As news of yesterday's attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., spread across Penn State's campus, a major concern became the safety of any university students on co-op programs and internships near the disaster scenes.

Several Penn State colleges confirmed yesterday that all their students were accounted for in both cities.

As far as administrators knew, no students were working in either of the World Trade Center towers or the Pentagon.

Many of the interns in Washington, D.C., are working through the Penn State Washington Program.

The program currently has 37 participating students from the colleges of Communications, Liberal Arts and Agricultural Sciences.

Students with the program intern at Congressional offices, television stations and environmental groups, among others, according to the College of Communications Web site.

Students working in Washington, D.C., described the horrific scenes as surreal.

"I was in a meeting at the Capitol Building and someone came in to tell me about the trade center towers," said Erin Connelly (senior-journalism), a former Collegian staff writer.

When she came out of the Capitol Building following the Pentagon explosion, "there were lots of security guards who said, 'Get out as fast as you can.' Then I saw the smoke coming up from the Pentagon, which is just two blocks away."

Connelly's co-worker, Danielle Grote (senior-journalism), another former Collegian staff writer, was at Roll Call, a Capitol Hill news organization, when the explosion occurred.

"We drove past the Pentagon, and that was pretty devastating. It was like watching the Oklahoma City bombing on TV," Grote said.

Other students painted the mood in Washington, D.C., as rather calm, considering the circumstances.

"It's not panic, more of a concern," said Allison Gibbs (senior-telecommunications), an intern at C-SPAN.

"Everyone is very concerned about what could happen and there is great sadness about what happened here and in New York. People just want to know what's next and how to combat this."

Students from Penn State also have been working in New York through programs coordinated by the College of Communications.

Some students are working at internships with MTV, the Howard Stern Show and The View. Other colleges with interns in the area include the College of Engineering and the College of Information Sciences and Technology.

These colleges have five interns in the Washington, D.C., area. All the interns have been accounted for, said Anita Todd, co-op program coordinator.

Shortly after the news broke, the Smeal College of Business began placing calls to New York and Washington, D.C., to confirm that no interns were working in either city, said Adora Way, recruiting coordinator for the Smeal College of Business Administration.

All interns in the Washington, D.C., area have been accounted for.