On Tuesday, September 18, 2012, around 7:50pm, my roommate and I were headed to the cafeteria in the Campus Center for a bit of a late dinner. While we were walking, two students came up to us and asked if we liked free food. Being broke college freshmen, we both eagerly responded with a resounding, “yes!”. The two students then informed us about Dinner and a Show.  This program was being presented by SET, which is short for Stockton Entertainment Team. They told us that the event was being held in the Campus Center Event Room and that there would be food and music, both of which were being provided to Stockton students free of charge. My roommate and I went just to see what it was about, and we ended up having a great time.

            Upon entering the Event Room we were greeted by the smiling faces of many members of SET. They directed us toward to the two buffet style tables that were filled with food. We grabbed plates and filled them with chicken parmesan, pasta, and salad. The food tasted great, and we even got to go up for seconds.  We sat at a table with some other people that we didn’t know prior to attending the event, but we introduced ourselves and had made some new friends by the end of the night.    

            While we were eating, we were introduced to the night’s musical guest named Matt Wade. He was a singer and accompanied himself on the piano. There was a small stage set up in the front of the event room where he preformed and was equipped with a keyboard and a microphone. He sang some original songs that were very catchy and well written, and he also sang some familiar songs that got almost everyone singing along. I’m a singer and I love music, so I found being able to attend this event to hear music and even get to sing a little to be so much fun. While the students in the room were enjoying the music, members of SET came around and took pictures of all the tables. These pictures made their way onto the SET facebook page, making us all a little famous. Also, even though we were all so full from all of the food we had consumed, many of us found room for some of the cake that was provided.

            I found this event completely on accident, and was just lucky enough to have wandered into the Campus Center at the perfect time that Tuesday night. I was able to have some great food, be entertained by a talented musician, and meet some new people, all at no expense to me. SET did a great job with the event and everything ran very smoothly. I am very happy that I was able to attend the program and become aware of SET, because now I will be sure to take advantage of more of the awesome things that they make available to students, such as Dinner and a Show, or one of my new favorites, the cupcake bar!

Amazing, fascinating, electrifying, energetic, upbeat, stunning, surprising and  unbelievable are just a few words to describe the performance of Tap Dogs, a dance group that put on a marvelous show at Stockton on September 22^nd. A group of about eight talented men graced the Performing Arts Center’s stage with their impeccable tap dancing ability. I was in awe of their talents from the moment the show began to the end of their third encore.  The talent of each and every one of the men was out of this world, and the stunts they pulled were insane, yet utterly incredible.

The beginning of the show consisted of each dancer allowing the audience to become familiar with their unique talent. The dancers would then unite as one and perform a group dance. These group dances were phenomenal to say the least. If I closed my eyes, it sounded as if there was one person dancing on the stage, when in reality there were eight. They were so uniform and in sync with one another that it blew the audience members away. The men were upbeat and made the whole experience really enjoyable.

I must say that I was in shock and horror for the second half of the performance. The men started performing crazy stunts that could have easily injured them. One man tapped upside down on a metal board overheard while his fellow dancers held him in that position by only rope. It was thrilling to watch and kept the performance suspenseful and most definitely unique. The dancers also jumped on and off of ladders tapping intensely and in rhythm, which was pure genus. It was amazing to watch, for the choreography was simply breathtaking. There was also a dance routine to the sounds of firearms which was frightening but exhilarating all at the same time. The things they could do with their feet were at times truly awe inspiring. Tap dances were performed on a variety of unusual surfaces throughout the entire show including water, metal and steel. The metal and steel created unique and majestic sounds and spiced up the performance.

Water was indeed the most creative surface though. In fact, my favorite part of the whole show was when the dancers all arrived on stage wearing rain boots. I became very confused due to the fact that it is practically impossible to get any other sound out of a rain boot other than a squeak, let alone an impressive tap. I was wrong. They all sat down on a bench with a large container of water in front of them and began stepping in and out of the water simultaneously, creating an interesting yet appealing sound. It was one of the coolest moments of the show. This whole scene was choreographed and the stage became soaked with water. It was extremely creative and quickly became my favorite scene.

Once they changed out of the boots and back into their beloved tap shoes, they danced around and tapped in the water still left on the stage, splashing the rows of people in the front. It was extremely amusing and the guys were nothing short of entertaining and hilarious. They received four standing ovations from the audience and myself and performed three encores that were absolutely fantastic and adequately portrayed the amount of talent this spectacular dance troupe contained.

I am so glad I was able to go see this amazing show. I tried to describe what I saw to the best of my abilities so those of you who could not attend can get a sense of the magnificent talent gracing the stage. If they happen to come to Stockton again in the future I suggest to everyone that they buy a ticket right away. Tap Dogs is a must see show and a truly spectacular performance that simply cannot be missed.

On Saturday, September 8^th Stockton held their 9^th 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 8^th 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 8^th. 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.