First-year Isabelle Groper had two friends running the Boston Marathon course when two bombs exploded near the finish line Monday afternoon on Boylston Street. One of her friends was two miles from the finish line. Groper was waiting for her other friend, Rayna, at the bottom of Heartbreak Hill, roughly six miles from where the bombs exploded.?My grandma texted me that bombs went off, but no one was panicking,? Groper said. ?A few minutes later a lot of people around us started talking about what was going on at the finish line.?Then all these cop cars and motorcycles came telling people to get off the course. Eventually, the runners stopped coming.?Once officials canceled the race, people began to cry by the sidelines, Groper said.?After five minutes, all our phones stopped working and we couldn?t make phone calls,? she said.Rayna?s father picked her up half a mile away from Groper, who was then able to meet them on Commonwealth Avenue. Since the incident, there have been army soldiers all around the bus terminal at South Station, which is ?pretty out of the ordinary,? Groper said.Annie Stevens, Associate Vice President for University Relations and Campus Life, and Bill Ballard, Associate Vice President for Administrative and Facilities Services, sent an email to the UVM community yesterday evening regarding the Boston Marathon tragedy.?We have not heard about any member of our University community who may have sustained injuries,? the email stated.?We have heard from students and staff members who were at the marathon and have reported that they are ok. Our thoughts are with the runners, family, friends and spectators who experienced this traumatic event.?By Monday afternoon, UVM students ? many of whom are either from or have ties to the Boston area ? took to Facebook and Twitter accounts to express reactions of shock and sympathy. SGA President Connor Daley said he thought the University had dealt with it as best as it could, but the event hit close to home to a large portion of the community. ?So many students, actually most students, come from that area,? Daley said. ?It?s definitely on all our minds.?The two bombs that exploded near the marathon finish line killed three people and wounded over 170, according to the New York Times.Joe C. was in a Starbucks on Boylston Street when the explosion went off.?I saw smoke coming out of the backpack and three bodies on the ground,? he said. ?Everyone came rushing into Starbucks.?Being an engineer, you develop a sense of direction in a building. But even I got lost, I felt like a mouse in a maze.?No arrests have been made but two unidentified suspects were seen on video surveillance carrying black backpacks near the finish line, the Los Angeles Times stated.?I haven?t heard anything,? one Boston police officer said on whether a suspect had been taken into custody. ?That?s just the media reporting.?