Yesterday, I attended a reflection session to provide input on the Honors Program at Stockton. By attending the session, I was able to learn more about the Honors Program and ultimately was reminded that my time in the program will provide me with innumerable skills for my future.

While one student inquired about the difficulty of the courses -concerned that they would not be challenging enough- an upperclassman of the program informed us that the Honors Program’s mandatory courses all sufficiently challenge the students. As a student who loves a good challenge, I felt more confident in my choice to continue in the Honors Program, as I contemplated how I felt about the program.

Some of the benefits I realized I was receiving from the project was predominantly the varied connections and opportunities. The Honors Program links to all kinds of different organizations and people that one can meet through the various things the program organizes in addition to the many service projects that I will be completing throughout my time here at Stockton.

The leadership, communication, and organizational skills that I will learn from being at Honors Student solidify my conviction to be a part of this fantastic community.

As I headed toward my 9:55am Honors Freshman Seminar today, dozens of clubs and extracurriculars were strewed about the halls. Although I was brought up to ignore the countless boardwalk stand attendees and New York City hagglers, I resisted the instinct to walk by. By doing so, I found myself signing up for clubs that I never even knew the school offered while finding the single club I was searching for.

Although I was the Managing Editor for my high school’s school newspaper, I had not considered continuing my amateur journalism career while at Stockton; however, after meeting some of the members of The Argo, I signed up for email notifications and have planned to become a regular writer. I have always been interested in submitting opinion articles to online publications, so I look forward to the criticisms from my peers at Stockton in order to develop my abilities as a writer in the field of journalism.

Outside of writing, my efforts in the vegan movement and my yoga practice consume a significant portion of my time. I had never heard of Stockton having a Holistic Health/Wellness Club and was pleasantly surprised to find a collection of people with my common interest. Upon first looking through the freshman seminars at orientation, I hoped to join a course on holistic health, but did not receive such an opportunity due to the mandatory Honors Freshman Seminar. After finding a extracurricular in the field of my interest, I am glad to be enrolled in a course outside of my comfort zone that is helping me participate in the Honors Program.

Unsure as to whether I would pursue environmental efforts as my service-learning projects in the Honors Program, I knew I wanted to be involved in the school’s garden when I first entered the Get Involved Fair’s halls. I was able to find the garden and sign up for the emailing list right before class started.

I now have new connections to my interests on campus that will hopefully connect me to new people and new opportunities.

On Tuesday October 6, the American Sign Language Club hosted a weekly meeting in classroom F111. The gathering began with sign in, and the announcement of upcoming events and trips that the club will be attending, such as “Signing and Singing”, where members will sign along at a Stockton a Capella performance, and “Paint a Pot”, where students will travel to a pottery store owned by a deaf woman to witness sign language as a part of everyday life.

Next, the agenda for the meeting and the vocabulary from the previous week was reviewed with the group. Students reviewed practiced the signs for greetings, colors, numbers, questions, and the alphabet. Then, to further study and memorize the signs, students played an activity. The members divided themselves into four smaller groups where they practiced signing various statements and questions in order to get to know the other members of the club, and to perfect the hand motions. Members practiced asking each other about their clothing, what their name is, where they live, and what they like.

To reflect upon the activity, students then returned to their seats and members took turns to inform the club, through sign language, about something new that they learned about other members of the group. At the close of the gathering, members viewed a video of two girls signing along to the song “Free Falling” by John Mayer. This video demonstrated the versatility of American Sign Language and its power to convey emotion. The video also served as a preview for students interested in taking part in the club’s upcoming “Singing and Signing” event.

On Sunday, October 11, I attended Fred Fest at the Lakeside Oasis with my family. This was a one-time event that was a part of University Weekend, hosted by the Office of Student Development. The event ran from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

It was sunny, warm, and overall a great day to spend at the lake. The DJ was playing fun and upbeat music that put everyone in a good mood. Soft pretzel sticks were served in abundance and ice-cold beverages were provided as a delicious snack. There were many volunteers around to help out or answer questions.

The highlight of the event for me was renting a canoe with my little sister. The rental was free of charge, so I did not hesitate to take advantage of it. The canoe allowed my sister and me to see the lake from a completely different perspective. The views are even more amazing from the middle of the lake than from the shorelines. I was also able to get a feel for how deep the lake really is, which, is not very deep at all. Although I could have spent a good part of the day out on the lake, my time was limited to just thirty minutes.

Overall, Fred Fest was a great success. Besides the free drinks and food, I was able to take away the valuable experience of canoeing across Lake Fred with my sister. The event allowed me to escape the college mindset for a moment and refresh my thinking. I would like to see similar events in the future. Stockton has access to the beautiful Lake Fred and should really find more ways to incorporate the lake into fun events for students.

On the rainy evening of October 2, 2015 a professional group of five actors and actresses put on a performance of three acts of the tales of the infamous Sherlock Holmes, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in Stockton’s PAC (Performing Arts Center). The performers presented their own variation of the stories of “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches,” “The Adventure of the Yellow Face,” and “A Scandal in Bohemia”.   Despite the weather, the weary viewers still came to see the show, taking their seats they waited with anticipation for the lights to dim and the show to begin.

The room went dark, with the growing light of the spotlight encompassing a sole figure on the stage, the hum of the violin they were playing growing louder. It was Sherlock Holmes. Then with the knock of a door, Dr. John Watson had entered and the show had begun. The production deviated from the original stories in the manner of adding short bits of comedic outbursts, actors/actresses playing characters of the opposite gender, and, most noticeably, the portrayal of Sherlock Holmes as a woman. The production stayed true to the stories for the most part, sometimes with direct quotes form the story, but the changes made no difference in the retelling of the stories, other than making them more captivating and interesting.

Overall the production was well worth the walk in the rain. The concluding scene of shock and suspense as to who this Moriarty was left the crowd on the edge, disappointed at the fact that the show was over, as the lights came on.

Going into convocation, I did not really know what to expect. The whole freshman class had just completed reading Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele. The point of the book was to have people understand stereotype threat and how society could help diminish these stereotypes. A majority of the freshmen class piled into the PAC thinking they were just going to hear the same boring lecture we always have at these types of gatherings. Valerie Purdie-Vaughns walked out and immediately brought us into the conversation by having us talk. She included us into the conversation instead of just lecturing us.

She proceeded to talk about her research with Claude Steele and the experiments she had done. The conclusions that she came to were quite interesting to hear about and related much to the information that Whistling Vivaldi included. Valerie Purdie-Vaughns was very inspiring and strongly believed in what she was saying. She connected to her own life and her own college experiences to relate to us while teaching us how to reduce stereotype threat.

Convocation was a very memorable experience and I am grateful that the freshmen class was given an opportunity to have someone related to our common reading come and speak to us. Stereotype threat is a huge issue in our society and I think everyone should read Whistling Vivaldi and listen to the research by psychologists like Valerie Purdie-Vaughns.

Stockton University hosted its annual family weekend from October 8^th to October 11^th, although many of the main events occurred on Saturday, October 10^th. Saturday morning began with a parents’ breakfast at 10am (an atrociously early time for a Saturday, as college students believe) in the Campus Center. After the breakfast, families gathered in the court outside of K-wing to prepare for the parade. Students were given “boom whackers,” which, although they were intended to celebrate the parade floats, also functioned as dueling weapons for rival siblings and friends. Directly after the parade, which showcased floats from many of Stockton’s clubs and organizations, students and families were directed to parking lot 5, which is in front of Big Blue, for the carnival. At the carnival, anyone (as long as he or she met the height and weight requirements) could participate in any of the carnival activities. These activities included bounce houses, obstacle courses, a rock wall, and tables with representatives from different organizations at Stockton. One of the popular activities was an inflatable dueling platform, where friends and foes tried to knock their opponents off of a platform using an inflatable wand. Another activity that both students and their younger siblings enjoyed was the bungee trampoline. The participant was secured into a harness that was attached to bungee cords. Once ready, the participant was able to jump on the trampoline and, if they dared, perform backflips.   For the students and families that enjoy sports, there was a men’s soccer game on the field next to Big Blue. Since the weather was beautiful, many families also took nature walks around Lake Fred before saying goodbye to their students and heading home. The last activity of the day for students was the Osprey Ball, which included food, dancing, and a photo booth. Overall, University Weekend was a success in entertaining students and families and building Stockton’s community.

The Honors Experience at Stockton University is a program for the incoming freshmen or transfer students who will be in the honors program. This year it took place from June 22^nd-June 23^rd. At this the students got to meet a few of the older students in the honors program as well as the freshmen and transfers who attended the event.

To start off the two days everyone went to a room and went over each other’s name and a fun fact. After going through every student, Irish step dancing was next on the schedule. At first everyone was hesitant and wasn’t sure why we were doing it. After a few hours of trying to learning and attempting the dance it was time for a different activity. All the students got some free time and could either play volleyball or go back to their room. Playing volleyball was fun because everyone was doing it. There were about 20 students at least on each side of the net, and it was easy to meet and bond with your fellow classmates. After a little bit of free time it was time for dinner, which was a taco bar.

After dinner the students learned about service learning, which is a main component of the honors program at Stockton. All the students got to be a part of a service projects that the older students were running. One of the projects was making dog toys for a local shelter, and another was making care packages for homeless people. After finishing each project the students were a part of a reflection session to go over what was accomplished in each project.

Later on that evening all the students went to a “Whose Line ” show preformed by the theater club. This show is an improv show and all the actors, who are students at Stockton, were extremely funny and would pick random students from the audience to be a part of the show. After the show was over it was time to go back to our rooms and get ready for orientation the next day.

The overall experience was a success in my mind. It helped to introduce important concepts of the honors program while incorporating fun activities. The honors program did a good job to keep the students entertained, and I would recommend it for other incoming freshmen in the honors program to attend.

Going away for college and leaving home can be a scary part in someone’s life. For incoming freshmen at Stockton, the experience doesn’t have to be as intimidating. Stockton Outdoor Adventure Retreat (SOAR) is a two-night, three-day program for incoming freshmen that sign up early enough. This summer, the program ran from August 25^th to August 28th at the YMCA Camp Ockanickon.

After moving into the dorms and saying goodbye to family and friends, the students went to an auditorium to get shirts, a bandana with our tribe color, a backpack with our tribe color, and various other things that would help throughout the trip. Every person was assigned a tribe and a color that they should stay with for the whole trip. The tribes were comprised of people with the same major or similar majors and 4 Talons, or leaders of the tribe. After going through a few icebreakers and mind games, we were ready for the buses to take the tribes to the destination. After 45 minutes the groups arrived on the buses and everyone gathered their belongings and went to set up the cabin.

The next three days were jammed pack with events for everyone to do. Team building was a huge component to the retreat. Every day there would be at least 2 team-building exercises. These activities could range from climbing onto high obstacles in the sky to making a simple tribe chant. On the retreat there were also a lot of activities based on how to make friends. These activities ranged from games to meet new people and be silly to simple icebreakers to remember everyone’s name.

Overall the retreat was a good experience and taught the freshmen that attended how to open up, make new friends and how to be apart of a team. I’m happy that I was able to go to SOAR and learn valuable skills that will help me throughout college. My favorite part of the experience was conquering my fears and jumping off one of the high obstacles. It made me feel so much more confident in myself. I think that the Office of Event Services, the group who helped make this possible, did a great job and hopefully they continue this retreat so more freshmen can enjoy it.

I attended the “Stockton Outdoor Adventure Retreat” this summer from August 25^th to August 27^th. This program (which is most commonly referred to as S.O.A.R.) is designed to help incoming freshmen adapt more easily to college life, and I found that it did just that. I had the opportunity to meet other incoming freshmen and talk one-on-one with professors and T.A.L.O.N.S. (student volunteers that helped run the trip), who were very insightful as to how to get involved and get as much as possible out of my time here at Stockton.

S.O.A.R. was filled with ice breakers and many other opportunities to get to know everyone. Before S.O.A.R. began, I was moving into my dorm with my mom and my stomach was in knots. I was really nervous about making new friends, but as soon as I got to Camp Ockanickon, everyone in my tribe bonded through different activities. We swam in the lake, climbed on the ropes course, collaborated in team building exercises, slept in tiny cabins together, and did a ton of ice breakers. These experiences brought us closer together and I made some great friends. I felt a great sense of community between all of the students by the end of the trip, and I could tell that everyone was relieved to feel so comfortable so quickly.

Looking back at S.O.A.R., I am very happy that I was able to go on this trip and I would recommend it to every freshman. Just the experience at Camp Ockanickan alone was amazing, but the ability to bond with other freshmen and receive advice from the upper classmen volunteers made it even better. I always receive a friendly wave when I see someone that I met at S.O.A.R, and I have taken advice from the upper classmen by getting involved on campus. I couldn’t be happier about my decision to attend S.O.A.R.