Coming to Stockton came with a lot of changes for me. I was suddenly no longer in high school, where it had been almost a continuous schedule for four years. I was no longer going to see the people I had gone to school with for the last twelve years. I also came to fully accept that I wouldn’t be seeing my best friends every day anymore. Having your best friends with you in almost every class is something so relaxing and almost mundane for four years, that you don’t even realize how much you’re taking that for granted. So yes, coming to Stockton came with a lot of changes and to say I was nervous was an understatement.
Besides how nervous I was my first few weeks of school, I’ve come to believe that part of the beauty of schools is the opportunities that are presented for the students. There are clubs upon clubs and sports for every single perspective. The only real work that students have to put in regarding clubs and sports is actually looking for them. When I found out about the Muslim Student Association, I was extremely excited. After going to the first meeting, I knew I would be sticking with the club. The club doesn’t only deal with religious beliefs, but deals heavily with the idea of volunteer work which is a very important thing for me.
Stockton’s MSA is very involved with a few organizations, one being the Islamic Relief fun for Aid in Africa. This past October, our MSA joined up with dozens of other university MSAs to form the MSA-United fun for the Islamic Relief cause. The MSA-united group decided on a joined fundraising event for all the clubs across the state to meet up and raise money together. However, before that, all the clubs decided to indivicually raise money first.
Stockton’s MSA set up tables in lower D-wing for three days and I was fortunate enough to table for a few hours during the days. We sold baked goods including cookies, browines (which were heavenly) and samosas. We also provided Henna art for anyone willing to pay, and I was happy to offer my services in applying the henna to customers. It was fun and a completely different experience than what I was used to when tabling for clubs. We raised a significant amount of money and the joined MSA event was a lot of fun. It felt good to have connected and made friends with people of similar beliefs, and along the way it felt even better to have done something for people in need. College might have been a big change for me, but it was a change that has gladly been accepted