On Saturday, November 19th at 9am I attended the Reindeer Run. It was hosted by the honors program here at Stockton and we hope to make it an annual event. The Reindeer Run was a 5k run around campus to raise money for a local family’s christmas. It started at the TRLC where refreshments were available to the runners and antlers could be purchased. The event was able to raise over two hundred dollars for the family, making it a success for its first year, and the reindeer theme was a perfect way to get people into the cheery holiday season.

There were numerous volunteers at hand at the event, including myself, that were that for encouragement for the runners along the path. There were signs everywhere making sure the runners knew what way they had to go and the volunteers along the path had artsy themed signs to hold up when the runners passed by. I enjoyed cheering the runners on and helping them push themselves. I personally am not a runner at all, so being able to volunteer at the event instead helped me find a way to get involved.

Although the run was fun to be involved with and raised over two hundred dollars, there were not a whole lot of actual runners. Since it was the first year this event had been held at Stockton it was understandable, but in the future I hope there are many more participants. It was a fun event to be apart of, there was lots of energy for a saturday morning on a college campus, and I think as it becomes more well known over the years as an annual event on campus it will become more popular. Raising funds for the less fortunate while being able to push yourself to your limit physically is all done in such high spirits that it is hard for me to imagine any of the runners this year not returning next year.

The Warrior Champions film was a one-time event held in the Performing Arts Center on September 3rd, 2016. The winner of multiple film festivals, the Warrior Champions was a extremely motivational documentary. Shadowing the lives of a group of wounded American soldiers with disabilities due to combat, the film sends a powerful message of triumphing in the face of possible defeat. There was national pride in everything these veterans did and said on screen. They felt nothing but pride to have represented their country on the battlefield, even at the cost of a limb.

Specifically four members of the group of wounded soldiers were determined to keep on fighting for their country. Due to their injuries, they could not fight on the battlefield anymore, so they took their fight to the olympics. The film follows the hard work these soldiers have to put in in order to achieve their dream of going to compete for the United States in the paralympics. The fight these soldiers put up to be able to do the most simple things like get dressed in the morning is remarkable. It was very eye opening for the audience to see things they take for granted every day to be such a difficult feat for the veterans.

Former soldier Melissa Stockwell lost one of her legs in combat, and as a result decided to take up the sport of swimming. Melissa put so much heart and soul into swimming that she decided she wanted to train to swim at the paralympics in Beijing in 2008.  Having only one leg to kick with was a huge disadvantage for her to overcome. However, Melissa did not settle with mediocre times, and sought to be the best she could be.  Being a swimmer myself, her particular story was fascinating to me.

    Warrior Champions was a moving film that, when viewed, had the ability to touch everyone in the room in some way. A documentary about never giving up, it had the power to possibly change the lives of the viewers. It was impossible to walk away from that Stockton event without having been touched in some way.

On October 5, 2016 at 8:00pm I attended the Suicide Prevention Week dialogue. This event was sponsored by the active minds mental health club here on campus. The dialogue was a one time event this year at Stockton that featured a special speaker, Pablo Campos, that gave his own personal story of how he tried to commit suicide.

He started his story with background information on his family. His parents came to America from Guatemala in order to give their children better lives. As the youngest child, Pablo’s mother always joked that he was raised by his older sister and they two peas in a pod. However, Pablo said he remembers his childhood very differently. He explained that he remembers always being alone, playing with toys quietly in the corner. Pablo’s older siblings were bright, intelligent people with promising futures and talents. Teachers would always come up to him and compliment his brothers’ accomplishments, saying Pablo was soon bound to be an engineer at Penn State too. However, all comments like these did was burden Pablo with the weight of everyone’s expectations. The aloneness he felt from as young as he can remember, stuck with Pablo throughout his entire childhood, adolescent, and teenage years. He estimated that his depression formally started around seventh grade. Not long after, to combat this feeling, he turned to drugs and alcohol. The only good, positive thing in his life had been soccer, but by freshman year, he quit.

On a complete downward spiral, Pablo finally decided one day he could not take it anymore, and took some pills and went for a drive. He did not want to be alone anymore, he did not want to be a substance abuser anymore, he just wanted it all the stop. Pablo ended up getting spotted by a police officer for his reckless driving and speeding, but continued to drive for a while with the lights on behind him anyway. Finally, exhausted, Pablo decided to pull over, crashing his car into the guardrail. When the cop pulled his gun, Pablo yelled at the officer, “Shoot me please, just end it, please shoot me.” Thus this began years of going in and out of therapy, rehab centers, and advising.

Sitting in that audience and hearing this story from such an attractive, well-dressed, professional looking young man was shocking to me. The man in the story he told did not match up with the person I was looking at, and that’s when it hit me. I really cannot see mental illnesses. Any person, no matter their outwards appearance, can have inner demons no one knows about. Pablo said he never confided in anyone the depression he went through for years, everyday putting on an act of being like any other kid. Pablo’s complete turnaround of his life was so inspiring and gave me such hope that anyone I knew who was struggling would have a better life one day. I absolutely loved this dialogue and it really showed that you never know what is going on in someone’s life.