Lynn University Ready for its "Close-up"
Monday, October 22, 2012
By: Christine DiMattei

Oct 22, 2012 | WMFE - A small South Florida college is awaiting its moment in the spotlight as the host of the final presidential debate tonight. Lynn University in Boca Raton is being transformed from a little-known private college to the site of one of the most high-profile events of the 2012 presidential campaign.

News reporters from around the world are converging upon Boca Raton for the third and final Presidential Debate of the campaign and the university is deploying some of its international students to help out with language translation. 

University spokesman Joshua Glanzer says international students from more than 80 countries make up nearly a quarter of Lynn's student body. 
"We're like a mini U.N. or even a New York City. You know they say 85 languages or something like that are spoken in New York City?” Glanzer says. “We're like that. We have dozens and dozens are languages spoken here. So it's a unique opportunity for us to showcase that." 

Lynn students are also rolling out the digital red carpet for debate. Glanzer says the university enlisted a core group of student volunteers to interact with Twitter and Facebook users.

"They're going to work with us on our ‘Social Lounge’ that will focus just on social media and making sure that they reach out to students or anyone else who's engaged on the platforms around the debate." Glanzer says.

The student volunteers are also using Tumbler, Foursquare, Instagram and Google-Plus as a way of engaging debate audiences.

Glanzer says landing tonight's event has done more than bring attention to the campus for a single night. Improvements have been made around the college, dozens of debate-themed courses have been added and virtually every facet of student life from the dorms to the bookstore has been affected by the big event.