Kate Doherty

Blog 3: Reindeer Games

            On November 19, 2016, the honors program hosted the first annual Run Run Rudolph 5k. For the event, runners donated to participate in the run. The money raised is going to be donated to a local family to help them buy presents and have a great Christmas. My role in the event was registrar. I manned the registration table and made sure each runner signed a waiver and handed in their donation. We sold reindeer antlers and jingle bells as well as ribbons to support the cause further. A trail around the lake was marked and other volunteers held signs and encouraged the runners to keep going. After the event, all of the volunteers participated in a discussion session to reflect on the event and make suggestions for next year.

I think that the event had a lot of potential. For a first annual event, I think it was very well organized. We had plenty of volunteers to help set up the Christmas decorations and to man the trail. The only thing that really needed improvement on was the amount of people who participated. In future years, I think it would be beneficial to collect money for participation ahead of time instead of just providing a preregister form. This might encourage more turnout for the event on the day of. Otherwise, the money would have already been donated and overall, more money would be collected for the great cause. I am excited to promote this event in future years and get more involved in helping at the event. Hopefully we have even more success in my next 3 years at Stockton.

Kate Doherty

I can’t say that I have ever been an avid patron of the arts. I have seen high school plays, a few concerts, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, but other than that, my attendance at performances has been scarce. On October 21, 2016, this changed. At Stockton each year, a dance company does a residency at the school. This year’s company was Lehrer Dance, a company from Buffalo, New York. At the end of their residency, my Writing from Experience class got the opportunity to work with the company. After interacting with them and hearing how passionate the dancers and choreographer were, I knew I had to go see them perform live in the Performing Arts Center. All performances at the PAC are funded by outside businesses and sponsors like the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation for example. This gives students the opportunity to see such worth-while performances at a very discounted price.

I bought my ticket alone so entering the theater, I was a little intimidated not sitting with people I knew. However, as strange as it sounds, I was so glad that I was sitting by myself. I could wholeheartedly pay attention and appreciate the performance. The company performed a sequence of modern style pieces and I was enthralled during the entire show. Each dance inspired a story in me as I watched the dancers interact. During one piece performed by three of the male dancers, I could understand the symbolism. The men were competing for power, moving in front of one another to take center stage; however, by the end of the piece, they were working together instead. Their interdependence and weight sharing at the end of the piece showed that as much as they want to be the only one in control, they rely on one another for support. I teared up as this dance ended feeling so moved by their performance.

I enjoyed the entire performance so much. In the programs that were handed out, there was a list of other performances that will be happening later in the year. I plan to attend as many of them as I can. I also have decided to take a dance class this upcoming semester to break up my course load and express myself while trying something new!

Kate Doherty

Lisa Rosner

Honors Freshman Seminar

30 September 2016

Making Memories: Blog Post

“Oh look! The Student Digest email just came through!” My roommate and I call what we do “utilizing our tuition”. We always check the student digest emails to see what activities are going on around campus. We attend as many of the Stockton events as we can. There are events in the campus center coffeehouse each week hosted by different organizations like the Stockton Entertainment Team or Get Centered, an initiative to get students involved on campus.  On Monday, September 19, we attended the memory board do-it-yourself craft activity sponsored by Get Centered. Everyone lined up and received a piece of plywood, a sheet of cotton batting, and the fabric color of our choice.

Participating in crafts is therapeutic for me and I enjoy taking the time to do these events. Since moving into college I have become accustomed to staying up later at night; therefore, I start my homework around 9 or 10 p.m. Being able to relax at the evening events helps me unwind from my day of classes and mentally prepares me to sit down and do my homework. These evening events are a great opportunity for students to get involved with their friends and make new connections while bonding over how hard the craft is or how fun the events are. I enjoyed attending this event. My roommate and I were able to add décor to our room—something we are always trying to do! At home I have similar memory boards that I keep all of my pictures and tickets on. It was too much to bring them to school because of all of the things attached to them, but it is nice to be able to start fresh on a new board for college memories!