This has been the most exciting, terrifying, thrilling week I have ever lived through. I had never thought I would ever get the chance to play in a live action video game until I came to Stockton and heard of the human verses zombies. To think such an unofficial, farfetched, event could be so popular and active is hard to believe but personally I can’t wait to play again. This year there were a total of 211 students and alumni participating; one of the largest turn outs yet. The game starts with only one zombie and as the week goes on more and more people get infected; the number of zombies increase and the human population begins to fear for their lives. Every night there are missions that pit humans against all odds and force them to step out of their comfort zone to meet new people, form alliances, and protect your fellow humans.
The game goes on throughout the week, day and night. So classes or not, as long it’s out doors, humans are free to shoot and zombies are free to chase. Missions are scary but for humans, even walking to class is filled with anxiety. Nothing is cooler than seeing a gang of ‘humans’ walking around campus fully equipped with loaded nerf guns, bullet belts, and sock grenades. The one thing that might be cooler is being able to be a part of that gang and to see the faces of confused pedestrians. Sure there are always those few who cheat and are sore losers but overall I must argue that this game brings people closer and is extremely fun. For me the game encouraged me to stay indoors as much as possible so besides classes, being indoors gives a person a lot of study time. The neon green band do attract a lot of attention so hopefully by the end of this week everyone on campus will know about HVZ and join next semester.

Bloods is racing, adrenaline is pumping, and the nervous pee is coming back. It’s now or never, get on that stage, take the mic, and sing your heart out: that’s all karaoke is really about. Monday September 16 SET hosted the first karaoke night of the year and I must say it was quite successful. It was a good turnout and the stage never lacked a star. It didn’t matter who sang, whether he or she came with a group or alone, whether he or she was good or not, whether he or she liked country or rap, the stage loved everyone. No one was booed; the audience was great and always supportive. If there are any people out there who have always wanted to make their debut and sing on stage for the first time I must recommend going to the next karaoke night. There were so many songs to choose from; from “Do the Time Warp” to “Call me Maybe”. There really is no reason for stage fright because the audience really doesn’t care since they are there to have fun not to judge.
No one is required to sing, it can be a blast just to go out and support friends and fellow classmates. People were able to enjoy the lively atmosphere just by being there since the Campus Center already provided a great variety of things to do. So people who had to wait to sing could play pool, Ping-Pong, or just hang out. It’s events like karaoke that give people the chance the express themselves and show a side of themselves no one has ever seen before. This was one of the best events SET has hosted this year so far and the year is only just starting; I look forward to the next karaoke night.

Stockton’s 10th annual day of service was a great turn out. There were lines stretched to the door in the campus center of students waiting in line to sign in for the day of service. We were provided with breakfast and were given boxed lunches. After breakfast the ambassadors of the day ushered the students into the event room which was filled with tables. On the website there was a very brief overview of what each service project was for. My friends and I were a few of the first people to arrive in the event room so we had a lot of options. A majority of the time we wandered around the room trying to decide which project to choose. The big screens with a description of each service project were helpful and in the end a couple of my friends and I chose the Shore Park Tenant Association.
It was a group of about five students and two service project leaders. The main point of our service project was to help prepare and serve the food for a party at the Shore Park Tenant Association, which is a home for the elderly and disabled. We sat around the table and introduced ourselves while waiting quite a long time to be dismissed. We were transported to the Tenant home by a van, except not everyone could fit so the professors took their own car. When we arrived at the place we were very unsure of whether we were even at the right place. We hadn’t obtained any of the professors’ phone numbers so we just walked in. Thankfully there were people expecting us and welcomed us. After getting there most of the tables were already set up so we really didn’t have much to do. We sat around and waited for instructions while the people of the tenant home prepared the food. For a while I helped in the kitchen and cut ribs but did not do much else afterwards. After about an hour of chit chat we finally started to help set up. Around noon the tenants started coming to the dining hall and we started serving food.
Many of the people there were very friendly and extremely excited to get all their food. We took turns at different stations serving food or bringing it to the tables. Some of the tenants had their grandchildren over so I had the chance to take a few kids to the garden in the backyard and play with them. We all were supposed to leave around 2:30, but left a little later. We really should have stayed longer because there were still many tenants that were coming down to eat. If the timing had been better we could have arrived later so that we would have been more involved in serving food. Then we could have left later so that we could have helped with the entire cleanup process, because that was probably the thing they would have needed the most help with.
Overall the entire experience was quite rewarding. I enjoyed being able to help people and interact with them. There were many things, however, that could have been better. First of all, there should be better organization in the event room so that everyone is fully informed of what they are volunteering for. Also the people running the volunteer place did not seem like they were prepared with tasks for the volunteers. If they were more prepared for us then we would have been much more helpful to them. At the end of the day we had a mini reflection session and everyone seemed to enjoy their day except for the waiting around. Next time I hope to feel that I was able to provide more of a service instead of feeling like I spent most of my time waiting around.

New Experiences, Cuteness, and Service

Going to the Atlantic County Animal Shelter was the service project chosen by the honors program for the fall semester of 2013. Although the event wasn’t organized in the best way, I leaned many things, and got a lot out of providing service. The times that were told to the students were changed many times and were not really even final. In the end my group and I went to the campus center and waited around until the allotted time given from Facebook. Since the upperclassmen in charge of the service project did not come to the meeting place we all agreed to just go ahead. We had to provide our own transportation. This was a problem because for a bunch of college freshmen who have never driven around in this area before, getting lost was an easy task. Eventually, we were able to find the animal shelter and get to work. Since we were the last group left we had poop cleaning duty. My friends had the task for cleaning litter plans and I got off lucky with just needing to scoop litter. I also had the chance to talk to the veterinarian who worked there and was able to learn a lot about her job. She was responsible for giving the animals vaccines and medicine for when they were sick. Although I was very sad to learn that the shelter did, at times, have to euthanize some of the animals, I still admire the volunteers for working so hard to give the animals a temporary home. After about an hour, most of us had finished our tasks and were waiting around for more orders. There was not much else for us to do so we were allowed to socialize with the animals, which was absolutely the best part of the experience. My friends and I were first sent to the dogs, to let them out and play. The volunteer showed me how to put on a leash and let me pick a dog. I picked this adorable cream colored, Shino Inu. Another small dog was also allowed out and we walked them around the back yard. After letting them run around, play, and do their business we had to return them to their cages and meet for lunch. The food provided was good and much needed, since we were so hungry. In the volunteer lounge we had our reflection session and discussed the day. When that was finished we were allowed to leave, but I decided to stay. Since I was the driver, many of my friends also had to stay. In our extra time, we spent it socializing with the cats in the shelter. There were cats of all sizes and colors. There were tiny kitten and old cats too, but they were all extremely friendly and all loved to get picked up and pet. These animals, that were abandoned, lost, or stray all just wanted a home and to be loved. To be able to provide them with the service of giving them love and attention, was extremely satisfying. One of the highlights of the day was to see the precious dog that I had walked that day get adopted by this family and taken to their. By the end of the experience I was relaxed, and feeling really happy. It was such a fun experience, and I did not even mind doing the actual work of cleaning and filling the liter pans. It was frustrating in the beginning since the event was not organized I the best manner, but it was all worth it in the end. These animals only really want to be held and given love, so being around them was so fulfilling for me that I actually decided t keep coming back to the shelter to volunteer. Every Friday I take a group of my friend the shelter around three, and we just socialize with all the animals. It provided the perfect opportunity to not only de-stress, but also provide a service for animals.

Goodbye Herman

“How far can someone go for their 15 minutes of fame?” This is the question that is left with the viewers of the theater production, Hello Herman. This play was presented by Richard Stockton’s theater program from November 13-17, 2013. This was not a funny play or a happy one. It was a play that left it’s viewers speechless, thinking, and a little disgusted. Hello Herman was play a circling around a Pulitzer Prize winner journalist Lax Morales interviewing 16 year old Herman. Herman had just committed one of the greatest crimes of his time. He brought a gun to school and shot 43 students, 2 teachers, and 1 police officer. For this production, I came in expecting a drama filled story investigating the past and the reasons of how a kid could do such a hideous crime. I did not get what I was expecting. The answer and plain and simple; Herman did it, believing it was the right thing to do. He was the stereotypical nerd in school who got bullied and loved violent video games. He was psychologically affected when he was a young boy, from his father’s betrayal, his workaholic mother, and the early death of his little sister. Herman had his own twisted sense of justice. He believed that his deed would lead to a better future: a future where people were just a little nicer, and could learn to respect others. Herman was defiantly insane and most likely suffered from some sort of psychological disease but he was a character I could not bring myself to hate. There were parts of Herman that embodied every young adult who struggled through hardships. It’s no reason for what he did, but I could not help but relate to him, and leave the play wanting to be a little nicer to people.

Coming into the Human Trafficking presentation I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew the basic concept of it since I have watched the movie “Taken”. That’s just it though; it was just a movie, not something that happened in real life. To me it was such an eye opener, to learn so much more about my country, to think that something so unreal was happening just a sixty minute drive away. All of my preconceptions of human trafficking have been uneducated and naive. Human trafficking is a real and a serious issue; that’s what I got out of the presentation.

Many of my fellow classmates may say that the first two speakers were boring but I must disagree. The first two speakers served their purpose as being informative and educational, rather than the third speaker who served more to provide an emotional impact. It was interesting to learn that human trafficking is a worldwide issue and that some places even have legalized prostitution. I have come to realize that making something illegal will sometimes only worsen the problems. One of the issues with human trafficking covered was that countries that criminalize prostitution tend to assault prostitutes as criminals rather than victims.  Usually prostitutes were always portrayed as a problem and as “bad” people but to think of them as victims opened my eyes to a new perspective. One of the most shocking things for me was when the second speaker presented statistics of victim. I wasn’t surprised that 68% of the victims were women but what shocked me was that some of these girls were not only used for sex tools but for organ transplants as well. This was something I never would have expected; it’s such an inhumane, disgusting thing to think about. It’s really horrifying to imagine a young girl, a daughter, a sister, a niece, in a foreign country taken by strange men to be threatened and raped time and time again. In the process of an unqualified person removing her organs, she may even be killed. As a girl who does travel a lot to different countries, and even different states, I have come to realized how dangerous and common Human Trafficking is worldwide and in the United States.

It was the third speaker that definitely had the most impact. My first impression of her was that she seemed like such a sweet, caring, and educated woman. The way she spoke made it feel that I knew her. There was no way I would have labeled her as a foolish woman; rather she was just a hopeful optimistic person. To hear that it happened so easily, so close by to where I live is truly frightening.  When she explained that she had to escape twice and then wasn’t given help mad me angry. This program helped me realize that human trafficking is a problem not only in other countries but here in the states. It’s an issue that needs to be addressed in a way that will treat these so called illegal prostitutes as victims, not criminals.