On September 19th and 20th, the university held their annual Get Involved Fair in wings A through G on campus.  This fair was a gathering of over 100 clubs and organizations both on and off campus that are available for students to get involved with.  On both days, the fair began at ten o’clock in the morning and ran until four in the afternoon.

Each club, fraternity, sorority, service organization, etc. had their own table set up with representatives, who were able to give adequate information about the club/organization they were representing.  They had brochures, business cards, and other free things you could have if you showed interest in the club or organization.  The representatives were very helpful and enthusiastic.  Whatever questions I had about the club or organization, these representatives were able to answer them.  And if they were not able to answer the questions at that time, they were able to email me the answer within a relatively decent amount of time.

I really enjoyed having the ability to see all of the different clubs and organizations that Stockton University has to offer.  I honestly had no idea how many clubs we actually had.  It was a good idea for the university to hold this fair because there is not enough advertizing of the various clubs and organizations.  It is great that there is such a variety, but it is difficult to find these clubs and organizations.

Some of the clubs that I looked at included the sign language club, SAVE, and Intramurals.  I am currently an active member of the sign language club.  It is a very relaxed club with meetings once a week on either Tuesdays or Wednesdays.  We learn basic signs, such as the alphabet and greetings.  Every week we build on what we were taught the week prior.  I already know some sign language, and it makes me very happy to see so many people who either already know or want to know sign language.

Though I am not an active member in SAVE, which stands for Stockton Action Volunteers for the Environment.  This organization takes part in keeping the campus and the surrounding lands clean.  I have always had the need to keep the environment clean.  I have helped with March on Litter in my hometown.  I have also gone out on my own with friends and cleaned the trash on the sides of roads, the beach, and many other places.  I really care about the environment and I hope that the small cleanings I do help save the animals in the area.

I will be participating in Intramurals volleyball in November.  I absolutely love volleyball and I want to be able to play it here at Stockton.  Being part of Intramural will help me make friends who have such a passion for volleyball as I do.

I am very excited to be part of the Stockton community.  I hope that I am able to make a difference in at least one person’s life while I am here at Stockton University.

On Saturday, October 21, 2017, the freshman honors students took a bus trip to the Museum of the American Revolution in Old Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  It was a very educational and relaxing trip.  The students learned a lot about the various views on the American Revolution.

I decided to go on this trip because I thought it would be cool to learn more about the American Revolution, and not be taught by a textbook.  I knew and understood the basics of the war, but I wanted to learn more about the war and how people were affected by the war during this time.  Textbooks teach the important dates and historical figures, such as George Washington and the date in which he crossed the Delaware River to surprise the British troops.   In the museum, I learned so much more than just the dates and historical figures; I learned about how awful it was to be a wife during this time because all of the men left to go to war.  There was no one to make money for the family and winters were extremely brutal.  I also learned that the Native Americans joined the side of the revolutionaries so they would no longer be under British rule.  The Native Americans believed that their land would be saved if they sided with the revolutionaries.  Textbooks did not go into depth about how the Native Americans were impacted, nor did the textbooks discuss in detail about how the Native Americans helped the revolutionaries.

The setup of the museum flowed extremely well.  There was a lot of colors and interactive signs around the museum.  Each room, or section, of the museum, had its unique set of artifacts and interactive devices.  In one of the beginning rooms, I was able to lift up various panels and read more about those people or events.  I found it quite interesting that the panels did not smack down after you let go of them.  Instead, they slowly lowered themselves.  This helped keep the panels from breaking.  Another interactive part of the museum was the wall of the lights, in which if you pressed a button, it showed the path that the revolutionaries and the British troops took to the battle of Philadelphia.

My favorite part of the museum was George Washington’s tent.  I was very impressed with how well it was intact behind the glass.  I really wanted to go up to it and see how tall it was compared to me.  One thing that I wanted to know was how much of it was original.  Was all of the tent from the Revolutionary War?  Or were there areas that had to fixed by modern cloth to make it look “as new” as it did during the war?

I cannot wait to take my family to the Museum of the American Revolution.  I think that the museum is fit for all ages and gives very good, insightful information about the American Revolution.

On September 9, 2017, Stockton University held its annual Day of Service.  Through this day of service, students and community members came together to help in four service projects.  These services included bagging food for people in Africa, learning and getting involved in local politics, spreading the word about alcoholism and how to help, and creating crafts for children in the hospital.

My favorite service was bagging food for the people in Africa who do not have enough food to eat.  During this service, my group was broken up into five groups of various sizes to do certain jobs.  In my case, I was one of twelve people sealed the bags of rice.  After about twenty bags or so, I got into a rhythm of completely sealing the bags.  At first, it was difficult to get the bag flat so that I could properly seal the bag.  However, I found that if I folded the bag a certain way, I would have been able to completely seal the bag with no air holes.  Finding this rhythm really helped me seal as many bags as I could.  Our group was able to bag a total of 10,000 bags of food.

It really impacted me because I knew that I was directly helping people in another part of the world.  Each bag we produced could feed either a family of four for one meal or four meals for one person.  After we packaged the 10,000 meals, I wanted to keep going and package more.  I felt complete after helping with this service because I knew I was helping people who were living in very difficult areas and could not support themselves nor their families.  We were able to make a difference in these people’s lives.

Each service had its own unique purpose.  Two of the service projects – bagging food for people in Africa and creating crafts for children in a hospital – were hands-on that directly impacted people in need.  The crafts that we created will help make the children in the hospitals feel less sick.  The purpose was to help them feel better.  The other two service projects – getting involved in local politics and spreading the word about alcoholism – educated me about each.  Even though I am not currently active politics, I know that I can easily be part of it on campus and that Stockton University is a safe place to do so.  Also, I now know how and where to get help and information regarding alcohol poisoning and the like.

I really enjoyed being part of these service projects.  They made me realize how lucky and privileged I am to be living where I am.  I wish that the rest of the world could be as privileged as the United States and myself.  Even though doing these small projects may seem small and pointless, they can and will mean the world to at least one other person in the world.  That is what community service is about, making someone else’s life better through the kindness of your heart.