On September 26, 2013, all freshman were asked to attend a Convocation with writer Mary Roach, author of the summer reading book Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. During this event, Mary Roach gave students the inside scoop on the workings of her book. She talked about her travels, her struggles, and everything about being a scientific writer.

I must say, Mary Roach is a very unique individual. She has no shame in discussing the most vulgar topics and answering the most ridiculous questions. She went from talking about being in Cambridge at the medium school to discussing hyenas giving birth through their clitoris. That discussion got the crowd energetic and constantly laughing. During her entire time at the Convocation she interacted with the crowd and kept everyone interested. For example, she asked the crowd a question: What other part of your body can have an erection besides the penis? Everyone had very unique answers, but none where the right one. Come to find out the answer was the nasal cavity. This shocked everyone, and I will carry that fun fact with me forever. It was an all around fun time at the convocation with Mary Roach.

Then the conversation turned serious. Through all the laughter and crazy stories there was an underlying meaning that Roach wanted us all to understand. To paraphrase Mary Roach, curiosity is your greatest asset. If you are not curious, you are not living. She talked about how her main drive for writing her books was pure curiosity for things. She encouraged all of us to live life asking questions and looking for the answers.

I was truly inspired by Mary Roach’s presentation. She justified her book to the criticism presented, and she expressed her love for her writing and curiosity. She has encouraged me to question things and strive to find the answers based on my own will to solve the problem.

On September 7th, 2013, I participated in the 10th Annual Day of Service. This day is focused on volunteer community service in some area of New Jersey. This year was located in Atlantic City with over 20 organizations involved in helping this wonderful city. I was extremely excited to participate in this event because community service has always been a favorite thing of mine.
When I arrived at the Campus Center that morning I was given a T-shirt, unfortunately an XL because all the smalls were taken, and I was given breakfast. When breakfast was done, we were shown into the Event Room where there were signs with different community service projects I could choose from. My friends and I had no idea what group we wanted to join, so we asked around to see what all the organizations were about. We had gone to the Peace Keepers group but they were all full, but then we found the Stanley Holmes organization. Stanley Holmes is a community center for a neighborhood in Atlantic City. The directors for Stanley Holmes wanted to use the Day of Service to get the children of this neighborhood excited to go back to school. I was very happy to be a part of this organization because I love working with children and making them happy and pumped for their first days of school. And that is just what we did. The activities that we had at the community center were pizza, an ice cream sundae bar, face paint, and many many board games for the children to play with. I was working the pizza station with some of my friends, and it was such a great experience. All the kids who came to this event were so sweet and just had the biggest smiles on their faces. It really warmed my heart to see all these children of different ages coming together and enjoying a fun day and getting excited for school. My absolute favorite part of that day was creating a bond with some of the children. One girl named Maria really has a special place in my heart. She was just such a vibrant girl and could light up a room with her smile. Seeing her and the other kids enjoying their pizza and ice cream, getting their faces painted, and participating in vigorous games of Spongebob Operation really made me realize the importance of education and friendship.
I must say that the 10th Annual Day of Service changed my views of life and opened up a special place in my heart. I will most definitely be back next year for the 11th Annual Day of Service.