take costumes to the next level — cosplayers.

Fandoms come in all shapes and sizes, and MIT has a smattering of several groups dedicated to different aspects of pop culture. The Tech sat with a few groups on campus to examine where fandoms fit in at the Institute. Not all groups we wished to interview were available for comment.

The following story was completed prior to the events early this morning. At the time of publication, according to the Boston Globe, it appears that one suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings has been captured. The two suspects were chased to Watertown by police, and one suspect is still on the loose. It is unclear if these events are related to the shooting near the Stata Center. For more information, see our coverage in this issue.

Biological Engineering students looking to improve their writing now have a new resource: the BE Writing Lab in 56-205. The center, which opened last month, is geared towards helping Course 20 students with lab reports, UROP proposals, grad school applications, and more.

While students were out enjoying the snow, MIT employees were busy keeping the campus running. Though classes were canceled last Friday, hundreds of workers for Bon Appétit and facilities were hard at work. Due to the lack of transportation, many of them remained around campus on Friday night.

Winter storm “Nemo” (as named by The Weather Channel) swept through Cambridge this past weekend, dumping 24.9 inches of snow and leaving much of New England in disarray. MIT was closed on Friday, on Saturday, and for the first two work shifts on Sunday. The storm was the fifth largest snowstorm to hit Boston in recorded history.

A major snowstorm is expected to hit MIT today, as winter storm Nemo makes its way across the coast. MIT announced last night that it would be closed today — the second campus closure due to weather this year, after Hurricane Sandy shuttered the Institute on Oct. 29, 2012. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has declared a state of emergency that will be effective today starting at noon. Community members should check emergency.mit.edu for the most up-to-date information.

Despite the blatant lack of the anticipated apocalypse, 2012 was a good year for disasters. Last year saw several out-of-the-ordinary occurrences, including a hurricane, two major power outages, and a small earthquake.