The Wellness Center is by far one of the best resources on the Stockton campus. Not only do they offer counseling and supportive services, but they also host a variety of special events. Some are held every week, such as yoga, or every month, like the health and nutrition seminars. The culmination of the autumn season events, however, was Lollanobooza, a Halloween extravaganza. Held on October 30th, the dance was a combination of frightful food, bloodcurdling music, and spooktastic prizes. And just like all of the Wellness Center events, it had a distinct purpose: to show that alcohol is not needed to have fun on college campuses.

With the central theme revolving around alcohol awareness, many student organizations pitched in by making “mocktails.” The punches ranged from sweet to sour, and one even had a gummy-bug surprise in the bottom of its serving “chalice.”  After being judged that night, the winning group was awarded a special trophy for their efforts.

Students, and many of the faculty, wore their favorite Halloween costumes to match the creepy spider webs and bales of hay that transformed the Campus Center Event room. Comic book heroes, ninjas, and princesses filled the dance floor. There was even a mummy who, by the end of the night, shed the majority of his two-ply overcoat (by the time everyone left, it looked like the host, Elsa, covered the room with toilet-paper snow)!

For the witches and warlocks who tired of the dance floor, there were a ghostly-array of games. Crowd pleasers included the mechanical bull, photo booth, and tattoo station. At the end of the night, well over two dozen door prizes left in the arms of students. It is not at all scary how fun things can be without alcohol.

~Alex Meyers

On October 7th, over 500 pairs of shoes were placed in a trail that followed the outline of the main hallway in the F academic building. Each pair represented a life taken by suicide on the nation’s college campuses each semester. Many people came up to my fellow volunteers and me, curious as to why these simple articles of clothing were against the wall. When we explained it to them, we saw faces staring back at us that were full of emotion. Clearly, this topic had an impact on everyone. It took just over three minutes to walk the entire line of shoes, but if they had represented suicides in a year, it would have been the equivalent of going from the TRLC building to the Lodge at Lakeside. Suicide is not something that is often talked about, much less presented through a symbolic visual, but it was time we spoke up.

The goal of this event was to “send silence walking,” and that is exactly what we did. Throughout the day, I conversed with complete strangers, both adults and fellow peers, all of whom made connections on the powerful message that was displayed at their feet. Other events during Suicide Prevention Week helped to continue the conversations. There were free depression screenings and consultations, panel discussions, a movie, and the Draw Hope art  contest.

The moment that was most profound for me, however, was a quiet time in which I was alone standing next to Lake Fred. I was privileged enough to work with the Active Minds student organization and was waiting at my post to cheer on the walkers of the first Send Silence Walking event. As I sat on the grass, I could not help but feel grounded amongst the pairs of shoes that lined the walkway; there were more than the number of students at my entire high school. Out of something so simple as a shoe, walked a concept more powerful than can be described in words. Together we must end the stigma on mental health, learn positive coping skills, and never let ourselves or anyone else walk alone.

~Alex Meyers

On what started out as a rather ordinary day, I was walking through a crowd towards my first class when out of the corner of my eye I saw something quite intriguing. At first I could not distinguish who or what it was, but imagine my surprise when a giant full-fledged (pun intended) bipedal Osprey came casually strutting past. This was no Mickey Mouse, but was still somewhat of a celebrity in his own right. This mascot, though a tiny bit creepy, represented the adventure that I knew I would be undertaking for the next four years, and I was only curious to see what the rest of the day had planned. Of course I had to stop to take a picture.

That morning, the Osprey was making a special appearance at the Get Involved Fair. This free event took place in the main hall encompassing the lower level of most of the academic buildings on September 16th and 17th, and could be viewed from 10am to 4pm. Over 100 student organizations set up tables, booths, and colorful displays, ranging from a high-tech gaming system to the traditional tri-fold board. Each station had engaging club members ready to answer any questions and provide signup sheets. Most groups had free “swag bags” to hand out, spreading club pride amongst the student body. All students were welcome to explore the many opportunities to get involved as they walked to and from classes, and were encouraged to find their own niche on campus (and I am happy to report I seem to have found mine).

For those who were unable to attend the event this semester, the Winter version will be held on January 27th and 28th. I highly encourage my fellow freshmen and upperclassmen who are interested in learning more about the great student-run organizations or Greek Life on campus to come spend a few minutes at the next event. Who knows— the one and only Osprey might make another appearance!

~Alex Meyers

On Sunday October 12th the Stockton Quidditch club held a Hero’s vs Villains homecoming tournament. This event is held every year for Stockton’s homecoming weekend and is open for the public to view and even participate in. The purpose of the event was to help promote the club and the sport while also raising money by selling fun tee shirts. This event was effective at promoting Quidditch as a fun and accepting game and it even raised a good deal of money for tee shirt sales. The event was ran by seasoned Quidditch players split into two teams, the hero’s and the villains. The hero’s wore white and the villains wore black and both had the names of a famous hero or villain embroidered across the back of the player’s shirts, i.e. Iron man and Darth Vader. The game was fast paced, action packed, humorous and, most importantly, fun both to watch and play. Even audience members got involved and were taught how to play by the Quidditch club members. At the end of the day people left with a better appreciation and understanding for the game of Quidditch. I went to this event because I am a member of the organization, and went to it as a formality, but I was pleasantly surprised and genuinely had a good time. My favorite part about the whole experience however was seeing all the other fellow Harry Potter fans dressed up and supporting the event. It was a crowd full of geeks and I couldn’t feel more at home. Another part of the event that will stick with me was when members of the audience were asked if they wanted to play. The reason why was that I got to see kids hop on a broom stick and run around watching their faces light up, even if for just a moment, as if they were actually in the magical world of Harry Potter. After attending this event I most certainly will be returning next year and hopefully be playing in it as well. At the end of the day I left the pitch with a cool new tee shirt and smile on my face.

This past Tuesday I attended The Stockton Scholarship Recognition Dinner. This prestigious event allows all those who are awarded scholarships to meet and have dinner with the donors behind their financial aid. The event took place in the campus center event room from 530pm to 830pm. Upon entering each guest was given a name tag and assigned a seat at one of 38 tables. The guests sitting at each table varied between students, donors, and faculty. The food was served buffet style and was very delicious, but as good as the main course was the desert was even tastier. However before the food was served, Stockton’s president gave a very motivating and moving speech that gave students and donors further incentive to work hard and donate. After the main course each Dean of Stockton’s different schools of study came up and introduced the recipient of that schools scholarship. The student recipients from each school then gave short speech about how valuable each scholarship is to them and the many accomplishments they have and are going to achieve with it. At the end of the night a big group photo was taken to commemorate the evening’s festivities and all those who attended this splendid occasion. This entire event was fun and humbling, as I got to see the many other students who worked far harder than I to receive Stockton’s many prestigious scholarships. The event also seemed to be an effective way to further secure the continuous and growing financial donation for Stockton’s scholarship program, from its many donors. Because the donors were able to sit down and talk with the scholarship recipients they were able to see to whom their money was going to and the incredible impact and aid it has given to the students. The donors could see just how important their donations are and that their money is not going to waste. The event, at least for me, gave students motivation to work harder and learn as much as they can, because they got to see just how valuable their scholarships are. All in all my fellow students and I enjoyed ourselves. The good food and good company made for a pleasant and memorable night.

On November 8th at approximately 8:00 pm, the Stockton Entertainment Team – also known as SET- hosted their own version of the popular American singing talent contest, The Voice. Having many aspects of this program based off of the NBC show, SET had four judges sit on stage and choose contestants. These judges were to swivel their chair around during any contestant’s performance when they heard the voice of a singer they wanted on their team to take under their wing during the show’s brief intermission.

At the start of the event it was announced there would be eleven contestants, and three rounds. Many of the contestants did not come with a prepared track to sing to. They instead chose to sing their songs acapella, meaning they had no background music. The only contestant that did come to the show with a prepared track list was, the Honor’s Program very own, Krista Thomson. The musical background truly helped to enhance her performance, a feature all other contestants lacked. Because of this set back, the general performance quality was not as high as anticipated. The judges’ buzzers, which were meant to indicate that they wanted a performer on their team, never worked for any of the judges. This drastically changed the show. The buzzers never cooperated with any of the judges and had to be removed from the table before the first contestant was done performing. This unfortunate circumstance made it unclear as to which judge choose each performer first. Because of these factors, the entire event seemed to lack any true planning or rehearsal.

Overall, the Stockton Entertainment Team tried their best to provide students with an entertaining contest that was enjoyable for all involved. For the most part they did a pretty good job. With the exception of what seemed to be a lack of preparation, The Voice was enjoyable. It was nice to see fellow students bravely get up on stage and sing their hearts out, all for the grand prize of a Buffalo Wild Wings gift card.

On October 18^th, I did the Afternoon of Service. There were many different service projects that benefited different organizations. We made cards for soldiers and hospitalized children, made bears for children staying in the Ronald McDonald House, made wreaths for the Ronald McDonald House, made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the Atlantic City Rescue Mission, made dog toys for the animal shelter and colored pictures for soldiers and children who are ill.

Since there were so many stations, everyone went to the project they wanted to do and were able to switch whenever he or she wanted. For the three hours that I was there, I made teddy bears for the children in the Ronald McDonald House. This was one of the best service projects that I participated in. It felt amazing to know that we were not just helping one group of people but many organizations and people in need. But the best part was that at the end, the coordinator talked about who specifically we were helping and why we were helping them. She also informed us on what the non-profit organizations do and why it is a good idea to help that certain organization out. In all the service events I have been to, no one has ever told me what I was really there for and who my volunteering really helped.

In the end we made 138 dog toys for the animal shelter, 52 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, 40 coloring pages, 27 door hangers, 21 coloring books, 9 teddy bears, 3 cards, and 2 wreaths. Those numbers are amazing. Even though many people did not show up for the event, our small group of people got a lot done. I left feeling amazing that day!

Josh Pagan

Stockton Farm Trip

I volunteered at the Stockton Farm with my Freshman Seminar class. Instead of meeting for class, we all got on a shuttle together to go to the farm because it went along with the book we were reading at the time, which was about eating locally grown food. Having previously filled out our safety waivers, we arrived and were given our assignments. My assignment was to dig beds for garlic cloves that would grow during the fall season and into winter. Unfortunately, there were some issues with the beds being too close, and all my hard work was destroyed and dug over because my bed couldn’t fit. Instead of sulking over my destroyed work, I continued by planting the garlic cloves into the beds that were not destroyed. This assignment was amusing because the garlic cloves had little hairs protruding from the dirt after it was all done. After finishing, I decided to eat one of the habanero peppers that they had. This was a huge mistake due to my lack of a drink and the fact that they had been water deprived which causes peppers to be even spicier than usual.

Doing this project was an enjoyable parallel to what we have read in class, such as in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle where farmers grew their own local foods. It was a strange experience to see where our food actually comes from, considering I am wired to think that it comes from the grocery store shelf and not from the dirt. The amount of work that goes into running the Stockton Farm must be immense and I applaud the people that keep it going. I know my back was hurting the next day after all of that work I put into shoveling the garlic beds and then planting them. Their hard work and determination will someday hopefully change the views people have of their food.

Josh Pagan

Atlantic County Animal Shelter

On September 27th, I volunteered at the Atlantic County Animal Shelter with the Honors Program. Although rides were not provided, I decided to carpool with some friends that were just as excited as I was to volunteer at the shelter. After filling out wavers, I was assigned to take care of cats. These were no ordinary cats, though. This was the cat infirmary and it was one of the cutest yet saddest things I have ever seen. The cats ranged from small, fist sized kittens to fully grown cats. Some were so sick a mere sneeze would send them flying to the ground. I had the privilege of cleaning their cages, feeding them, and showing them love in the process. During this time, I had to handle each cat and move them to an alternate holding cell so that I could clean their cage. This mostly turned into holding each cat for five minutes before any work even began. By the end, I had grown quite fond of a cat named Uri that reminded me of my cat from home and I just wanted to take him home. Frankly, I wanted to take all of those cats home because I am a crazy cat lady at heart.

Doing this project gave me a newfound respect for people that work at animal shelters and a new outlook on how important it is to adopt from local shelters if one is thinking about getting a dog or cat. The jobs that these people have to perform are not pretty. Some of these jobs include scooping poop, cleaning throw up, and cleaning countless cages. Regardless, most of the workers perform all of these duties with a smile on their face. It was hard for me to do my job with a smile because of the conditions that these animals were in. However, I would be more than glad to volunteer again there after such a rewarding experience.

Josh Pagan

Day of Service

On September 6th I did the Richard Stockton College’s 11th annual day of service. I decided to do the project called Books Without Borders. I looked at some other projects such as Water Watch but decided on Books Without Borders because I enjoy books and there was plenty of seats for my friends to also join me. In this project our job was to move boxes of books out of cars and storage to begin sorting them into their respective subjects. These books ranged widely from college textbooks to novels to children’s books. After sorting them all they would be put back into boxes and shipped to other countries to people who needed them hence the name Books Without Borders. I took it upon myself to sort out all of the science books because I am a biology major and science is my favorite subject. It was very relaxing organizing all of the books and knowing it was for a good cause. At one point I also helped clean up all of the trash that was accumulated from many empty boxes that all of the books came in.

Doing this project gave me a new outlook on books. I always looked at them as an annoyance to be forced to read them for school, but some people don’t even have them and they are actually a huge privilege. Everyone learns from these books and for people who don’t have the privilege of attending a college like Stockton, those books are their only source of knowledge and a greater education. Knowing that attending and helping with this project helped me give this privilege to other individuals made me feel great. I know that I will most likely never meet the people that will receive these books but it is enough knowing that they will be able to get so much knowledge out of them. I would enjoy doing this project again at the next day of service because I know exactly what it is about and I support what the project is about one hundred percent.