Monthly Archives: September 2011

The Honors Overnight Experience.

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Excited. Anxious. Confused. Happy. This would have been the first time I ever had all these feelings at one time. Probably a bunch of you also felt the same way. Being incoming freshmen, college is a big-step filled with fun, choices and many mistakes. To many, it is a tremendous transition. At Stockton, there is a solution to ease the worries and anxieties – The Stockton Honors Overnight Experience. This exclusive event is only held for the honor students to give them a taste of college and all that it has to offer.

From Irish dancing to a whole bunch of icebreakers, I can definitely say that making friends was not even close to being a problem. The friends I made at the Honors Overnight are my closest friends now. In fact, I was even able to meet my roommate and get to know him better. This made the first days at Stockton a whole lot easier when I knew people beforehand. There were activities the whole day and I must say there was never a dull moment. One of the highlights of the day was volleyball. From Momina spiking the ball to everyone’s epic fails, if you weren’t friends with everyone before, you probably are now. You really get to know people from these activities.

However, not only did we have a great time, we got to learn more about the various places around campus that are meant to help you! For instance, we got to hear about the Wellness Center from Bob Ross, what the honors program is really about from Lisa Rosner, and service learning from Daniel Tome. From this, I really got a chance to obtain more information about Stockton and the help that it offers whenever I need it. The biggest advantage of the Honors Overnight would have been planning your schedule for classes. I got a whole bunch of advice and recommendations on interesting classes and scheduling the times correctly. This extra time made orientation a lot less overwhelming when you already had everything planned out. By the time I finished the Murder Mystery (last event of the night), I was completely exhausted. We got to sleep in our air conditioned dorms. Sleeping in these dorms gives you a picture of what it will be like the next four years of your life. In fact, by the time you move in, you will know where everything goes.

All in all, I just want to say that this is one of the best experiences and you shouldn’t miss it for anything! The Honors Overnight really gets you hyped up for Stockton in the fall and after it all, you will be counting the days before school starts.

Horace Leung

My Day of Service

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Dan McGowan 9/17/2011

The event I attended was the volunteer service at ARCH, or Atlantic Riding Center for
Health. I went on the day of service on September 10 2011. For me the
experience gave me a variety of things including hands on work but also an
inside view as to how ARCH helps people and what they focus on as a group. ARCH
is a horse stable that works with disabled children and other less fortunate
people to help them ride as a way to relax and learn basic skills. They are a
non-profit organization, and are in desperate need of funding. My assignment at
Arch was to help clean the grounds for a fundraiser they were holding the next
week. This was a onetime event where I volunteered my services but there is the
option to pursue additional trips over should someone be interested.
While volunteering I worked with the shift advisor Dave. It was an interesting experience as Dave gave insight to how things were run and how life was like working with horses every day. He loves what he does and it was refreshing to find someone who was so
passionate about the work they do. He understands that with a group such as
ARCH there are shortages on equipment and that sometimes the tasks at hand are
daunting because the group cannot afford needed material. But he never talks
down about the group, it’s just understood that it needs to be done one way or
another. While we worked on such things as making a wooden bridge, or cleaning
up branches from Hurricane Irene Dave explained more to me about actually
working with horses and how he wants to be able to do this his whole life.
Working at ARCH was similar to my summer job where I work at a horse farm as a hand. It was all very similar to me, because around a farm there is always something that needs
to be done. The days are never the same and sometimes you are faced with challenges
you never expected to come across. I found the activity rewarding because
whenever I physically get involved it feels like I accomplished something and
that my day was put to good use. The people at ARCH are a  extremely nice and caring group and it was an honor to be able to work with them for a day and learn about their lives and ambitions for ARCH.

8th Annual Day of Service

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My first commitment to service at Stockton was the 8th Annual Day of Service. I have volunteered in the past, but never to a type of organization similar to Career Opportunities Development Inc. This organization gives people who have had a rough past a chance to start over; these people could be ex-sex offenders, or ex-convicts. This non-profit organization strikes a fire of success in these individuals. Their workplace is where we spent our time making a difference. Dark. Dank. Depressing. Boring. The gray walls, gray floors, and jungle green work tables created a workplace that was lacking the most important quality of mundane work—motivation. After paint was shaken in its can, poured into trays, and dipped into rollers the transformation of the warehouse was complete. In less than three short hours a brand new spirit now lives within the building. All the building needed was ten Stockton students who were willing to sacrifice their time in order to better other peoples’ everyday lives. The walls were brightened to a mild yellow of a daisy, and all of the mixed matched tables were painted a chic metallic-esque gray. The trim and doors surrounding the walls are a light beige color allowing that cheery yellow to pop and bring a smile to anyone’s face that walks through the door. The creativity of this project was perfect and even though the volunteers originally signed up to do yard work painting was still very productive. These workers, who are currently checking pharmaceutical bottles for imperfections in order to prevent them from breaking when they are vacuum sealed, are going to be surprised and will embrace their new surroundings. They will be reminded that even though they might have lived through a rough past that they should appreciate being able to be classified as employed in such harsh economic times.

 

Sign Up for the Red Cross Blood Drive

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From Momina Ayub, Service Director:

Hope you guys had a great summer!!! To start off the semester we’re going to be having a Blood Drive On Tuesday September 20th and Wednesday September 21th in Big Blue from 9-3. I need people who want to volunteer to help out during the actual Blood Drive and to table for the event. We are tabling Sept. 14th- 19th from 9-5 in the Campus Center cafeteria. I’m attaching the sign up sheets so you guys can look at what times you’re available. You can email me your times at ayubm@go.stockton.edu if you want or you can sign up in the honors center on the “wall of paper” aka the door 😛