Day of Service

On Saturday, September 12th, Stockton held the 12th annual Day of Service to inspire students to serve in the community as well as provide them with information to do so. This year, each student was able to experience every service project. This arrangement gave us the opportunity to decide what we like best, and what we would like to continue in the future.

The first project my team attended was health and wellness in which the team split up into small groups and went to different locations to learn about a variety of health related topics including CPR, green dot, suicide awareness, and prescription drugs. I chose the CPR information session which was taught by Stockton EMS. This was very informative as well as interactive. We watched short videos with step by step instructions on how to perform hands only CPR, and were able to practice these steps on dummies. After this session, I felt that I would be able to help if I were ever in a situation in which someone needed CPR.

We then regrouped and went to the hunger and homelessness session which began with an inspiring introduction from a member of Covenant House. She opened our eyes to the realities of homelessness, especially among people our age. Not only did she share some of her experiences in working with Covenant House, but she made it clear that it is possible for us to help too.

After that, the team went to the civics session where we discussed issues such as frisk and seizure, the death penalty, and student evolvement in politics. I was able to hear my teammates different opinions on these topics, making me think more in depth about them. I was also encouraged to involve myself more in politics when we learned about the lack of participation in people ages 18 to 21. Here, we also learned about the Petey Greene Program which allows volunteers to make a difference in the lives of prisoners by educating them, and helping them get their GEDs.

The day was filled with other services and organizations such as Books Without Borders, Circle K, and the Atlantic City Rescue Mission. Overall, it was a great day to work with new people, and learn about a variety of ways to serve the community in the future.