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Prior days' news: By date | Search This week's print issue Back issues: By date | Search April 19, 2007Jeremy HerbstrittJeremy Herbstritt, 27, had nearly completed his first year of graduate studies in civil and environmental engineering and was a teaching assistant. Although he worked hard, Alexis B. Bozzo, his girlfriend, says he always found time for outdoor sports. “He loved running and hiking,” she says. “He was so full of life.” Jared M. Daubert, a friend, knew Mr. Herbstritt from 4-H summer camp. “He was very outgoing and very energetic,” says Mr. Daubert. “He was a happy person with a huge heart.”  Herbstritt Family Mr. Herbstritt earned two undergraduate degrees from Pennsylvania State University at University Park, the first in biochemistry and molecular biology in 2003, and the second in civil and environmental engineering in 2006. He wasn´t happy with the jobs the first degree qualified him for, so he told his friends he burned the first diploma after realizing that. Still, he graduated from both programs with honors. He could be forthright. One time a professor at Virgina Tech came into the room where Mr. Herbstritt was leading a lab class and announced, somewhat belligerently, that he needed the room for his own class. Mr. Herbstritt, who was younger, said to the professor, “Dude, take a chill pill,” according to Ms. Bozzo. “That was his personality,” she says. “He was always raring to go.” The oldest of four siblings, Mr. Herbstritt came from a close-knit Bellefonte, Pa., family. They all ran together. On the day he was killed, his parents were in Boston watching his sister, Jen, run the marathon there. The evening before, he had spoken with her on the phone. “Don’t worry, I’m praying for you,” he said. “You’ll finish the race.” This past winter Mr. Herbstritt taught Ms. Bozzo how to ski. “He was going to take me kayaking this summer,” she says. —Burton Bollag Posted on Thursday April 19, 2007 | Permalink | |