American graduate falls to death while scaling campus dome

© Charles Krupa/AP The "Great Dome" atop of building 10 on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., Monday, April 3, 2017.

A 24-year-old Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate and New Jersey native reportedly plunged to his death while climbing the Boston school’s iconic dome.

Nicholas Paggi, 24, reportedly fell multiple stories from the “Great Dome” while scaling the prank hot spot on Tuesday night, according to WBZ-TV.

The victim’s grief-stricken mother said on Thursday her son and a pal “jimmied a lock” to access the century-old rooftop.
Helga Paggi told the Boston television station that her son “slipped going back up to the other side of the roof.”

© GoFundMe Nicholas Paggi's GoFundMe page. 

Paggi added that she’s “inconsolable and quite in shock” over her son’s death.
MIT’s student newspaper reports that the promising engineer graduated with two degrees in computer science and physics in 2015 and was working at Ab Initio Software, a data processing firm based in Lexington.

Additionally, Paggi continued to work with the prestigious university as a consultant.
It’s unclear why Paggi attempted to scale the historic rooftop, which scales 150 feet.

The Boston landmark is often targeted by student pranksters, including one group that celebrated the moon landing anniversary in 2009 by hoisting a replica Apollo Lunar Modules to the dome’s roof.

A MIT spokeswoman said Paggi’s death appeared to be an accident.

On Saturday, Paggi's family opened a GoFundMe page for a scholarship expected to help college applicants in his memory. The fund would be for students at Monsignor Donovan High School, in Toms River, N.J., where Paggi attended. - NYDT