On Saturday, September 8th Stockton held their 9th annual Day of Service where students came together and were distributed on and off campus to volunteer. Being a freshman in the Honor’s Service Learning program I was told about this event at orientation in June. Professor Rosner and the older honor’s students continued to speak highly of this event throughout our bonding sessions. Although they talked about it, they never truly explained what it was all about. They simply told us newcomers to sign up early and attend the event. When I returned home from orientation I did as they directed and signed up as soon as possible.
I received an e-mail a few days before September 8th notifying me that I was assigned to participate in gardening at the Noyes Museum. I am not a gardener what-so-ever so this sounded like it would be a fun and interesting new experience. I was not really sure what to expect, but as the day was approaching I became more and more excited.
It was finally September 8th. I arrived at the Campus Center and signed in at the table. I proceeded to fill out a questionnaire in order to claim my FREE t-shirt (I learned the minute I arrived here that college students really enjoy free merchandise and most of
all, free food.) I walked into the room containing all the volunteers and was pleasantly surprised to see all the students sitting around the dozens of tables set up. I instantly became very proud of my college and the students that attend it. It is not every day you see so many students in one place eager and excited to help others and the community.
Once everyone was seated and eager to start the day, President Dr. Herman J. Saatkamp was introduced and spoke about how proud he is of everyone’s involvement and how truly wonderful Stockton students are. He also announced that this Day of Service was the biggest Stockton has yet to have. Proceeding President Saatkamp, Daniel Tomé, the coordinator of Service-Learning, directed everyone to the locations they were assigned to volunteer at.
Nine other people and myself pulled up to the Noyes Museum as it continued to downpour. Unfortunately, the rain did not allow us to garden, so we were all directed to perform odd jobs around the museum. Most of the other students dusted, mopped the different exhibit’s floors, and disinfected the children’s area. I was assigned cleaning and organizing storage space in the basement. It was actually a lot more exciting than it sounds. A new friend I made on the way to the location helped me create a very nice and clean environment in the basement of the museum. We then had to haul large pieces of art up to the main area of the museum for the new exhibit that was to go up the next day. Eventually everyone else joined us. It was really nice to see the amount of team work occurring between people that had just met about three hours prior to being there.
It seemed as though none of us wanted the day to end. It was such a fun and amazing experience being able to lend a helping hand to the community. The man in charge during our time at the museum was so appreciative of all the work everyone did. I was extremely proud of what we accomplished and I learned a lot about the history of the museum and how it came to be. I am so glad I listened to the honor’s students at orientation and participated in the Day of Service. I would suggest that all incoming freshman take part in this day, honor’s students or not, to get to know this lovely community we now reside in.