By Ann McGough

I am thirty-two years old. Other than a few tours of Europe and some traveling in this great country of ours, I have lived in Boston for my entire life.

I love Boston. To me Boston is not just an address; it is like a member of my family. Just as there are things about Boston that aggravate me, I would not trade it for anything in the world. When it comes to a lot of things, like great people, great history, and great loyalty (even to sports teams that might disappoint us year after year after year after year) Boston is second to none.

But, there are things about Boston that are not perfect. We have lived with mediocre MBTA stations and a failing public school system for years. However, when people from city neighborhoods complain about quality of life issues, they are often dismissed. I remember when South Boston residents opposed a new Patriots Stadium being built in their neighborhood, a respected local journalist wrote, "They are worried about quality of life? What do they think Southie is, Boca Raton?"

I graduated from Boston Latin School in 1990. I received a first class education. But I do recall going to track meets at suburban high schools such as Acton-Boxboro, Lincoln-Sudbury, and Dover-Sherborn and being stunned at the discrepancy between the facilities at the schools in those wealthy school districts and those at BLS. But, as a teenager, I knew I was getting a private school quality education for free and if we had to live with old science laboratories, an outdated library, and running our sprint workouts in the school corridors, then so be it. The tuition is free.

Years after graduating from Latin, I returned to interview to some students. I can honestly say that I was brought to tears by the newly renovated facility on Avenue Louis Pasteur. The brand new classrooms, music rehearsal rooms, art studios, gymnasium, cafeteria, and state of the art library rivaled anything that Milton Academy has. It was such a proud moment. I was happy, so excited for all those students who will be studying at BLS in the years to come. It was a great school before all the bells and whistles were installed, but why shouldn't city kids get a bell or a whistle once in a while?

I had a similarly emotional experience when I saw the new student center at UMass Boston last week. Although the University of Massachusetts is a wonderful school, I did not go there because of its academic reputation. I went there because it was affordable. I attended classes at the Harbor campus, and then, like most of my peers, left to go to work. The amenities at UMass were adequate, at best. But, I knew what the going rate was at places like BU, so I just accepted that this was the trade-off: a reasonably priced education meant nominal services.

So, it was much to my complete and utter happiness that I had the privilege of walking through that new student center. Everything, from the food court, to the ballroom, to the conference rooms, to the windows over looking Dorchester Bay, was absolutely beautiful.

Will being able to buy a better cup of coffee or having a more scenic place to conduct a study group improve the quality of student life at UMass? You bet it will. Because they are not attending classes in Chestnut Hill or across the River in Cambridge, students should not feel that that they are not good enough to have sound educational facilities.

The Student Center has yet to be named. The word is that is will be named after a donor. How about naming it after the man who gave the working class students at UMass Boston the opportunity to feel that are part of something more than "just a commuter school", and actually feel proud to go to UMass. I think the William M. Bulger Student Center has a nice ring to it.