Dana Fellerman

GEN 1033, Honors: Life of the Mind

Dr. McGovern

9.18.2014

On Thursday September 18^th, 2014 the American Red Cross was hosting a two day blood drive at Big Blue on the Stockton campus. I had registered to be a blood donor during Welcome Week when the Red Cross had a table set up looking for potential volunteers. Before coming to Stockton I have donated blood quite a few times during my high school career to the Blood Center of New Jersey and I was overjoyed knowing I can still help donate as the American Red Cross does blood drives in the fall and spring semesters in two day intervals. Waking up this morning I proceeded to follow the basic steps prior to donating blood which included drinking plenty of water, eating a good breakfast and having a snack before donation times to reduce the likeliness of becoming ill or dizzy.

My appointment was at noon, so I proceeded to head over a few minutes early to get my check in done before waiting to have a check up to make sure I was qualified to be a donor today. When I was all ready to donate, the medical instructors were very nice and helped me get settled in before proceeding to stick the needle into my arm to donate blood. As the procedure went on, I had very nice conversations with instructors and a donor laying across from me on another bed. When I was finished I sat down with the other donors and volunteers to have snacks to replenish our blood sugars while we chatted with each other before departing to live our college campus lives or go to class.

I love to volunteer in blood drives; being part of a blood drive is one of the best experiences a person can attend to because you are donating to help save a life and give blood to someone who really needs it in the hospital. The medical instructors are here to ensure everyone who is donating has blood that is safe for donating as infected blood can contaminate other blood bags quickly and go through the donation process with the donors. Blood drives are just one of many volunteering opportunities here at Stockton on and off campus but it is one of the most important communities to help support and I will give my full support to individuals or communities in need.

Dana Fellerman

GEN 1033, Honors: Life of the Mind

Dr. McGovern

9.18.2014

On Saturday September 6^th, 2014 I volunteered for Stockton’s semi-annual event called Day of Service where people sign up to do community work alongside several different groups and organizations either on campus or off campus. When arriving at the campus center to begin the day minutes before the event room was open, I signed in happily at the sign in table then went down the stairs to have a small breakfast which the staff provided before I received and changed into an official Day of Service shirt. I was ecstatic to see how many people were here that were willing to do volunteer work to help out a community.

When the doors opened, there were many choices to choose from and even more people massing into the room. Ultimately I decided to join the WaterWatch program with the Campus cleanup program they were offering today alongside a few of my campus friends that I have met during my SOAR experience as well as Welcome Week. WaterWatch is one of the many environment-friendly programs here at Stockton that aims to keep the Stockton campus and surrounding area green and clean. We were instructed to break up into groups of 10 and received gloves, trash bags, a trash pick-up device and told our assignments. My friends and I were assigned to clean the West Quad area and the areas surrounding the Campus Center. As we proceeded to the West Quad the group split off into two smaller groups to cover ground faster and more efficiently than one giant mass.

As we walked around the areas on campus, there were the occasional typical pieces of trash such as wrappers and bits of string or glass which were handled with care. The fact that Stockton has such a green campus is really amazing as it makes clean ups that are done by these environmental groups less stressful on their part. The most common trash item were cigarette butts as they were scattered in non-smoking areas such as common gathering places, the grass, smashed into parts of the pavement, or strewn about the permitted smoking gazebos as smokers carelessly or intentionally throw their used up cigarettes away on the ground or miss the cigarette disposal.

Although the morning was hot and we wore black t-shirts my friends and I had a lot of fun. We listened to music as a group and as we finished up our assigned area we helped others with their assignments before heading back to the campus center around 11 a.m. for lunch. Lunch was provided by the staff as well and during our lunch session we held a reflection session around one main topic – What did this service project mean to you? To me, this service project goes to show that something as simple as picking up trash can make a huge impact in the community. After attending the Day of Service I feel as if I have a personal sense of duty to help continue keeping Stockton a green campus by picking up trash and throwing it away properly. This Stockton experience was well worth all the work and effort put into it and it felt rewarding to give back to the Stockton Community.

Dana Fellerman

GEN 1033, Honors: Life of the Mind

Dr. McGovern

11.19.2014

On Sunday September 21^th, 2014 I volunteered to march in the People’s Climate March in New York City at Columbus Circle with S.A.V.E (Stockton Action Volunteers for the Environment) with approximately 35 other students and staff representing Stockton College. The People’s Climate March is an annual event that not only takes place in New York but also around the globe where people gather from far and wide to voice their position on issues regarding the environment. These issues include global warming, fossil fuels, renewable energy, water, and other environmental issues that deserve to be brought into the spotlight for the government to take into consideration to make laws for.

The day started at around 7:00 a.m. where potential marchers and I boarded a bus to be brought to Columbus Circle to start our march. This bus ride was about two hours to two and a half hours long as Stockton College is far from New York City but once we arrived we grouped up and waited to march. While the march started at 11:30 a.m. the group and I did not start moving right away as there were so many people in the streets. During the march many people were carrying either signs that were provided by the People’s Climate March community or even brought their own homemade signs with creative slogans about the issue they were marching for. People also cheered marchers on, chanted their slogans, sung and played musical instruments to encourage bystanders to watch and make a point that these issues should not be overlooked by the government.

It took approximately six hours to march five miles from Columbus Circle, to 59^th street, 6^th Ave. to 42^nd street and 11^th Ave. then finally down 34^th street to the end of the parade. While on the bus ride home I felt very accomplished that this march went well and that it was my very first serious march. It was then noted that about 400,000 people attended the march in New York City and I was astounded that so many people would take time out of their day, like the group and I, to come out and voice concerns over the environment. I find these marches very effective because a diverse amount of issues are being expressed by a variety of people and with an event as big as 400,000 people marching through the streets of New York it is hard to turn a blind eye to these issues.