One of the many events that I attended so far at Stockton University was on a casual Friday night when so many people went home for the weekend and there was nothing to do. This event is known as the Billiards Club. I went on September 8^th and have gone every Friday since. It is a great way to meet new people and I was able to learn a game that I never really knew the rules of. I felt like the group was very welcoming and they were all so excited to have new people join and all wanted to know my name. In the beginning it can be intimidating because all the returning people already knew each other but it didn’t take long before I made some new friends to talk to. In fact, I was able to hang out with three people that are in my housing that I never even knew existed beforehand and now they are great friends of mine. Plus, the gameplay was super fun and there was some fierce competition. The secretary of the club made brackets of all our names and we would play best of three games to see who would then move on to the semi-finals and the finals. I feel that the Billiards Club is very useful for those that are bored on a Friday night and when you go to a university that has over half of its students being commuters the campus can be kind of dead and depressing. Therefore, it can at least boost your mood for two hours or so and make your night more enjoyable. Now every time I go to the game room with friends outside of Billiards Club I am able to beat them more because this club has taught me some tricks and made me a more well-rounded player.

It was a quiet morning on August 30^th when TALONS, excited freshman, and nervous parents disturbed the peace to move the incoming freshman in to start a new chapter of their lives at Stockton University. All the new students who moved in on this day signed up for Stockton’s Outdoor Adventure Retreat. S.O.A.R. is located at YMCA’s Camp Ockanickon just a little over an hour away from campus. This experience is to help new students step out of their comfort zone and make start friendships that could possibly last a lifetime.

The incoming freshman were welcomed very enthusiastically by TALONS and were then revealed which tribe they would be one for the next three days. After this warm welcome, the students and their families took the next 2-3 hours to quickly set up their room and get settled in. After saying on last emotional goodbye to their families, it was then time for the “tribelets” to get on the bus and head over to camp.

When all the students arrived, there was not much time to relax before all the exciting and fun ice breakers began. At this point some people had already made friends that would be by their side for the next 4 years at Stockton. It was truly an amazing thing to see how close some people got in such a short amount of time. The next two days consisted of a little bit of canoeing, some great TALONS, a lot of ice breakers, even more camp chants, and overall an unforgettable experience. One activity that really helped many students step out of their comfort zones were the high ropes obstacle course. It was inspiring to see people who were afraid of heights conquer their fears. The overall experience at S.O.A.R. was one that every freshman should be a part of at Stockton.

On September 10, 2016, the Fall Day of Service took place, one of the many community service days on campus. I signed up for it not quite knowing what exactly I was getting into, but I was pleasantly surprised. At the very beginning of the day, we chose teams. These teams would determine how we rotated through different activities; there were too many of us to count, so I only really became familiar with my own team.

The day consisted of several different activities, including the sewing and creation of pillows for patients at AtlantiCare, where I attempted to create a pillow that actually looked like a pillow (spoiler alert: I failed) as well as an activity where we answered different questions about the election and politics in small groups. We had previously decided how to preoccupy ourselves for a small duration of the day by deciding what we wanted to do from a list of different volunteer activities; I personally picked a session on Suicide Prevention and awareness, as it is a topic that is very near and dear to my heart. The session was quite general, but we all walked away secure in the knowledge that there was a place we could go to talk about our problems and people who cared; this session is actually what drove me to join Active Minds, a club on campus dedicated to mental health treatment and awareness.

The final activity that we partook in was an appropriate send off to the day; in groups of five, we worked together to put together bags of ready-to-make meals that people without access to food in other countries could easily make. It wasn’t necessarily a highbrow job, but there was something glorious about it, about old pop songs blasting on tinny speakers, about the way we methodically moved along, about the unification of so many different people just to do something good. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t know what to expect when I signed up, and prior to this I had felt very isolated, new to campus. And perhaps I’m making something out of nothing, but this day really made me feel like I belonged, like I had a place in this world. My job, when we were making the food, was to scoop a sort of fiber into the bag, and this may be cheesy, but I felt like I was making a difference, one little grain at a time.

On Friday September 23rd, I went to the Atlantic City Rescue Mission with Stockon University’s Circle K Club. The Atlantic City Rescue Mission was founded in 1964, and today provides shelter, programs, and hot meals to homeless people in the area. They also provide meals to the general public suffering from poverty.
On my way there with three other girls from Circle K, I wasn’t very sure what to expect. It was my first time volunteering at a homeless shelter. When we got inside the Atlantic City Rescue Mission, I was immediately impressed. The staff was extremely welcoming and put us to work right away. They started us off by having us make a salad to go along with dinner that night. Two of us cut peppers, and the other two cut up lettuce. It was the biggest salad bowl I had ever seen! Once we were done preparing the salad, we were sent up to the front of the kitchen to get ready to serve meals.
Dinner that Friday night was rice, chicken, and gravy. Along with this was our salad sides. The Rescue Mission also had pastries and other snacks for the tenants and general public to grab as well. We made the plates together, in an assembly line fashion. First, the male residents were served, then the female residents, and then dinner was open to the general public.
One thing that stood out to me were the miss matched plates and bowls the meals were served on. All of the different dishes donated just showed to me how many people put this amazing center together and contributed to helping feed so many people. Stockton’s participation at the Atlantic City Rescue Mission is something that I am looking forward to doing again!

Mike Heine

Professor Rodriguez

Having been involved in community service since the sixth grade, attending the Stockton Day of Service hosted by the Office of Student Development on 9/10/16 was an easy choice. I was able to make the community a better place and I got a free t-shirt at the end of the day. The morning started off with an activity designed to increase voting awareness called Text, Talk, Vote. We answered a variety of questions about prominent social issues and learned about the importance of voting. At first, I didn’t understand how this helped, but I soon realized that being politically involved and well informed is a great way to improve your community. The next activity involved making cards and bracelets for children in the hospital. I have done similar projects in the past, so I understood the impact of what we were doing. It felt good knowing that the card or bracelet I made could brighten a sick child’s entire day. The final activity we participated in was run by Stop Hunger Now and involved creating meal packets for people in third world countries. Each packet contained rice, soy, vegetables, and sauce and could feed six people. During high school, I volunteered at a foodbank and proposed a food drive as a service project for a club. Making sure that people have enough food has always been important to me, so this activity was special. During the reflection session, I made sure I mentioned that. Day of Service is a good way to get involved at Stockton and in the greater community. The people running the events are very nice and willing to answer any questions. It’s great that Stockton brings these organizations into the school to work with students and faculty and I hope they continue this tradition.

On Thursday, September 29 2016, the freshman convocation was held in the Performing Arts Center, and was centered around Ellen Forney as the guest speaker. Forney was the illustrator for the common reading book from the summer, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part – Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie. She explained how Alexie had contacted her and asked if she would be interested in being his illustrator since he was a fan of her previous works. Forney then discussed many topics and ideas with the audience, such as her different styles of drawing and the specific meanings and purposes of each; for example, how more whimsical and loose drawings that seemed to be created more sloppily and quicker presented a different meaning than a formal sketch with proportionate aspects would. Along with the information she was sharing about her illustrating techniques, she also included a presentation with actual illustrations from Alexie’s novel to help give the audience a visual of what she was explaining.

She later discussed her newest book, Marbles, in which she takes the readers through her experience of being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and also how she overcame the adversities that came along with receiving the diagnosis. Forney also shared a few illustrations from Marbles as well.

All in all, it was an interesting event to attend, and offered an effective recap of the summer reading and some of the themes that were present within it, as well as get a sense of what some of Forney’s other work looks like. At the end of her presentation, she strongly encouraged the audience to share their stories and experiences with the world, whether it be through writing, pictures, or more specifically, through comics.

Brian Kibelstis

Last Friday, I was able to attend the Osprey XC High School Invite. The Osprey Invite is a high school cross-country meet held at the athletic complex on Pomona Road near Lot 8. The annual event is sponsored by the Stockton XC / Track program, and provides high school cross-country runners with the opportunity to win medals and be seen by college-level coaches, the latter more for upperclassmen than the freshmen and sophomores.

Among those running the meet were my former teammates from Williamstown High School, who posted a strong showing among the twelve teams racing. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams placed third in their respective races, with strong individual showings to boot. Among the medalists – comprised of the top ten runners in each varsity race – were three representatives of the Williamstown Braves teams, including a promising freshman and a graduating senior with collegiate potential. Besides the Braves, runners representing Absegami, Mainland, Raritan, Atlantic City, Brick Memorial, Cedar Creek, Holy Spirit, Oakcrest, Ocean City, Pennsauken, and Pinelands Regional competed on the course, which was noticeably – about 400m, or ¼ mile –longer than the standard 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) of a typical high school cross-country course. As a result, many times were noticeably slower, although a number of newer runners were able to break their personal records (PRs) in spite of the longer course.

Although the course was noticeably longer than a normal race – something I heard several times over from my old teammates after they ran – the winning times are still pretty impressive. The girls’ race, which started first around 4:15, was won by a runner from Mainland in 18:50, over a minute before her nearest competitor, a runner from Ocean City who crossed in 20:09. The boys’ race, which started after the girls’ race finished, was won by a runner from Absegami in 17:20, which, in a standard 5K, is a good, but not exceptional, time. When accounting for an additional 400m, however, it would equate to a 5K time of about 16:03, which is a notable time in high school cross-country; likewise, the winning girls’ time would equate to a 17:26 in an exact 5K. The top Williamstown times in each race, 17:49 in the guys’ race and 22:06 in the girls’ race, would respectively equate to about 16:30 for the graduating senior and 20:28 for the upstart freshman.

Overall, I would recommend any former high school runners to look out for this meet next year to see if your old teammates are coming to your backyard. I found out about this meet quite by accident, and I wound up having a great time reconnecting with my old coaches and teammates, seeing the latter where I was at this time last year – trying to figure out where they will end up for college, etc. – and being able to help them with it in ways I previously hadn’t been able to.