I saw Dracula on October 27th at seven in the Performing Arts Center. It was performed by the Atlantic City Ballet Theatre, a company I danced with during highschool. Dance has always been some part of my life, ever since I was a little girl; When I was younger, I would come to Stockton around Christmas time to see The Nutcracker and that was always a great memory for me. Dracula was no exception. When I heard about the show I was so excited to see it. I was required to go for my ballet class but I would have gone even if that was not the case. To be completely honest, I did not know the plot of Dracula whatsoever. I have always sort of known what it was about, although watching the ballet was challenging because there was nothing to explain what was going on. During intermission I read the summary in the playbill so I could catch up. Dracula had amazing choreography although very creepy music, lighting, and costumes. Red lights filled the stage and the music was eerie, to say the least. People became possessed at many points in the ballet and how the dances changed due to their feelings was interesting. It was a great experience and I encourage everyone, even if it might not be your thing, to go see a ballet!

-Victoria Starner

Every Thursday night and most Saturday nights, the campus center theater plays new movies before they are released on DVD. There is also an opportunity to win raffle prizes, like gift cards for Wawa or movie posters, at the very end. Why not try to win a Wawa gift card? Stockton students love Wawa. In general, the movie nights are a very fun experience. It has the movie theater feel without the movie theater price. It is completely free for any Stockton student. There are even free snacks and refreshments, but you have to get there a bit early before they run out. The doors open at 8, but the movie does not start until 8:30. During that in between time, old Looney Tunes cartoons play. In that aspect, it is very reminiscent of an old time movie theater. Back in the early days of movie theaters, they played cartoons before movies, so it brings about a slightly nostalgic feeling of simpler times, even though none of us were alive in that time period. Even still, it is a great way to spend time with friends or even your boyfriend and girlfriend. There is nothing wrong with a free date. Since most of us are poor college kids, these movie nights are great because they are free and we do not have to spend an arm and a leg like we do if we go to any other movie theater. I would recommend these movie nights at the campus center to anyone, especially those looking for a fun way to spend their Thursday or Saturday nights without having to spend a penny.

This dinner has occurred for 27 years now, and it brings all of the students, faculty, and staff who attend closer together. This was held on November 17 in the Campus Center Event Room and was sponsored by Student Development.

This dinner included an opening done by none other than Stockton’s all female A Capella group, Stockata. They opened with “Fallin’” by Alicia Keys in their own unique A Capella style. There was also a solo done A Capella by a student from the Gospel Choir. Utilizing both students and faculty to open the dinner made for a very fun and cohesive atmosphere.

Eventually after the singing and several speeches, Bill Daly was honored with an award for being such an amazing teacher to many Stockton students and changing their lives dramatically. After his award, the dinner began, and everyone was free to mingle and speak with the faculty they brought or some they did not.

I personally loved this event. As a member of Stockata, it was great to sing one of our songs for everyone that we had worked so hard on. We even got invited to stay and eat at our own table, all 14 of us! I liked listening to the speeches of the faculty, and even saw some great teachers I plan to have classes with some day. Though none of my professors were available due to prior engagements or because they were already invited by someone else, this event was a good one. People need to realize that it is not just students, faculty, and staff at this college. This dinner was able to show me and many others that this college is made up of the relationships between these groups of people, and that makes all the difference.

The Day of Service started with all of us meeting in the campus center. There were a lot more people there than I expected. It was very inspiring to see that so many people want to give their Saturday to help others in the community. We got into lines to check in and received surveys that we needed to fill out. After we all filled out our surveys we met in the event room for breakfast. After breakfast we listened to a few speakers, the most memorable being a first responder on the day of 9/11. His accounts were vivid and gave everyone a greater respect for all those who helped that tragic day, such as fire fighters, police officers, Emergency Medical Technicians, and medical staff. They did not get to see their families that day to help others. After his inspirational speech every person gave him a standing ovation as he walked away from the podium.
Each person was then called by service project leaders to their buses where they were transported to their locations. I went to the Atlantic Riding Clinic for Health, a nonprofit riding facility that teaches the handicapped to ride horses, along with other lessons. While I was there I helped out with a few different things. First we painted trim and doors for the horses, which I enjoyed doing. After we finished we washed the brushes and then started cleaning out the shed. We moved the contents out of the shed so that they employees could decide whether or not they were going to keep, donate, or throw them away. Once that was decided we moved some of the items into the classroom. When we finished moving the boxes and other things it was one o’ clock and time for us to leave. On our way out I could tell that the employee’s at ARCH really appreciated everyone’s help that day, even though we were only there for about three hours.
On our way back we filled out a post survey and discussed what everyone did that day. Everyone did different things and I realized that even though there were only three hours, we got a lot accomplished. I truly understood how just a little work can go a long way and it means a lot to someone. The Day of Service definitely inspired me to want to go out and do more community service.

Last month The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey’s girl soccer team played an amazing game against Misericordia at their home field. My friend McKenzie Lillia and I went to the game about 15 minutes into the first half. There was a lot of support in the stands from Stockton students. Even though neither team scored, it was one of the best soccer games I have watched at Stockton College.
The first half started out as a normal game. There were attempts by both teams to score but all failed. During the second half the game started to get more intense. The attempts from Stockton became more and more frequent and closer and closer to scoring each time. Misericordia scored a few times as well. The teams seemed to be equally matched.
The second half ended with the score still 0-0. The game went into overtime. At this point not many spectators were left in the stands and it was about ten o’ clock at night. A significant amount of true fans were still routing for the team. Stockton got had a few corner kicks giving excellent opportunity to score but still they had no luck. Minutes felt like hours until the first overtime was over. Still the score remained 0-0 so the game went on to a second overtime period. This is when everyone was out of his or her seats screaming for someone to score. Unfortunately that did not happen and the game ended in a tie with zero goals. Even though there was no goals scored it was an excellent game and McKenzie and I had an amazing time watching it.

On Thursday, October 20th, the Honors Program had an event called “Pizza and Pong” at Lakeside. The occasion was to dress up for Halloween while getting to know the other students in the Honors Program. This event was open to both upperclassmen and underclassmen. The night was filled with funny and frightful costumes while everyone had fun playing water pong or simply just enjoying each other’s company. Many pictures were taken with everyone in their costumes, but more importantly these pictures hold the memories that we shared as a group that night.

I am glad that I decided to come to this event since it was nicely organized by the upperclassmen. They included upbeat music along with a variety of food and refreshments. The upperclassmen were also friendly and very open to talking to the incoming freshmen. I appreciated the fact that they asked us if we had any questions about the Honors Program or Stockton in general. It was comforting to know how friendly everyone was. I instantly felt welcomed into the group and even made some new friends.

At the end of the night, one of the upperclassmen mentioned that there will be another Honors event next month. Together, we discussed possible plans for the next meeting. Potential ideas included a giant game of twister, a scavenger hunt, or a movie night. I am definitely looking forward to attending the next one. The Honors group truly is a warm and close-knit community. Attending the “Pizza and Pong” made me even happier with my choice to join the Honors Group.

There was 15 minutes left in the second half, we were beating the Mercy Mustangs by a score of 7-1. Michelle, our head coach, looked at me and said,”Sara, go warm-up.” I put my helmet on and had a pass with the Deb, the goalie coach. Then, I was ready to play in the game. Michelle then told me to go in at the 11 minute mark. For the next two minutes all I did was stare at the clock, waiting for my time. The ref blew his whistle and said “goalie sub.” I then stepped on the field during a game for the first time all season. As I ran onto the field I felt the butterflies in my stomach.
During the first minute I was on the field a ball came rolling into the circle and I cleared it out wide to the other defensemen. Stockton then drove the ball up the field and got a corner. On the corner, we passed the ball to the top of the circle and took a quick shot on goal, which was deflected by Cassie into the corner of the goal and the score was now 8-1. Mercy then took the ball down the field and found an opening in the defense. It was then a one-on-one, and I ran out to meet their left wing at the top of the circle, she hit the ball ahead of herself, and I used that as my chance to dive and clear the ball back out to the 25 yard line. After that play, I got up and ran back to the net. It felt like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders and the butterflies started to go away. Stockton then took the ball into the offensive circle where Sierra took a rocket of a shot and scored to make it 9-1. For the last couple minutes I only had one more shot, which I cleared wide.
After the game, I was very excited and could not take the smile off of my face. It felt so good to finally play in an actual game. Everyone came up to me and said nice job or way to go. The only thing that would have made that day better was if I shared this moment with my mom. My mom has gone to every home game to watch the game and wait for the time I was going to play. Unfortunately, that time came at the only home game she could not make. After the game, while I was sitting in my car ready to leave, I called my mom and told her about it. She was very happy for my and she wished she was there to see it.

On Thursday, September 15, the Stockton Ospreys Field Hockey team had a home game versus the Gwynedd-Mercy Griffins. We arrived at the field a little over an hour before the game and met as a team in the trailer. Once Coach Andre came in and gave us our pre-game speech, we knew we were ready to play.

A couple minutes later we took the field for warm-ups. Warm-ups take about 40 minutes and once that buzzer went off, we were ready to take the field. We get in line and follow the refs out to the center of the field. Then, they announce the starting line-ups for both teams. While they play the National Anthem, we stand front to back holding the hand of the person in front and behind us, to demonstrate that we are one team. Then we run back to the bench and it was time to start the game.

The first half was a battle; both teams had multiple opportunities to score. Unfortunately, the Griffins were first to get a point on the board. We never gave up because we are a team full of heart. We kept pounding on their doorstep, but the ball couldn’t find their cage. Gwynedd-Mercy scored again to make it a two goal deficit going into the second half. They outshot us 17-5 through the first half. During halftime, Coach talked to us about what we were doing wrong and how to fix it. We knew the game wasn’t over and we could still win.

At the start of the second half the Griffins were playing more physical, but it didn’t bother us. About 10 minutes into the second half, Jenny scored to make it 2-1. At that moment we knew we were going to win this game. We were dominating this half, and with two minutes left in the game one of their players received a yellow card, which means she had to sit out for eight minutes and her team was a man down. Less than a minute later, we scored to tie up the game. Then the buzzer sounded and we were heading into overtime. A week before this, we also had a game that went into overtime and we won it less than two minutes in and we knew this game was going to end the same way. We scored only 2 minutes in. As soon as we heard the ball hit the back of the cage, we charged onto the field and congratulated Suzie, the goal scorer.

After the game, we knew that nothing could stop us and if we keep our head in the game we can and will do anything.