The Federal Trade Commission estimates 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year.

At U. Toledo, there have been 200 reported incidents of credit card and identity theft of students, faculty and staff in the past year, according to Marge Dell, head teller at UT’s Credit Union.

According to Dell, five of those incidents occurred on-campus.

“We had a counselor here that had their identity stolen by her secretary,” she said. “They actually took a mortgage out for their house for $80,000.”

Joseph Slater, professor of law instruction, became a victim of identity theft after someone obtained his social security number and home address in late 2004.

“I would get things in the mail from Circuit City saying, ‘thank you for opening up an account with us. You have reached your $600 limit. Please pay us,’” Slater said.

The man who stole Slater’s identity used his information to max out six credit card accounts with stores in Atlanta, Ga. and was not caught until the seventh account he tried to open.

“I got a call from someone at a jewelry store in Atlanta saying ‘there’s someone here trying to open an account. Is this you?’” he said.

The thief, who is now in jail, used a fake identification card with his picture and Slater’s information on it to charge $38,000 in 72 hours.

Dell said people are most likely to get their information stolen from family members.

“It happens more often than you think,” she said. “If you have any doubts, take it to bed with you. I told one [credit union] member to put her card under her pillow because her daughter kept stealing it.”

For students, though, Dell said they often become victims of credit card and identity theft by leaving their credit cards in public places or not being cautious around strangers.

“I had somebody’s card stolen from the [Student Recreation Center] one time and it was a ring of people involved,” she said. “Only one was a student. The others were outside people that they passed the card off to.”

Lakya Hunter, a freshman majoring in criminal justice, said she suspects she has become a victim of identity theft.

Hunter said she constantly receives phone calls from several companies asking for payments on cars, jewelry and houses after she left her purse at a basketball game in Loraine, Ohio.

Hunter’s social security card was in her purse when she left it.

“Bill collectors, car companies and Rogers Jeweler kept calling for a lady named Tracy Allen and saying that I owed money,” she said. “It still hasn’t stopped yet. Cell phone companies too. I don’t know if maybe she’s opening things in my name with my social security number or what.”

Though her social security card was lost two years ago, Hunter said she has not taken any preventative steps other than getting a new social security card because the calls did not start immediately.

“It was a long time afterwards, and it didn’t come to my mind because over a course of time I forgot about it because nothing had happened so I thought nobody found it,” she said. “But when they started calling me, I came to the conclusion [that I had become a victim of fraud].”

Hunter said she no longer carries her social security card in her purse.

Dell said students on the phone often get into trouble when they use their credit cards to do things such as order pizza when they are in large groups.

“When you order pizza, you have to give them all the numbers because each credit card has a different pin on it, but go to the bathroom or private area and do the charge,” she said. “Don’t do it around acquaintances that maybe you met that night.”

Dell said even friends should not be trusted with credit and ATM cards.

“Don’t give your ATM to your friends,” she said. “A lot of students give them their ATM card to go get some cash out quick. Once you give them that ATM pin number, they can go wild on it. Maybe you trust the person you gave it to, but what makes you think their friend won’t take it?”

Though college students get their credit card and other information stolen most often in bars, restaurants and from acquaintances and friends, Dell said, the most common place for anyone to become victim of fraud are un-authentic internet Web sites and gas stations.

“There once was someone out there using PayPal’s identity to try and get information,” she said. “It wasn’t actually PayPal, but it looked like PayPal, but there was something just a little off about it. You really have to check and make sure nothing seems suspicious. It’s so easy to make up Web sites these days.”

Dell said a lot of people get information stolen from e-mails claiming to be the person’s credit card company asking them to verify their information, a scam commonly known as “phishing.”

“There are even ones that will say, ‘this is your credit card company e-mailing. Please put down your information because there’s been suspicion of fraud on your account,” she said. “Fraud people are getting people’s e-mail addresses and sending these out to a big group of people and a lot of people give them their social security number, their date of birth — everything. Our credit card does not go to e-mail, so we tell cardholders right away, if you get one like that, don’t answer it.”

Slater still does not know how the thief obtained his social security number or why he was targeted.

“What bothers me to this day is that I still don’t know how he got my information; I don’t use shaky looking Web sites. I don’t give out my social security number to just anyone. I suspect it was because the university used to use [social security numbers] as our ID numbers.”

The man who stole Slater’s information in 2004 was reported to have obtained several other fake identification cards with stolen information and opened numerous fraudulent credit card accounts before he was arrested by police.

This book was written to save the world. “The Green Book,” a New York Times bestseller, is nothing short of a call to action. Its power grows at the turn of every page.

Written by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen, “The Green Book” is a dictionary of useful facts about perhaps the most desperate predicament man has ever faced.

The book is already leading by example. Published on 100 percent recycled paper and made from processed trees, this bright green book could be considered a living plant. Just like a flower turns carbon dioxide into the oxygen we breathe, the information taken from this book breathes life into Mother Nature, providing facts that will benefit our planet.

Elizabeth Rogers, one half of the driving force behind this go green book, is no stranger to the environmentally savvy community. She has worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council and is currently working as an environmental consultant where she resides in Venice, Calif. Rogers is also creator and producer of the environmentally conscious MTV show, “Trippin.”

Kostigen, the more Indiana Jones half of the writing team, is somewhat of a pioneer. He has traveled all over the world to investigate and target the harmful effects man has produced on the planet. He has also traveled abroad to areas with fewer media outlets in order to educate people about environmental issues, global warming, social issues and government policies.

Kostigen writes the “Better Planet” column for Discover Magazine. He also works with CERES (corporate environmental responsibility), Coop-American, and has been affiliated with a host of other organizations that work to bring awareness to our current social and environmental crisis.

The book is written in a logical manner. Each chapter begins with “The Big Picture,” providing the facts on topics such as home, travel, shopping and work. But it’s the manner in which the authors relate the facts to real life scenarios that makes them stick.

“If everyone in the country saved just one gallon from their daily shower, over the course of a year it would equal twice the amount of freshwater withdrawn from the Great Lakes every day,” Rogers and Kostigen wrote.

Each chapter is then further broken down into “The Little Things,” bits of information that collectively make a world of difference. Remember the kid smelling the markers because of the strong fumes they let out? Those fumes are produced by harsh chemicals that can leak into the groundwater from the landfills they are disposed in.

One simple suggestion the authors of “The Green Book” make is to use non-toxic, waterbased markers with refillable heads. The facts are deliberately plain and easy to retain, which is why this book is such a treasure.

Each chapter is concluded by a memo from a celebrity. They provide a breath of humor and emotion that sticks with the reader. Will Ferrell, Jennifer Aniston, Justin Timberlake and Tiki Barber are among the celebrities who provide their insight while endorsing this book.

Many of the facts presented not only save our planet’s natural fossil fuels and cut down on pollution, they help cut down on utility bills. This book provides facts that allow you to make wiser purchasing decisions – another highly practical motive to reading this book.

“If every American home changed out just five regular light fixtures or the bulbs in them with more energy-efficient compact fluorescent ones, we’d keep more than 1 trillion pounds of greenhouse gases out of our air – equal to the emissions of 8 million cars.

That’s $6 billion in energy savings for Americans,” Rogers and Kostigen wrote.

The book is a must read. The facts are clever and entertaining to read, all while benefiting you and the impact you leave on this planet. Though much of the hard facts presented in this book are easily accessible online, “The Green Book” is still worth the purchase.

Aside from the fact that the information received from this book will in turn pay for itself, there is an incredible, positive outlook one will achieve after reading this book. “The Green Book” eloquently provides memorable facts, each coupled with humor and emotion throughout.

Despite gaps in the background check process for most Ohio State U. faculty and some students, the university is equipped to deal with people who threaten violence.

That was the message at a discussion about campus safety during a Board of Trustees subcommittee meeting Thursday.

The discussion was in response to the campus shooting in March, when a third-shift custodial worker, Nathaniel Brown, shot and killed supervisor Larry Wallington, and himself and wounded another.

Since the shooting, “the university community has taken a vigorous look at its various procedures,” said Martha Garland, vice president for Student Life, who led the discussion.

That includes not only background checks, but also a number of counseling and intervention programs to deal with “distressed and disturbed” individuals, Garland said.

The university’s approach to background checks is “evolving to be more inclusive over time,” she said.

Still, most faculty members do not undergo checks.

Board member John Ong mentioned both the March shooting and a shooting at the University of Alabama by a professor in February, before he pressed for a review of the background check policy to be included in future safety plans.

Ong also brought up the fact that a background check performed before the shooter was hired in 2009 showed a clean record, even though he had served prison time for receiving stolen property.

“That was a problem that can happen with paper records that go into computer files that check against each other,” Garland said, because inaccurate birth dates and Social Security numbers might return erroneous results.

Another gap has emerged, Garland said, because returning students who have been away from the university for a period of time and have been re-admitted are not asked about criminal history.

The Office of Student Life has been working to fix the gap with returning students, Garland said. Changes will likely take effect next year, she said.

As for the faculty gap, Larry Lewellen, vice president for Human Resources, said in an e-mail that a group within Human Resources is examining background check policy and will make a recommendation within two weeks.

“A background check is not a magic bullet,” but only one part of campus safety, Garland said after the meeting.

In addition to background checks, the discussion also touched on the crisis and counseling teams often called to handle disruptive students or employees.

Director of Counseling and Consultation Services Louise Douce said OSU’s crisis team policy is “the model” for other universities “in terms of bringing everyone who has a concern into the room.”

But in response to questions from board members, she said there is no way to force disturbed students to seek help.

Rather, the team “would develop a strategy in terms of how we dealt with the behavior,” she said, including involving the police if necessary.

Douce also said that anxiety-related disorders are the fastest-growing mental health issue at OSU, but the counseling program is not staffed to meet its goal of being able to accommodate 8 percent of the student population.

The Board of Trustees will likely take no further action, Garland said. The purpose of the presentation and discussion, she said, was to provide information about various campus safety measures.

In the top of the tenth inning Sunday senior first baseman Mike Dufek launched his sixth home run of the season out of Ray Fisher Stadium. And it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Dufek’s walk-off homer tallied the final run in Michigan’s monumental 15-14 comeback victory over Northwestern, which saw 15 unanswered runs for the Wolverines.

The game started off like a breeze for the Wildcats, as the Wolverines’ pitchers walked in the first four runs of the game in the top of the second inning. Northwestern’s third baseman Chris Lashmet eventually took advantage of the bases-loaded situation, knocking a grand slam out of the park.

The Wolverines were quickly down by eight runs, and things looked grim. Despite cycling through two pitchers by the third inning, Northwestern still managed to extend its lead to 14 with a six-run rally in the top of the third inning.

The initial trio of Michigan pitchers — sophomore right-hander Brandon Sinnery, senior lefty Eric Katzman and redshirt freshman lefty Matt Broder — only lasted a combined four innings and allowed 14 runs on 15 hits.

But the Wolverines clawed back into the game, scoring often from the third inning on.

Down 14-12 in the bottom of the ninth, Michigan was down to its last out. Junior leftfielder Ryan LaMarre had just sent a long ball to center field, falling just short of a home run. But senior catcher Chris Berset came up big, keeping the Wolverines alive by launching a home run over the centerfield fence and sending the game to extra innings.

Then came Dufek’s game-winner.

“He threw me a changeup first pitch,” Dufek said. “I took a great big swing, I swung through it actually. I was thinking he might come back with it again, so I moved up in the box so I could get it before it really broke down. He did it again and I guessed right. I got a pretty good piece of it. I knew it was gone right after the bat. It was great.”

Going into this weekend’s series, the Wolverines were in a four-way tie for first in the Big Ten with Northwestern, Purdue and Minnesota. And at the start of the weekend, Michigan showed it was worthy of its lofty spot.

On Friday, LaMarre led the Wolverines offensively to a 4-3 win with two hits, two runs and two RBI — one of which brought in freshman centerfielder Patrick Biondi in the bottom of the seventh inning to put Michigan up by the deciding run.

On Saturday, 10 runs on 18 Wildcat hits marred Michigan’s 10-8 loss — and its chance for another huge comeback win. Going into the sixth inning, the Wolverines were down 7-2. After Toth began the inning by popping out to first base, LaMarre launched his fourth home run of the season.

Berset and sophomore designated hitter Coley Crank followed suit to mark the season’s first back-to-back-to-back home runs. The Wolverines’ hot hitting continued, as seven straight hitters reached base. The six-run rally brought Michigan out of the hole and into the lead.

But the eighth inning proved to be trouble for the Wolverines. Northwestern had a comeback of its own, scoring three runs on four consecutive hits off junior right-hander Tyler Burgoon. Michigan had a chance to answer with the bases loaded for Crank, but he struck out to end the threat.

Although the Wolverines were able to take just one of their two comeback attempts on the weekend, they showed they have the necessary heart to win a conference crown.

“This is one you’ll never forget for the rest of your life,” Maloney said. “Even though it didn’t win a championship, it’s (amazing) just to win a game when you are down 14 to nothing. We will go back to the drawing board and keep working, but what a victory it was for today.”

George Washington U. sophomore Taylor Hubbard died Sunday morning after falling from a fifth-story window in Guthridge Hall. He was 20.

Hubbard, a biomedical engineering student from Lexington, Md, was taken off life support and died shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday morning, Hubbard’s father told The Hatchet.

Hubbard was brought to the GW Hospital at 4:25 a.m. Saturday after a student called 911 after finding Hubbard in the plaza behind Guthridge Hall, D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services spokesman Pete Piringer said. Hubbard sustained “multiple internal injuries,” according to a police report, which classified the incident as not suspicious.

Hubbard’s father said his son left campus – he lived in 2109 F Street this year – last Tuesday for the summer but came back Friday to help a friend move into summer housing. He slept in his friend’s room in Guthridge Hall Friday night.

The room, originally a quad, housed only three students this semester. Only one roommate was still residing in the room at the time of the incident. That student, a sophomore, declined to comment for this article. According to Hubbard’s father, the Guthridge Hall resident was asleep when police officers came to investigate.

Metropolitan Police are still investigating how Hubbard fell, and a public information officer said Sunday evening that there was no updates about the case.

Hubbard was found by a group of students coming back from a party early Saturday morning. Senior Jen Choi said she was walking back to South Hall around 4 a.m. when she and her friends found a male sprawled out on the grass in Guthridge Park.

“As we were walking along the way we saw this guy who was face up on the grass and we thought maybe he was just drunk and we kind of looked to see if he was ok,” Choi said. “But then we realized he was erratically breathing and that his wrist was swollen and he had cuts on his arm, and then we realized we had to call 911 or EMeRG.”

Choi said no one claiming they knew the victim showed up to the scene while emergency responders were there.

Classmates and friends said Hubbard was a happy, positive and outgoing person.

“That kid was outstanding, and there’s no words fully able to express every single thing he was to all of us,” sophomore Noel Behailu said. “Taylor was really nice to pretty much everyone. I don’t think I ever saw him mad or angry. He was just a positive person.”

Behailu and Hubbard met freshman year while they were both living on the Mount Vernon Campus, Behailu said. He remembers studying with Hubbard and sometimes playing soccer with the fellow engineering student, who he called “incredibly athletic.”

Sophomore Kelli Noel, a fellow biomedical engineering student, said she and Hubbard would often study together and hang around campus.

“He always took life with a smile,” Noel said. “Everyone really loved him.”

Hubbard was an ultimate frisbee and soccer enthusiast, friends said. He also was highly focused on his studies, spending hours studying before tests. This semester Hubbard was initiated into the Alpha Pi chapter of Alpha Chi Sigma, a co-ed professional fraternity in chemistry.

“He was always studious, even from elementary school,” Wayne Hubbard, Taylor’s father, said. “He hated to get a bad grade in anything, even a B.”

Wayne said Hubbard hoped to continue his education in medicine. While at the hospital, Wayne said engineering students, former high school classmates and teachers came to visit Hubbard. President Steven Knapp also visited with the family Saturday afternoon.

“Taylor, he lived for his friends. His friendships were the most important thing to him. He just loved everyone he met,” Wayne said. “He was just quite a kid.”

Friends of Hubbard’s gathered Sunday afternoon in the basement of Potomac Hall to remember their outgoing, passionate friend. A representative from the University Counseling Center was also on hand for students who needed to talk about their loss.

“His company was the greatest gift anyone could ask for,” sophomore Daniel Kane said in an e-mail to fellow engineering students. “He could make you laugh like no other friend could. He helped in anyway he could, even if it meant a night spent in Gelman Library.”

School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Dean David Dolling did not return initial requests for comment and directed all questions to the Office of External Relations Saturday evening.

Hubbard is the second student to die on campus in the last 18 months. Last January, sophomore Laura Treanor was found dead in her Ivory Tower dorm room. A medical examiner later found that Treanor died from acute alcohol intoxication, the clinical term for alcohol poisoning.

Knapp announced Hubbard’s death Sunday during the University’s Commencement ceremony. Those on the National Mall took a moment of silence for Hubbard.

“Our hearts go out to his family and his many friends in the George Washington community,” Knapp said.

Against a picturesque backdrop on the National Mall, in front of 5,000 George Washington U. graduates and their families, first lady Michelle Obama challenged the graduating class to “keep going” with the University’s dedication to community service Sunday morning at the University-wide Commencement ceremony.

Obama – who received an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree from the University – lauded the GW community for far surpassing the service challenge she issued back in September.

Obama said if the GW community logged 100,000 hours of community service, she would speak at Commencement. Yet GW students, faculty and staff exceeded that number, logging 163,980 hours of service.

Although the GW community completed her challenge, Obama said she had one more request of the graduating class.

“I have one more request to make of you, one more challenge, and that is: Keep going. Keep giving. Keep engaging,” Obama said.

Obama’s speech was GW focused, offering stories about the service projects GW students, faculty and staff partook in over the year. She spoke about the accomplishments of the GW community, saying she is proud of what the University accomplished after she issued her challenge.

The first lady also stressed the need for graduates to think globally with their service initiatives, adding that GW students already serve the global community by participating in the Peace Corps, studying abroad and doing service projects around the world.

“I’m asking your generation to be America’s face to the world,” Obama said to the crowd of nearly 25,000. “It will make the world safer, it will make America stronger, and it will make you more competitive.”

Obama said by volunteering or studying abroad, America’s message of freedom and of the importance of community service will spread, helping forge a peaceful global community.

“Because many of you already serve around the world, this class knows firsthand that each one of those interactions in the world has the power to start a chain reaction,” Obama said. “Every child that learns to read can teach another. Every girl taught that she has power inspires dozens of others. Every school built improves thousands of lives. And just as that makes the world safer, it also makes America stronger.”

She added, “In the end, the simple act of opening your mind and engaging abroad — whether it’s in the heart of campus or in the most remote villages — can change your definition of what’s possible.”

University President Steven Knapp said he could not have imagined the ceremony going any better than it did Sunday morning.

“I thought it was truly remarkable how perfectly the themes of her address matched the passion, commitment, and achievements of our graduating students,” Knapp said in an e-mail after the ceremony. “She gave example after example of the kinds of concrete actions her challenge had inspired; she spoke to the university’s global scope and aspirations; and she eloquently linked the national and global situations to the opportunities for service our students face as they carry the George Washington culture into their future lives and careers.”

Knapp added, however, that he was saddened to have to announce the death of GW sophomore Taylor Hubbard. The 20-year-old student was pronounced dead Sunday morning after falling the night before from a fifth-story window in Guthridge Hall.

“The only thing I wish had been different was the tragic news that our sophomore Taylor Hubbard had succumbed to his injuries, when so many of us had been hoping and praying for his recovery,” Knapp said.

Obama was not the only speaker at the two-hour-long ceremony.

Graduating senior Zoe Petkanas addressed her fellow students as the student speaker at the event. She spoke about her experience freshman year watching a presidential motorcade drive by on her way to class. It was experiences like that, Petkanas said, that make the GW experience “anything but typical.”

She urged her classmates to “find their passion” and said despite the tough economic times and the daunting “real world” that is upon them, she knows the class of 2010 will succeed.

“When you look around, you see people who so badly want to do good,” Petkanas said. “Honestly I can’t think of any group of people more suited, more qualified to tackle the world’s problems than this year’s graduating class…take these motivations, find your passion, be bold and do good, I can’t wait to see what we accomplish.”

GW alumnus Dave Brubeck – an award-winning pianist and composer – received a Doctor of Music, honoris causa.

Upon receiving his honorary degree, Brubeck told students to help spread freedom throughout the world and received a standing ovation from the crowd.

A. James Clark, a trustee emeritus and construction entrepreneur, received a Doctor of Engineering, honoris causa.

Students on the Mall said the increased security, which required graduates to pass through metal detectors before taking their seats, went smoothly. Almost every student interviewed said the security lines moved quickly, faster than they had thought they would.

“I thought there would be more people,” said Graduating student Ian Watt, who arrived at the National Mall at 7 a.m.

Elena Lumby arrived to the Mall at 8 a.m. and said getting through the security line was a breeze.

“It was much more organized than the Inauguration,” Lumby said, adding that she enjoyed Obama’s speech.

“It’s nice to hear that things are difficult but to get the acknowledgement that we are going out and going great things despite the current climate,” Lumby said. “It’s uplifting. It’s leaving on a high note.”

California’s public university systems saw a reprieve Friday as they escaped Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budgetary axe in his revision of the state budget.

In a budget filled with massive spending cuts, service reductions and the outright elimination of the state’s welfare-to-work program, CalWORKs, both the U. California and California State U. systems saw increases in funding. Additionally, previous cuts to the Cal Grant financial aid program were rescinded.

The competitive Cal Grant award, which faced elimination in Schwarzengger’s January budget, will now be fully funded to the tune of $45 million. Other proposed cuts – including $111 million in enrollment growth funds for the UC and CSU systems and $75 million from Cal Grants – “will no longer be considered as budget solution options under any circumstances,” according to the budget summary.

Diana Fuentes-Michel, executive director of the California Student Aid Commission, which administers the Cal Grant awards, said though she is pleased with the level of funding, she is aware that the funds are tenuous and as the state faces a $19.9 billion deficit, more cuts could come.

“I am concerned because I know that the budgeting process is a process of negotiation, and everything needs to be on the table, in terms of options for resolving this problem,” she said.

The budget revision now faces the scrutiny of the state Legislature, where it will require a two-thirds majority in both houses before it can be signed into law. In past years, the Legislature has failed to muster the necessary votes before its June 30 budget deadline.

This year’s proposal has already prompted condemnation from top Democratic leaders. In a press conference following the budget’s release, state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, called the revision and its $12.4 billion dollars in cuts a “non-starter.”

Schwarzenegger has called the cuts “tough choices” that are necessary given the size and scope of the state’s budget deficit.

“California no longer has low-hanging fruits,” he said during a press conference. “As a matter of fact, we don’t have any medium-hanging fruits. We also don’t have any high-hanging fruits. We literally have to take the ladder away from the tree and shake the whole tree.”

Nonetheless, Schwarzenegger has kept previous promises to preserve funding for higher education.

The proposed budget also includes $355 million in capital facility construction funds for the UC system, which according to a statement released by UC Vice President for Budget Patrick Lenz would “create 3,300 private sector jobs associated with the building and construction.”

Victor Sanchez, president of the UC Student Association, who, along with UC President Mark Yudof, led a coalition of students and administrators on a joint lobby effort in March, called the budget “bittersweet.”

While the Cal Grant awards are fully funded and the UC system retained its level of funding from January, he said the cuts to social services are disheartening and reflect the need for budgetary reform.

“It sucks when a victory feels like a loss,” Sanchez said. “We need to know the state is in a very difficult position, and we need to push our leaders to come up with new alternative forms of revenue. Everything has to be on the table, including taxes.”

U. Central Florida junior digital media major Chris Sardinas has been recognized as the only finalist from North America in Google’s Model Your Town Competition. Citizens around the world were asked to create 3-D community portraits of their hometowns.

“[My family and friends] are all really happy for me,” Sardinas said Friday, the day before the winner was announced. “They congratulate me all the time for getting the key to the city and being recognized by Google.”

The competition, part of Google Sketch Up, allowed individuals or groups from around the world to make a digital model of their hometowns using free programming provided by Google.

Models were judged on the quality of how “true-to-life” the model was, such as accuracy, loading efficiency and elegance, according to Google’s competition rules. Jorge De Albertis Bettocchi won the competition for his model of the Barranco District of Lima, Peru.

Sardinas said it took him about nine months and thousands of photographs to make the model of West Palm Beach.

The process may sound relatively simple, but it is actually quite complicated and time-consuming. First, Sardinas would choose a specific building or street to focus on.

He took tons of photos of the specific subject from all angles and used satellite imagery, or Google Earth, to get the bird’s-eye view images of the locations.

He then used Google Sketch Up and Adobe Photoshop to merge the two together. The result is what is currently shown on Google Earth for the West Palm Beach area.

Sardinas said he began making digital models as a hobby during his senior year of high school and found out about the competition from a friend in the modeling community.

“I was very, very pleased to find out I was one of the finalists. It was nerve-racking to wait for the results,” Sardinas said. “I thought, ‘I’m doing it, I might as well just enter.’ ”

Though Sardinas’ model did not win, just getting positive attention from a name like Google as a finalist is enough for West Palm Beach, said Peter Robbins, the public information officer for West Palm Beach.

The winner of the competition earned prizes, which include $10,000 for the city’s public school district, a visit from a Google team and viral publicity on the web, according to Google.

“It started out as a hobby that I was already doing. There’s nothing in it for me besides temporary notoriety,” Sardinas said. “The competition is for the pride of the hometown and not for the actual person.”

Sardinas said that recognition from the contest, in addition to his volunteer work with Google Earth, might land him a job with Google.

He also said Google invited him to a conference for model makers last month in Zurich, Switzerland, which gives him a boost in confidence toward an opportunity for a job.

Some of the credit, Sardinas said, goes to UCF, for the programs he has learned that he hopes to apply to his future career.

“Being out on my own, having to work in the real world, taking art classes, and learning the different programs [has prepared me] because the technology keeps changing in the field,” Sardinas said. “Hopefully I could step into [a job with Google] after the contest is over and after school is over since they already know who I am.”

In turn, West Palm Beach showed its appreciation for the representation of the city.

Along with receiving a key to the city, May 3 was proclaimed Chris Sardinas Day during a conference with West Palm Beach officials.

Robbins was impressed with Sardinas.

“The fact that he did this all on his own showed pride in the city and determination,” Robbins said. “We wanted to learn what he did and how he did it. It was fun and very exciting.

“He seems like a guy who worked hard at this. We were not surprised. From day one, we could tell he was a very smart guy.”

Despite not being named the winner, Sardinas is just happy to have been recognized by Google and given the opportunity to help out West Palm and UCF.

“I think West Palm Beach has a lot of diversity,” Robbins said. “The city is becoming a more international city, though we’ve always been a tourist [destination].

“We are a community that hopefully challenges people and helps open doors. Hopefully, a lot of people have pride in the community. Chris definitely does.”

As we follow the aftermath of the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, we can’t seem to get Sarah Palin’s infamous “Drill, baby, drill” chant from the 2008 presidential campaign out of our heads. She should promptly drill her foot inside her mouth.

And perhaps President Barack Obama should too, considering less than a month before the monstrosity, he supported offshore drilling as part of his new energy policy. Talk about awkward.

How many major oil spills does it take for our government to realize that, hey, perhaps drilling a gigantic pipe 35,000 feet into the ocean beneath rock and into an oil rig could be incredibly detrimental to the environment should something go terribly wrong? We hope only two.

Remember the almost 11 million gallons of crude oil spilled by Exxon Valdez in 1989?

Probably not, unless it was aired on VH1’s I Love the 80s. Long story short, in 1989, the oil tanker hit the Prince William Sound’s Bligh Reef, spilling crude oil into the Alaskan coast.

Not quite a result of offshore drilling, but an ecological disaster nonetheless.

We have barely begun to see the environmental and political implications of the spill in the Gulf. This spill is not being controlled, it’s wasting tons of an already scarce material (think of the friend who starts spilling his or her beer after one too many), while killing already endangered animals. But good thing our economy is in perfect condition to be further destroyed.

Oh wait.

On the bright side the spill may cause Obama to re-consider his new position on offshore drilling. Florida Sen. Bill Nelson has already said he plans to filibuster any bill that would expand offshore drilling into Florida, but don’t get excited just yet.

Expanded offshore drilling was meant as a compromise with the right so they would push for more “green” legislation and alternative energy policies. Yeah, we don’t get it either. It’s like a conundrum, wrapped in a mystery, covered in oil.

So what do we do now aside from starring at our televisions, flabbergasted about the images of crude oil spewed over the Gulf of Mexico while politicians give us the turn-around and energy giant British Petroleum plays the blame game? We re-think our addiction to oil.

As Americans, it is practically inherent that we be large consumers of the stuff. We are energy connoisseurs, and according to a recent article in Time, 37.1 percent of our precious energy is supplied by oil. This high percentage explains the need for offshore drilling in the first place, but we can’t ignore its harmful effects on the environment. Let’s just say there’s a reason why Florida beaches look prettier than Texas’.

We also cannot ignore the fact that big oil executives tend to flaunt the oxymoronic phrase “safe offshore drilling” to fickle senators.

Sept. 11 should have prompted us to address our reliance on oil or at least reform our energy policies, but, unfortunately, it only promoted offshore drilling as an alternative to foreign dependence on oil.

Basically here’s what needs to happen and it needs to happen quickly: America should spend more than a measly $18 billion on clean energy research. If we are going to resort to offshore drilling, then the regulations must be tougher and we need to see actual follow-through when it comes to the creation and use of alternative energy.

It’s here again — the best and worst time of year — summer. If you are like me, you love the weather, the extra time on your hands and the fact that there are no long-term assignments looming over you. But, unfortunately, many of us live in this paradoxical world where, as college students, we have three solid months to do what we want, but do not have the funds to make it happen.

Maybe you blew your savings on spring break, your 21st birthday bash in Atlantic City or even on your college education. So, by the time this hiatus from class rolls around you cannot even imagine how you are going to pay for gas. And you are probably going to spend your summer slaving away. But, instead of earning the cash to support your summer habits, all you are getting is a résumé-building internship experience.

My summers used to be about making all the money that I possibly could — while working as little as I possibly could — and then finding the best way to spend every cent of it. Now my main concern is how I am going to finance the Lady Gaga tickets that I lost my mind and splurged on and now have no way of paying for.

My brother’s strategy, on the other hand, seems to be to hoard all the money he makes by getting my parents to pay for virtually everything he wants. While that frustrates and embarrasses me, since I rarely even dreamed of asking for money while I was making my own, I am still slightly jealous. He’s clearly going to have more financial freedom once he gets to college than I did.

I highly doubt that college students build up credit card debt because companies are roping them in with free mugs or T-shirts, or because they think that they are playing with Monopoly money that does not need to be paid back. I know how my credit card works, but that doesn’t mean I will be able to stop charging unnecessary purchases to it. Sometimes it just gets unbearable knowing that I have the time and the desire to do all sorts of things, but not the means.

Of course, I would not advise you ruin your credit for a spur-of-the-moment European cruise. But, I do not regret the $70 I spontaneously spent on Opening Day Yankees tickets the morning of the game. I did not have to grovel to a boss to get the day off or worry about wasting a sick day, and it almost seems pointless not to schedule Tuesday classes if you cannot decide last minute that you want to spend the day in the city, at the movies or doing any other activity that requires money.

George Bernard Shaw’s famous saying, “Youth is wasted on the young,” is surely right. It is not because we take things for granted or waste the best physical shape of our lives sitting on the couch. It is not because we make stupid mistakes and choices that set the tone for the rest of our lives. And it isn’t even because we waste our talents by being completely unproductive. Instead it is because we waste our precious summers off from Rutgers, unable to afford meaningful, worthwhile, once-in-a-lifetime experiences while we still have the leisure time to do so.

Working your entire adult life to amass the money necessary just so you can do everything you wanted to do while you were in college once you retire sounds like a miserable existence. If I could, I would graduate and go straight into retirement. I would work when I got around to it.

Unfortunately, 26 percent interest rates have made an all work and no play lifestyle a necessity for all of us. Credit card companies’ policies hardly differ from those of loan sharks willing to break your kneecaps when you are late on a payment. I’m not even sure, if given the choice, that I would consider a sky-high interest rate a more agreeable alternative to losing half my pinkie finger.

While it’s surely impractical from a financial standpoint to rack up a mountain of credit card debt doing all the things you want to do now and paying them off later, it seems like something Shaw would have commended. So, even if you are spending this summer cultivating your résumé or trying to stick to a meager budget, don’t forget to let loose every once in awhile, even if that means putting a charge on your credit card. After all, “nothing in life is free,” and “you only live once.”

-Larissa Klein is a Rutgers U. junior.