The signs of summer were everywhere at Boston University on Saturday: finals ended Friday, and Commonwealth Avenue was dotted with students dragging suitcases, trying on graduation robes, and carrying armfuls of textbooks for reselling.

But as students celebrated the conclusion of the year, devastating news once again made its way across campus.

The deaths of three students studying abroad has brought further tragedy to a campus that has been slammed by one catastrophe after another this semester.

The students - Roch Jauberty, Daniela Lekhno, and Austin Brashears - were almost finished with their semester in New Zealand when they were killed when their van rolled over as they were traveling to visit a legendary volcanic site filmed for “The Lord of the Rings’’ movies. Five other students were injured.

On campus, it all seemed too familiar.

“It’s been a rough year,’’ said Hannah Waxman, 19, who has just completed her freshman year at BU. “A lot has happened in a short amount of time.’’

In January, sophomore Joshua Goldenberg suffered serious head trauma after jumping from a second-floor window to escape a blaze in an Allston apartment building.

Two BU hockey players were arrested on sexual assault charges.

And in April, graduate student Kanagala Seshadri Rao, 24, was found dead, with gunshot wounds to his head and leg, on a residential Allston street.

Beth Kozik, a crisis counselor with the university, said that while it has been a very challenging semester, “we’re pulling through.’’

“We’re a strong community,’’ she said, “and we have been here for the students and supporting each other.’’