 On Monday, Boston University hosted its first leadership summit, leading cities through crisis. Lessons learned from the Boston Marathon. This was a wonderful opportunity to highlight lessons learned now one year on from the Boston Marathon attacks. So Mayor Monino and Graham Wilson, co-directors of the new initiative on cities, wanted to take this opportunity to reflect back on all of the lessons that emerged from the aftermath of the bombings. Monino, who now works at BU, serves as the co-director of the initiative which organized the event. Our response that day was second to none, and we had the right people in place. We did the work to make sure we were ready. Today at Boston University, mayors from all over the state, emergency personnel and even some survivors came together for one reason, to educate, to make sure that cities are better prepared for when a disaster happens like the Boston Marathon bombings. Discussion panels were held to provide other city leaders with a better understanding of how to handle a crisis. According to the mayor of Lawrence, Daniel Rivera, that's exactly what the event was doing. You think about your city and things that you could be doing, and this thing about practice, and we heard from the first panel, just got to make sure we got the practice of thinking how do we do that up in Lawrence, in the Merrick Valley. Even with the marathon only a few weeks away, an event like this has even more meaning because the eyes of the world will be on the city. When those world-class athletes sprint down the boils of the street, when you're all out of the run, as we couldn't finish last year, finally have a chance to cross the line, we'll see why Boston is the best city in the world. Reporting for Boston University News Service, I'm Iris Moore.