Earlier this semester, my friend Ryan and I volunteered at the Red Cross Blood Drive in Big Blue. The event ran for two days, both of which had many volunteers that consisted of students, faculty, and community members. While I wish I could have donated, but could not at the particular time, being even a small part of the event was a good overall experience.
As volunteers, we first stayed at the table where donors were given snacks and drinks and made sure they were able to talk normally without feeling dizzy or weak. At one point, someone did almost faint, but they were immediately assisted by a Red Cross worker. I wished that we were more equipped with knowledge as to how to help in situations by these, but we did our best in our task to bring the donors snacks. Also, later we sat at the front table to sign people in as well as give them paperwork with things to be aware of before donating. Interestingly enough, I learned about many more countries than I had imagined that, if one had visited them recently, prohibited certain individuals from donating at all.
Being that people young and old are in need of blood donations every day, I feel it is a great opportunity for blood drives to be held at college campuses, being that so many people are there each day. I feel that for all who are able and willing, it is a great chance to take advantage and be able to help one or more people, depending on how it is being used. Next time there is a blood drive, given that I am able to, I definitely plan on donating blood for the benefit of someone who will need it more than I do.

On February 26, the Career Center held a Career Fair in the Campus Center Event Room for students to meet and interact with representatives of many businesses and places of work. I was suggested to go by my Introduction to Hospitality and Tourism Management professor to attend, regardless of our majors, to see some options we had in the area for jobs or internships in the future. Business professional attire was strongly encouraged due to the possibility of meeting a future employer. Upon entering the fair we were given a catalogue containing the table numbers of each business, along with a description of each, along with the degrees the employers looked for in students. Being undeclared and unsure of what I wanted to do, this kind of limited my opportunities, but I decided to look at each table regardless.
The businesses, depending on the type and/or place of work, offered opportunities for temporary/part-time jobs, full-time jobs for after graduation, and summer internships. I thought that the range of options was very beneficial for students of any year, especially because I am a freshman. However, I think that more freshmen, regardless of their major, should start looking into potential career opportunities. The career fair was a great way to do so, because I talked to many professionals from different fields who gave me ideas as to what I would like to do in my career once I graduate.
I would strongly suggest every student visits the career fairs whenever they are offered by the career center here at Stockton. It was a great chance to see what kinds of employers are in the area and looking for Stockton graduates to represent them. I will definitely be attending the career fair next year if it is hosted again.

A few weekends ago, my friends and I decided to watch Big Hero Six, a Disney-Pixar movie that was playing in the Campus Center Theatre. I had seen the movie when it was first released, but enjoyed it so much as to see it again. Also, who wouldn’t want to see a movie on a Saturday night with their friends?
The animated movie is about a young genius named Hiro Hamada, an aspiring robot fighter (and quite the hustler) who has no intentions for using his inventiveness for college, that is, until his older brother, Tadashi, convinces him to apply. Hiro applies through a showcase held by the school, where the person who develops the most innovative technology is guaranteed acceptance from the Dean of the school. Hiro develops “microbots,” a uncountable amount of mini robots that, upon wearing a neurotransmitter headband, will shape themselves into anything the mind can create and even build tangible objects through this shape-shifting. Hiro showcases his invention and amazes the entire audience, thus granting his acceptance into the college and even being offered millions of dollars for his inventions by another scientist, which Hiro respectfully declines.
However, things take a turn for the worse as a tragedy occurs, shaping the future for these microbots to be of destruction due to the evil intentions of a certain individual. Hiro must band together with his friends, as well as Baymax, a healthcare robot whom Tadashi had developed in school, to stop the antagonist and secure the neurotransmitter headband. The movie, overall, has the tragedy and emotional appeal of any great Disney movie, but also provides comedy for all ages especially through the character of Baymax. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone, as I’ve seen it three times total, and would definitely see it again if given the opportunity.

Over the course of the fall semester, once a week I went to my Chamber Orchestra class in Alton Auditorium, which included a total of seven people. With each musician on a different instrument, our director knew it would be difficult to find repertoire that would best suit the rare mixture of sounds. He settled on a Haydn symphony to be our main focus for the semester, putting me on the violin part even though I play flute, and improvising with other parts as he needed. We continued through the semester working intensely on this piece, as well as several chorales for the strings and winds, switching back and forth between the groups during class.
On December 3, as the semester came to an end, Dr. Di Santo invited the Bay-Atlantic Symphony, an adult group of profound musicians in the Atlantic county area, to perform the Haydn symphony with us, as well as a few of their own selections. Having their addition of experience and sound to our group only made the symphony all the more powerful and reverberating by the end. Hearing our performance as we played was an amazing experience all in its own, because it creates a sense of accomplishment and surprises one of what they are capable of. This is one of the aspects I have always enjoyed about music, and why I was so interested in continuing music in college.
A week later, on December 10, the last day of the semester, our ensemble performed again, this time on our own. We performed the symphony as well as our string and wind chorales. Although we had a smaller crowd due to it being the end of the semester, my parents were able to attend before bringing me home, and it was as if I were performing as I did in high school again. I fully appreciated the opportunity to work as hard as I could during the semester on making music and being able to display what we have accomplished. No matter the size of the crowd, performing on any level has always been a passion of mine, as well as simply playing during rehearsal. I am currently enrolled for this course again during this current semester, so I am excited to see what we will perform at our next concert!

On November 18, my RA, Julie Eller, planned a floor program called “Barbie Bash,” where my floor as well as friends from other floors and buildings were invited to D200 to make our own “Barbie Dolls” that look however we perceive ourselves. So, we all crowded into our common room, drew mini versions of ourselves, cut them out, and colored whatever outfits, hair, or facial expressions we wanted on them. I ended up drawing the outfit I planned on wearing the next day on my Barbie!
The purpose of this program was to promote a movement of “Realistic Barbies” and to encourage girls to embrace their own beauty, rather than being discouraged by Barbie’s unrealistic proportions. Julie showed us articles and videos during our program that showed a real young woman’s body proportions compared to that of Barbie, which were way too small to actually survive as a human. In reality, if Barbie and her proportions were real, she would not be able to hold her head up right, lift heavy objects, or walk on two legs. Therefore, this movement is spreading across the nation, and has even resulted in the creation of the “Lammily doll,” which has the average proportions of a 19-year-old girl. The creator of these dolls has a goal of showing girls of this age and even younger that there is nothing wrong with not being of Barbie’s size, because it is simply impossible.
This program spoke to every single one of us, as we are all of similar ages on my floor, new college students surrounded by new people and perceptions of ourselves, and everyone, at some point, has had self-doubt about their own appearance. By creating our own doll and taking a picture with it afterwards, it opened my eyes to how special it is for everyone to be unique and beautiful in our own way. Barbie Bash was one of my favorite floor programs, and after this program Julie posted Selfies of each of us without makeup on and left paper underneath each one. Everyone left comments about each other, and reading the ones under my picture were so thoughtful and made me really feel great about myself. I look forward to the programs we have on our floor next semester and am thankful that Julie has such great ideas that bring people together!

On the rainy morning of November 1, I, along with a good amount of other Honors students, went on the Freshman Honors Trip to Philadelphia to visit the Mummer’s Museum and Italian Market. This trip was especially enticing to me because I had never been to Philadelphia before, since I live next to New York City. Being able to visit a new renowned city seemed like an opportunity I could not refuse.
We arrived at the museum and were guided on a tour by a man whose family has always been very involved in Mummer’s parades that go on typically in Philadelphia and New York. Everything we learned was new information for me, for I had never even heard of Mummers before. In simple terms, people who participate in Mummers Parades dress up in extravagantly themed costumes and perform through the streets of these cities. In the end of the tour, we all dressed in clothing items of Mummers and took a group picture-it was very interesting to see the kinds of clothes considered “typical” to them! Also, after we tried on the costumes, Dr. Rosner had us put into groups to create a “Mummers Dance” with Halloween themes. My group was assigned “ghosts,” so we made a dance to the Ghost Busters theme song. Although it was not as top-notch as actual Mummers performances, it was very entertaining to see everyone’s dances.
After the museum, we were allowed to break off into groups and explore the Italian market of Philadelphia, which included tightly packed streets filled with vendors and restaurants. My friends and I chose to eat and a small restaurant which we all agreed had the best burgers we had ever eaten. We also went to an Italian candy shop, which had everything sweet one could imagine, all homemade. A couple of us, including myself, got gelato despite the cold, rainy weather outside, but it was well worth it. We then headed back to the bus to go back to Stockton.
The Freshman Trip, despite the weather, was a good experience, especially being my first time in Philadelphia. I throughly enjoyed spending this time with my Honors friends, and I learned a lot about Mummers and the specific area of Philadelphia. I definitely look forward to visiting Philadelphia again!