Matt Szczur stood in the backfield and awaited the direct snap. Villanova was aligned in the Wildcat formation, one tailored to Szczur’s skills and one that Villanova Head Coach Andy Talley says Szczur plays better than Brian Westbrook did when he was at Villanova.

Talley knows he can count on Szczur, and that’s why he’s given him the ball in such a big spot. It’s fourth-and-one from the third-yard line, and a Villanova touchdown would give the Wildcats a comfortable 23-14 lead over Montana with 11 minutes to play in the FCS title game.It’s a moment Szczur has been dreaming about since his freshman year when, while watching Appalachian State play, he turned to his roommate John Dempsey and said, “It’d be crazy to be them right now.”

On a day when Szczur would finish with 270 total yards, it was just these three he needed to stop dreaming and help Villanova become the Appalachian State of 2009.

The snap came to Szczur, and he moved to his left. His entire game is built on speed as he has blazed past opponents in every sport he’s played. But here his speed will do him no good as 216-pound Montana linebacker Josh Stuberg is standing between him and the first down marker. With no chance to go around him, Szczur, who is more than 20 pounds smaller than the linebacker, pulls a new trick out of his bag. He runs right over him and into the end zone.

While the Montana side of Finley Stadium in Chattanooga groans, the Villanova side erupts, and no section is louder than the Szczur contingent of family and friends from Cape May, N.J. As the 11 minutes wind down, the cheers grow louder and won’t stop until the wee hours of the morning.The game ends with Villanova on top 23-21 and Szczur on top of the podium to accept the game’s most valuable player award as his teammates and family look on.

“It was amazing,” said Marc Szczur, his father. “I don’t know how to describe it, but I will never forget it.”

While the evening was a coming-out party nationally for Szczur, for those who have known him for his entire life, it was just another part of the Szczur legend.

“I’m not a handyman.”

Szczur has all the answers on the field, but there is a least one question he stumbles over: What is he not good at?

“I’m trying to think of something,” Szczur said, not in boastfulness but in honesty. “There’s got to be something.”

At least in athletics, it’s hard to find anything. Szczur was a four-year starter at Cape May Regional High School on his baseball, football and indoor track teams. Before high school, he was a South Jersey champion in wrestling. His senior year, he was set to play basketball before he injured himself playing football.

“The first time we went out and played ‘Horse,’ he picked up the ball and was draining 3’s,” said Villanova quarterback Chris Whitney, who rooms with Szczur.

Then what about Szczur’s local street hockey league?

“He won that, too,” his father said with a chuckle.

Golf? The first time he played he shot a 67 on the front nine and a 45 on the back nine.

A jack-of-all-trades, Szczur is an accomplished artist and a good student, too, yet is described as humble and down to earth by everyone who knows him.

In fact, he was even able to find out what he wasn’t good at.

“I’m not a handyman,” Szczur said. “I’m a momma’s boy. She did everything for me.”

On many nights in Cape May, Marc Szczur would come home from work to his house on Seashore Road, step out of his car and see his two sons, Matt and Marc, by the door with a bucket of baseballs ready to go to the field. The two were always ready to play, and their mom and dad were happy to oblige.

Szczur always had a knack for picking things up quickly, mainly because he had to in order to keep up with his big brother. Szczur played with his brother’s friends and even wound up on his brother’s teams as he would play up a few years in baseball.

“Maybe it came from my brother,” Szczur said of his competitive nature. “I was just trying to be better than him.”

It was always apparent that athletically, Szczur was mature beyond his years.

He threw so hard in baseball that they moved the mound back in Little League, and parents demanded to see his birth certificate to verify his age.

His parents, who were at those games and almost every one since, never had a problem showing the evidence that he was indeed their son.

“Matt doesn’t punt.”

Szczur’s senior season came with expectations — something rare for a team at Lower Cape May Regional. Behind Szczur, who had transitioned from running back to quarterback the season before, the team was in position to grab homefield for the playoffs. Szczur was called on to play an unfamiliar role late in that game when the punter got hurt, and he was forced into duty.

Facing a fourth-and-six late in the game, Szczur was hesitant to punt, but Coach Bailey sent him out there with those orders. As he waited for the snap, Szczur’s father, who was a regular on the sidelines as a ball boy, turned to the photographer to his left and relayed one simple message.

“Get your cameras ready because Matt doesn’t punt,” he said.

His father was right because when Szczur got the snap, he tucked it into his body and ran to his right for 10 yards for the first down. When he ran past his sideline he called back to his coach, “I’m sorry.” Lower Cape May Regional then took three kneels and won the game.

While Szczur was making a name for himself on the football field, he was turning even more heads playing baseball.

Szczur made plays all over the field, whether it was beating out ground balls to third base, picking runners at second base while catching or hitting long home runs. Eventually, scouts began to take notice, and by his junior year he was taking batting practice before games with a wood bat. A senior season in which he hit .681 confirmed the inevitable: Szczur had a big decision to make.

The dilemma lay with the fact that Szczur wanted to play both baseball and football, and most colleges were not happy to hear this.

“That’s probably what scared a lot of the major colleges off,” Bailey said. “He was adamant about it.”

Still, Szczur garnered a lot of interest, especially to play baseball from ACC and SEC schools, but during each road trip with his father, they would compare each school to one: Villanova.

It was a school that Szczur was very familiar with, as he had attended football summer camp there with his football team in high school, and one of his high school’s star players, Matt Dicken, was a running back there. Most importantly, Villanova was open to him playing both sports.

Head Coach Joe Godri and the baseball team were more than on board to get a player of his caliber, but if the football team didn’t act fast, they might lose him. Godri, a football man himself, encouraged Head Coach Andy Talley to offer Szczur a full scholarship. However, Talley needed a little convincing.

“I had reservations about recruiting him because he was an all-everything player and wasn’t a pure receiver,” Talley said.

Once Receivers Coach Brian Flynn ensured Talley that Szczur could play as a receiver, Talley was in, and Szczur was offered a full scholarship. He was going to be a Wildcat.

Well, there was still one hurdle left — the MLB draft. Szczur knew he would be drafted, so he set a number in mind for his contract, and if a team was willing to offer him that, he would be off to the minor leagues. In the 38th round, the Los Angeles Dodgers chose Szczur, and it was decision time.

After mulling it over by the Cape May beach, a place he did a lot of his thinking, Szczur declined the offer and was set on Villanova. He was passing up the pay day, but he still had a nice consolation prize.

“I told my dad, if I get a football scholarship, you’re buying my first car,” Szczur said.

His dad happily agreed and bought Szczur a 2007 Mustang.

“We’ll let you out of football.”

Szczur redshirted his freshman year of baseball due to an injury, and before his sophomore season even started, Szczur took a seat in Talley’s office because he wanted to talk.

“I’m thinking of backing off from baseball,” Szczur said.

The combination of football and baseball workouts had become overwhelming, and Szczur wasn’t sure if he could handle both. Talley, knowing Szczur’s potential in baseball, tried to reason with him.

“No way,” Talley said. “We’ll let you out of football. You may have a future in baseball, and you can’t pass that up.”

The two agreed that Szczur would go down to the baseball team’s series at Louisiana State and see if he still felt the same way when he came back. When Szczur returned, he decided to stay with both, but he, Talley and Godri worked out a program for him that included reducing his workout schedule for both sports.

Feeling refreshed with a slightly lessened workload, Szczur was ready to bust out, and in his junior season on the football field, he did just that.

Szczur became the go-to guy in the Villanova offense and became a dangerous threat the Wildcat formation.

“My wife would say, ‘You know everytime he gets the ball he’s running it,’ and I’d say, ‘I know, but people can’t stop it,’” Talley said.

Szczur was the sparkplug behind Villanova’s 2009 national title season. He was named the Colonial Athletic Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year and Special Teams Player of the Year before winning Most Valuable Player of the title game.

“There isn’t a better player in college football,” Talley said.

“He’s done everything but go to the moon.”

Cape May is not known for athletics. To most, it is a vacation destination. So when a once-in-a-lifetime player comes around like Szczur, the community supports him.

The town was in a buzz when Szczur was in the national title game. Every bar had the game on, and Cape May was full of excitement. After Villanova won the national title, Szczur’s town held a Matt Szczur Day to honor him both as a football player and a citizen.

One of those supporting him is Terry Shields. A close family friend of the Szczurs, Shields owns a bike rental shop in Cape May which Szczur worked at starting at the age of 14. It doesn’t take long for anyone visiting to find that out.

“In my shop I have some of his press clippings,” Shields said. “When people check in here at the shop, they see all his accolades.”

Although Shields knows Szczur a little better than most people in Cape May, his praise of him is nothing but genuine.

“He’s just somebody for Cape May to be proud of,” Shields said.

Last November, Szczur learned that he was a match to donate bone marrow to a 1-year old girl with leukemia.

Szczur was initially willing to sit out some of the football season in order to donate, though that did not prove necessary.  Either way, he is fully on board to donate.

“I’ll never be able to accomplish something like that on the football field,” Szczur said.

After having the surgery postponed, Szczur is on track to donate this weekend. The procedure will suspend his baseball season for a few games, but those around him know that it is a small price to pay to help the girl.

“He’s done everything but go to the moon, and now he’s going to save a girl’s life,” his brother Marc said.

“It’s a good decision to make.”

Szczur entered college as purely a pro baseball prospect. With his success last season on the football field, he now appears to have the option to play professionally.

On June 7, Szczur figures to be selected again in the MLB draft, but this time his selection will most likely be higher and be for more money.

“Szczur has a chance to be a major league outfielder,” one MLB scout said. “His speed stands out.”

Although Szczur has a price in mind that he would need to get in order to sign a contract, he also has a strong connection to his football team and the sport that complicates things.

“This year is going to be hard,” Szczur said. “It’s a good decision to make, but it’s going to be difficult.”

It’s hard to tell which way he is leaning, and he may be the only person that actually knows what the future holds, but that doesn’t stop fans from trying to get the inside scoop.

“Every single person I run into asks me two questions: How does it feel to win the national championship, and is Matt Szczur coming back?” Talley said.

What lies ahead for Szczur is hard to tell. He could be a two-time national champion and a Walter Payton Award winner, or he could be one of the top prospects in some one’s farm system.

Right now it’s anybody’s guess, but whatever he chooses, it’s certain that the legend of Szczur will continue to grow.

Sunday’s cold and rainy conditions in Piscataway, N.J. did not stop the men’s lacrosse team from defeating its Big East enemy Rutgers, 8-4. The then No. 9-ranked Wildcats improved their record to 9-4 overall and 3-1 in the Big East with this win, tying Georgetown for the No. 2 spot in the conference and putting the team in contention for a bid to the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament of only 16 games. Rutgers was not as lucky, as it lost its third consecutive game to a top 10 team and fell to 5-7 overall and 1-3 in the Big East, after beginning the season 5-2.

Winning this defensive battle against Rutgers was what the Wildcats needed after losing to Lehigh in double overtime last week.  Rutgers had the first goal of the game when sophomore Kevin Hover found the back of the net at the 11:41 mark. Senior Paul Webber answered not even 30 seconds later when he took what could have been a dangerous man-down situation for the Wildcats and turned it into a goal.  Rutgers senior Gerard Beuhning put the Scarlet Knights back on top with an unassisted goal at 9:37.  The first quarter was capped off when ’Nova senior Co-Captain Mark Scioscia scored his 17th and 18th goals of the season with 9:12 and 4:15 respectively remaining in the quarter.

The beginning of the second quarter put the Wildcats up by two with a goal at 13:48 by junior Mike Brennan off a transition initiated by senior Bryan McCartney. At the 6:49 mark, Rutgers made the score a close 4-3 when Beuhning found the back of the net for the second time.

The Wildcats came out of half time looking to increase their lead, and began to do just that at the 12:12 mark when an assist from freshman Will Casertano allowed sophomore Matt Bell to score. With less than 30 seconds left to play in the third quarter, Casertano scored his own goal off a pass from Webber, making that 11 goals for the freshman this season.

A tough Wildcat defense in the third quarter stopped the Scarlet Knights from scoring any goals, meaning that the last quarter began with a three-goal Wildcat advantage. The first goal of the fourth quarter came late at the 4:44 mark when Rutgers senior Tad Stanwick attempted to close the gap on the scoreboard by assisting Hover. ’Nova retained its lead 38 seconds later when freshman Jack Rice scored off an assist from junior Andrew Henrich.

The Wildcats scored the final goal of the game and made the score an impressive 8-4 when Webber was able to net a Bell assist with only 1:28 left to play. Webber had two goals and two assists, making this his fourth game of the season when he scored at least four points.

Rutgers outshot Villanova 27-25 but was only able to put 14 shots on goal, while Villanova took 19 of 25 shots on goal and won nine of 15 faceoffs.

Freshman Billy Hurley had 10 saves for the day, earning his sixth win of the season, and sophomore Chris Creighton and junior Brian Karalunas led the Wildcats defensively with four turnovers each.  The Scarlet Knights had trouble maintaining possession and had a total 22 turnovers. Junior Chris Ficke and sophomore Nolan Vihlen added to the Wildcats defensive effort with a combined nine ground balls.  The goaltender for the Scarlet Knights, senior Billy Olin, had 11 saves in the loss.

The Wildcats travel to Providence, R.I., on Saturday to take on the Friars of Providence College at 2 p.m.

Both this Big East game and the game against Georgetown will bring the Wildcats one step closer to the end of the season and the NCAA Tournament.

Villanova U’s elimination of the unsanctioned outdoor drinking event on West Campus during the traditional NovaFest weekend was successful, according to both Ryan Rost, assistant dean of students for Judicial Affairs, and Rev. John Stack, O.S.A., vice president for Student Life. After news of the University’s intended crackdown became public mid-March, it was unclear to students how April 24 would unfold.

Student Life staff and Public Safety officers were present on West Campus on Saturday, including a dressed-down Rost, who said it was unprecedented for so many staff members to spend a Saturday on campus.

“When I went outside, I experienced the death of NovaFest,” junior Tara McLernan said. “It was depressing.”

“’Nova Nation’s gettin’ rowdy,” joked junior Glenn McGillivray, as he looked around the space connecting the back four apartments, which was nearly empty except for a few students lounging in the grass and a Public Safety officer hovering nearby. The scene differed drastically from last year, when hundreds of students from all over campus migrated to West, while Public Safety waited until about 4 p.m. to clear the area.

“My Monday morning after last year’s NovaFest was very, very busy,” Rost said.

This year, however, Saturday was a slow day, according to one Public Safety officer stationed outside Klekotka Hall, who added that he thought the University was trying to send a message to students.

“I didn’t have any incidents,” said junior Will Clifford, a resident assistant in Welsh Hall. “It was a  quiet [Saturday] night.”

The entrance to West Campus was limited on Saturday to those with West Campus permits, according to Director of Public Safety David Tedjeske.

Radnor Police were not patrolling West Campus, according to Rost.

“Students were doing laundry, homework and playing wiffle ball — it appeared like a normal, beautiful Saturday,” Rost said.

“Last weekend showed that the student body can be trusted,” junior Kevin Speirs said. “The steps taken were both patronizing and unnecessary.”

Students did not understand the harm that had been done in previous years, according to Stack, who added that the University may not have communicated that well enough.

“There were some serious incidents in each of the last few years,” Stack said. “I think one of the reasons students were upset was because they weren’t aware of all that.”

Stack said that students weren’t happy with the e-mail he sent out notifying them of this year’s changes.

“Overall, I’m proud of Villanova students for respecting the administration’s decision,” said junior Bridget Halligan, the incoming student body president. “We found alternative locations to get together and celebrate our community.”

Student Body President and Vice President Dan Gelwicks and Spencer Curtis pulled Student Government Association support from the concert after the decision was made to use all NovaFest resources to secure a big act instead of holding other events.

That decision was made without the input of students on the NovaFest committee, according to Gelwicks.

“We hope [the University] considers planning an event on campus next year,” Gelwicks said. “There needs to be more opportunities for students from all years to come together besides just at basketball games. When students look back on college, they wish they had more opportunities like that.”

“Next year, we will work with Public Safety, Student Life and CAT to create a new, safe Villanova tradition for all to participate in,” Halligan said.

Doug Keith contributed reporting to this article.

After a full academic year, the environmentally friendly renovations to Fedigan Hall are living up to expectations, according to Facilities Management.

“Water [conservation] was the easiest to quantify,” said Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Robert Morro. “We measured the utilities in the building in the year before the renovations and in the year after.”

On average, Fedigan Hall residents are using 1,050 fewer gallons of water per day, which translates to 31,500 fewer gallons per month.

Water-conserving plumbing fixtures were the largest change made inside the building. Dual flush toilets were installed, as were sinks with automatic sensors on the faucets.

Low-flow showerheads were added to the Fedigan showers, which are also equipped with timers to encourage shorter showers that use less water.

Water was also conserved in the building’s operation and cleaning activities. Fedigan staff use microfiber mops, which need much less water and cleaning fluid to perform the same cleaning tasks. The fluid, which is dispensed by the mop’s pole, is also green-certified.

Electricity usage was harder to quantify, Morro said, since Fedigan Hall did not have an electric meter before the renovations. According to the theoretical calculations performed by the building architects and engineers. However, a 20 percent reduction is expected.

Each bedroom has energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs, and the light switches are equipped with heat and motion sensors.

This means that if a resident leaves the room and leaves the lights on, the switch fixture will be able to shut the lights off automatically.

The energy used for heating and air conditioning also cannot be easily tracked, since a central steam system provides heating in conjunction with a geothermal system created as part of the building’s renovations.

Two geothermal wells are connected to ground source heat pumps in each of the student rooms, and they support a portion of the building’s heating and cooling needs.

In the spring and fall, all of the heat provided to the building comes from these geothermal sources. When the weather gets colder, the steam heating supplements the geothermal heating. Morro said that the theoretical energy saved on heating and cooling is between 20-25 percent. Fedigan Hall did not have air conditioning before the renovations, so the building does use more energy during those parts of the year when air conditioning is turned on. However, Fedigan’s air conditioners are tapped into chillers already installed in CEER, effectively cooling both buildings.

Morro also emphasized that part of the cooling is done by the geothermal wells, which cost nothing.

“This was a learning and research opportunity for the College of Engineering faculty and students,” Morro said. “They were involved in the design and in the monitoring after the installation.”

Facilities Management may make some adjustments to the geothermal wells based on the analysis done by Al Ortega’s engineering students, who are studying the geothermal wells.

The building’s windows were also replaced with energy-efficient double-paned windows, reducing overall heating and cooling costs.

A storm water management system — funded by a Pennsylvania state Growing Greener Grant — on one side of the building redirects all downspouts into two rain gardens on either side of Fedigan’s front door. The water deposited here is either transferred back into the earth or gets reabsorbed into the atmosphere. Another group of civil engineering students under Robert Traver is doing experiments on the effects of these rain gardens, Morro said.

The porous pavement on the walkways leading up to Fedigan also allows rainwater to be absorbed back into the earth rather than running off into other bodies of water and carrying pollution with it. Facilities Management is hoping to get LEED-EB, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings, certification for Fedigan Hall, which takes up to a year to get and involves submitting all paperwork for design and construction.

Morro noted that it is more difficult to merit this certification with an existing building like Fedigan, where the small mechanical room limits the kind of equipment that can be stored there.

“Fedigan Hall was built in 1930 in the midst of the Great Depression,” Morro said. “It hasn’t really had any major renovations since then, and in one summer we brought it up to modern sustainable standards.”

A challenge for many filmmakers, especially those creating documentaries, is often catching action unfold from the very beginning. With this in mind, “Babies” earns its tagline, “The adventure of a lifetime begins.”

Directed by French filmmaker Thomas Balmès, “Babies” follows the first two years of four children from around the world: Ponijao, who lives near Opuwo, Namibia in Africa; Bayar from Mongolia; Mari from Tokyo, Japan; and Hattie from San Francisco, Calif.

The undertaking of this feature proved to be a challenge for Balmès who shot the majority of the film himself in 400 days over a span of two years.

“Making this movie was like running a marathon,” said Balmès in a phone interview. “It took three years of my life. I spent more time with these kids than with my own kids.”

Balmès began working on the film in 2005 when he heard of producer Alain Chabat’s idea for a big screen documentary on babies growing up. His vision was to present human babies as a wildlife feature. There would be no commentary; the babies’ development would be set solely to music.

“This idea is compelling because it allows for the simultaneous observation of four different cultures,” said School of Communication Dean Sam Grogg. “Because there is no narration, it translates to anyone that watches it and that can be very illuminating.”

According to Balmès, 90% of the film was also shot on a tripod. He used this technique to let reality materialize before the camera without him or his crew getting in the way of the natural development of the babies. This also meant limiting the appearance of the babies’ parents.

“Everything is shot at the level of the babies so we see the world from their eyes. By doing that I felt that this kind of closeness to the babies allowed you to learn different things and really dive into their worlds,” Balmès said.

Distance was a very important aspect in the making of this film. While to Balmès distance meant not creating too great of an intrusion on the babies or their families, he also used the idea of distance when choosing children from four very different cultures. His goal was to create a universal story that viewers could interpret without an initial agenda.

In the end, making this movie was about seeing the babies grow and experience the world around them, which was often a comical and educational experience.

“Making this movie challenged my belief in whether or not I give the best life to my kids, and that is what I am trying to challenge in my viewers,” Balmès said.

Most ABC television shows, especially the comedies, are hit or miss. Series like ABC’s recent creation Modern Family have gumption that viewers fall in love with; the characters are original and flawed to the necessary comic extent, and the circumstances parody reality. Then there are the failures. The station’s attempt to create the series Cavemen in 2007, based off of the Geico commercials, was a catastrophe. The show was canceled within a month. When ABC added Scrubs to its weekly repertoire, the show’s ratings took a nosedive, and it, too, has now been canceled.

It is too soon to predict accurately which category ABC’s latest comedy series Romantically Challenged will fall into. Chances are that it will be the latter.

The show premiered April 19, an indication that ABC has little faith in its quality because it was not saved for the fall lineup. The plot follows four single friends and their dating challenges. Alyssa Milano stars as Rebecca Thomas, a lawyer recently divorced after 15 years of marriage. During the pilot episode, she goes on her first date since the split, and though it ends in shambles, she finds that she is ready to move on from her past heartbreak.

The show is not characteristically “bad.” The actors do a decent job with the roles they’re given. The main problem is that from this view, the series lacks any depth. There is not anything special about the characters that has not been seen in dozens of other shows before. The outlook for the plot seems trite. How many successful or failed dates can you watch before it becomes old?

The narrow scope of “looking for love” is what will ultimately break the show. True, past successes have revolved around friends playing the dating game, such as Friends. But the Friends altogether lovable cast with great chemistry also dealt with issues in the workplace and the outside world. Romantically Challenged gives no indication of reaching the same depth. It also lacks the witty writing necessary to mock human nature as shows like Seinfeld have.

As much as I wanted to give the show a chance, I simply could not do it. The conversations were awkwardly forced, the jokes dull and flat. To put it simply, it just tried too hard.

ABC also is taking some risks by not posting the show for online viewing. Any viewers unable to watch it regularly on cable may choose to forgo it entirely if they cannot catch up with online episodes. Consequently, it may lose out on a potential fan base, in addition to commercial funding.

I am not saying the new series is a complete bust, but the writers need to invigorate the show with down-to-Earth situations and the insightful humor that makes popular comedies like Modern Family worth watching. Otherwise, it will be a miracle if Romantically Challenged lasts longer than a summer fling.

The Apollo 15 and Apollo 17 missions landed on the moon in the early 1970s, leaving instruments behind to measure moonquakes and the heat release of the interior.

Seiichi Nagihara, an associate professor in the Texas Tech U. Department of Geosciences, began working with the Goddard Space Flight Center after receiving a $45,000, two-year grant to research the missing data from the Apollo missions in the fall.

The devices sent data measured on the moon back to centers on Earth, but the receivers were turned off manually in 1977. After the United States was the first to land on the moon, the decreasing NASA budget caused the data research from the Apollo missions to be put on the back burner, he said.

“The data being beamed back to the Earth was kind of forgotten. Then, unfortunately, the main people and scientist who was analyzing the heat data from the moon died almost 10 years ago,” Nagihara said. “No one really knows what he did with the data.”

Some of the data has been analyzed and kept in the Goddard facility, but large periods of time are missing data, he said. The group’s job is to locate the data and research its meaning.

“The problem is for some reason NASA lost track of the data and that’s what we’re looking for,” said Professor Emeritus Yosio Nakamura, from U. Texas-Austin. “But we have some clues to find them.”

Nagihara said very little has been found so far; the group of researchers is trying to track down anyone who was involved with the research programs to see if they can help. The problem is the variations of people’s memories and recollections of events, making the data challenging to locate.

Documents and research left behind provide the group names of those originally involved before the group begins looking for a way to contact them, Nagihara said.

“We do one lead at a time until it gets cold, then just try another one,” he said. “We are basically acting as a detective right now.”

When the data was collected, there were no flash drives, CDs or floppy disks to keep the information; everything was stored on rolls of magnetic tapes. The tapes should have been sent to the scientist in charge of analyzing the data, but somehow they went missing.

Nagihara said people who were not responsible for researching the data might have sent them to other government storage facilities, which he said is normal.

Recently, the researchers discovered quite a bit of the data from the Goddard center was sent to a facility in Fort Worth. Although they do not know if it is the information they are looking for, Nagihara said they know it came from the Apollo missions.

When the data is found, Nagihara’s job will become more prominent. He works with analyzing the heat flow data to make sense of the information. An instrument has to physically be placed in the ground of the moon to gather the information. Since the Apollo missions, no new data has been collected because it requires sending people and equipment back to the moon.

His job is to determine how much heat actually is radiating from of the moon. Because the surface of the moon is heavily influenced by the sun, the days are drastically warmer than the evenings; Nagihara is now working on taking the sun’s influence out of the equation to get a better understanding of the heat flow of the moon.

After working with Nagihara during his graduate work, Nakamura said he thought Nagihara could benefit the project because of his background in geosciences and interest in the moon. He thinks it is important to get younger people involved because the United States might decide to go back to the moon.

“I think it’s good that young people are interested in these things,” he said.

As the thought of graduation becomes a reality to college seniors, the job market is a stressor that worries them. Dean Gualco, author of “Good Manager” and human resources expert, expresses his own take on issues regarding the workforce within his book.

He reveals secrets to what it takes to achieve success and options on how to obtain a career throughout a shaky economy.

“Working hard is a great separator between the average employer,” he said. “The applicant must continue to upgrade their education, influence an organization and extend yourself.”

Even students who are not graduating this year have concerns about what the workforce will have for them when they are competing in the job market.

“My biggest fear in finding a career after graduation is the competition. With the economy being in an uproar, so many people are trying to go back to school to further their education to get ahead,” said Mickeala Carter, a Texas A&M U. sophomore. “I feel pressured to stay in school longer because, for me, it may be better going into the job market with an advanced education rather than going straight into a job with only a Bachelors degree.”

Gualco’s “Good Manager,” includes themes such as: “The six key attributes a person should possess to master the art of management;” “Why your success as a manager ultimately relies on your ability to be a good person;” and “Why talent alone will not equal success.”

Gualco said “Good Manager” emphasizes the importance of principles and ethics in the workforce and demonstrates how to progress into positions of leadership.

To the graduating seniors, “Good Manager” illustrates lessons regarding functional management ideas that can be used to prepare for interviews and future career opportunities, Gualco said.

“After graduation, I know competition will be at its peak. It’s almost like there is no job market,” said Elizabeth Wells, a Texas A&M senior. “The principles behind the Aggie network keep me optimistic — that other Aggies will help each other out in the search for career opportunities, even through a tough economy such as this one.”

Gualco said the importance of forming relationships and being a team player, is something future employers will notice.

“Universally, so few managers have a set guide of principles. Establishing principles benchmark leadership,” he said. “It is also so important to be seen as a team player.

Understanding the culture, the way things work and establishing relationships to draw upon is important. People enjoy interacting with a nice person, be sure to connect with your interviewer. Get involved in something you love and enjoy if you do that, then you’re on your way to a good start.”

Every year, thousands of student-athletes are admitted to universities around the country to develop athletically and academically. A few of these men and women however, failed to meet the minimum admission requirements set by their respective institutions.

Across the nation, universities of all sizes and backgrounds have created special admissions programs in order to enroll freshmen whom failed to meet the academic standards of the school but possess “special talents.”

NCAA Bylaw 14.1.5.1.1  states, “A student-athlete may be admitted under a special exception to the institution’s normal entrance requirements if the discretionary authority of the president or chancellor (or designated admissions officer or committee) to grant such exceptions is set forth in an official document published by the university (e.g., official catalog) that describes the institution’s admissions requirements.”

Naturally, the thought of unqualified candidates being accepted over students without athletic abilities raises many concerns.

“I get mad when athletes sit at the back of the classroom on their cell phones and don’t pay attention but still pass the class,” said Sarah Kramer, a Texas A&M U. senior. “What about the people who didn’t get into A&M but had better grades in high school? It just doesn’t seem fair.”

Despite the negative view that many hold toward special admission policies, it is worth noting that not all special admissions involve deficient academic performance.

“One of the biggest misconceptions is thinking that if you’re admitted through special admissions that somehow that means that you weren’t academically admissible under normal circumstances,” said Texas A&M athletic compliance education coordinator Brad Barnes. “You have to remember that normal circumstances for admission to the university involve meeting the time deadline. The time deadline for student admission and the deadlines involved in the recruiting process are totally different. We can have kids that were 4.0 students in high school but can be a special admit. This is normal in college athletics.”

Barnes believes that critics of special admission programs are following stereotypes and making faulty judgments.

“It’s bad when people think that someone is a special admit because they aren’t academically of the same caliber as their fellow students,” Barnes said. “That’s not necessarily true. Without knowing anything about that person, that’s just the wrong conclusion to immediately draw.”

Although special admissions include those who fail to meet deadlines, there are a certain number of student-athletes at Texas A&M that would not have been admitted had they not participated in athletics.

“You just don’t know without knowing information that most people just aren’t allowed to have access to,” Barnes said. “With FERPA [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act], you don’t know if they’re the academic caliber as their fellow students at that school or if they secured admission through special circumstances.”

The NCAA does offer special admissions to students that are able to perform at a high level in a number of activities including music, dance, art and theatre. A recent report by ESPN’s Outside the Lines however, showed that 35 of 37 special admissions given at Florida State U. in 2006 were to athletes.

A correlation between the number of special admits and athletic success is apparent. The 2010 BCS Championship Game featured two programs that have liberally used special admissions.

From 2004 to 2006, U. Alabama added 19 special admits to the football team. The struggling program quickly turned around and won the BCS Championship in 2010.

Despite not having a special admissions program, U. Texas admits student-athletes on a case-by-case basis with no minimum requirements. This strategy led to great athletic success capped off with a BCS Championship in 2006. However, from 2003 to 2005, the average SAT score for a Longhorns football player was 945, 320 points below the average for a freshman at Texas.

“I think the idea is good for athletic programs,” said junior general studies major Justin Mercer. “It introduces other athletes that otherwise wouldn’t have an opportunity to attend that college. As a whole though, it takes away the integrity of the school and lowers the standards. People may say that it’s just to make a school look better at sports.”

Even though there are some student-athletes that get accepted without meeting minimum requirements, the social benefit is hard to argue against. Texas A&M’s athletic department emphasizes the importance of education and works to maximize the academic potential of everyone in the program.

“They basically have a whole floor for academics,” said Texas A&M senior Dan Cross, who tutored athletes during the fall of 2008. “There’s computer labs, individual study rooms, classrooms and tutors available at different times. They’re also required to complete a certain amount of study hours during their first year here. There are a lot of resources at their disposal.”

Overall, student-athletes have a slightly better graduation rate than the normal student population. The success rate for African-Americans and Hispanics however, is much higher for those involved in athletics.

Cross attributes this to the effort he’s seen from tutoring athletes.

“In some cases, they just worked real hard at athletics in high school and didn’t have a lot of time for academics,” Cross said. “The athletes I tutored always had their homework done unless they had a question. They were eager to learn and worked really hard during our sessions.”

With all of the controversy surrounding the issue, it is easy to forget that there are actual people involved. Despite whether it is right or wrong, special admissions meet their objective in providing an athlete with an opportunity to succeed.

“Over the years, the amount of success stories far outnumbers the number of people who failed,” Barnes said. “For those who did fail, it’s difficult to say what attributed to that failure. There are not a lot of circumstances in my career though, where there have been people who have failed because they weren’t prepared to succeed.”