On Saturday September 9th, 2017, I participated in my first Stockton Day of Service. Being perfecting honest, I didn’t want to go. The only reason I originally signed up and went was because it was a service event that counted towards my requirements to remain in the Honors Program this fall. I really wasn’t a happy camper that I was going to go, but from 9am until sometime later that afternoon, what I found was pleasantly surprising.
No doubt, I walked in with a bad attitude, just looking for reasons to get pissed off about having to go. To my surprise though, I had a really hard time doing so. The first event I was part of, I was tasked with assembling and binding children’s coloring books with string. However, once I got into the rhythm of what I was doing and music was playing, I found I was starting to have a good time. I thought I would have enjoyed spending my morning in bed, but the positive environment of the first event made me feel good to do good, and I really enjoyed participating.
The second event I went to was a seminar about the heroin epidemic in Atlantic County and across the state of New Jersey. Heroin has indirectly affected parts of my life in the past, so learning and listening to these people talk about the problem felt down to earth, and very real, but was really insightful into the issues our society faces today. I walked away with a different perception about the problem, and gained some valuable insight I can carry with me.
Then I moved on and assisted in packaging rice meals for third world countries. Again, what could have been a long hour and ten minutes of scooping rice into bags, was not. Music was blasting, everyone was singing, people were in a good mood, and I could feel the energy in the room. The time just flew by. By the end of it all, I didn’t want to stop, and looking at all the boxes of food I just packaged was a sincerely proud moment to look at what my peers and I at Stockton can do in such a short period of time.
Lastly, all the groups met up back in the campus center event room, for Kevin Wanzer, a speaker and comedian, who gave not only a heartfelt story about raising his adopted transgender child, but made the stories hilarious. His presentation was a great ending to a great day. And while I walked into Day of Service that morning miserable that I am using my Saturday to do this work, I walked out that afternoon in an awesome mood and feeling accomplished. I look forward to participating in another Day of Service soon.