Dr. Heather Boschey, a Stockton College Alumni, now works for the center of American Progress in Washington, D.C. She is a senior economist and her presentation was about the differences of men and women concerning the job world. She mentioned that over 50% of women make up workers in the U.S. and women are becoming breadwinners and co-breadwinners, but there is still a salary gap. A woman breadwinner by definition is a single working mom, or a married woman that is bringing in as much or more than her spouse. Women have been taking an advantage and gaining educational attainment over men, but are still getting paid more for the same job. Does that make sense? Two qualified individuals with their pay being different due to their gender. The career wage gap over a 40 year period causes women to make $400-$500 thousand dollars less than men over a lifetime. What would these women be able to do with that extra half a million dollars? Send their children to school? Live in better houses?

Then Dr. Boschey talked about the recession and recovery of the 2008 Recession. There was a $787 billion dollar recovery and reinvestment act set in place by the Obama administration. A lot of state and local government jobs were lost. The U.S. is starting to slowly see a rise in jobs and a decrease in unemployment, but that is only growing very slowly and should be increasing 300% more than what it is. This is a serious problem for the country because another recession in the next decade would be detrimental.

Boschey did an excellent job with her presentation. She was extremely clear in her speech, very organized, and did not read straight off of the PowerPoint. She did a Q and A session and had an answer to every question that came her way. She is very knowledgeable and that is important when you are presenting because you do not want to look uneducated. I am very glad I had the opportunity to attend this presentation because I learned a lot. She opened my eyes to see how effected the average U.S. citizen’s life was effected by the recession.

On April 3, the Annual Multicultural Dinner, sponsored by Multicultural Connection, occurred in the Campus Center Event Room.  This event was free, though donations for the KONY 2012 campaign for Invisible Children were taken.  While I had not initially been planning to go, I’m happy I did, for it was a very fun night full of different foods and entertainment!

At the tables a few little things from different cultures.  There was Japanese Pocky, German Merci chocolate, a Dutch coffee candy, and fortune cookies.  The real food for dinner was also just as diverse!  There was some Chinese beef, a Spanish rice dish, and more!

Once our food had been happily eaten, the entertainment began!  The entertainment consisted of dances from a variety of cultural.  An Asian club at another school did a Chinese New Year (Dragon) dance complete with dragon costumes and a beating drum.  They also did a dance to an American song and a waltz to a Chinese one.  There was some hip hop by an African-American dance company, some various Spanish dances including one used for zumba, one girl belly-danced, and more!

Also, prizes were given away at a raffle.  They were little banks shaped like globes, so that really brought the theme together!  The event ran for 2 hours with all of these things going on, and it really was amazing!

This experience was like no other.  I saw dances and heard music from other cultures that I may not normally have seen and heard.  While I listen to Japanese music, I don’t usually listen to much Chinese or Spanish music, so this was a great time to expand my music base. I would definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a fun, free night!  I will definitely return next year.