On November 19, Stockton’s Alton Auditorium had an inspiring event for a few dozen students and staff members. One of the students who is a womens rights activist organized a showing of the film “Girl Rising”. Due to time restraints we were only able to watch the first half of the movie.

This movie was about different girls around the world who had common themes in their lives. The main theme throughout the film was the need for girls education, and other themes were young girls getting married, and sexual assault. The girl’s struggles varied from bonded labor, violent assaults, to severe poverty.

The most moving story was of a young girl named Suma who lived in Nepal. Her parents were too poor to take care of her so they made her live in a home with a couple who forced her into bonded labor. She had been with a few different families throughout her childhood who treated her like a slave. She endured the pain of the hard labor she was doing and coped by writing music. She is now freed and is working towards making sure this bonded labor of children will come to a stop.

Seeing this film was moving and made me realize how much I take for granted. Here in the United States most girls go to school and complain that they have to go. It truly makes me grateful that I not only got to have an elementary education, but now a continued higher education here at Stockton.

This film was able to move many people at Stockton and also, I’m sure, in other parts of the world. I am happy that I go to a school that exposes these global issues with dialog sessions. Hopefully the word about the injustices done to these girls will get out on a larger scale and something can be done about it.

If you are bored on a Wednesday night, gaming club is the best place to be. There are so many different games to choose from. From board games to video games to card games, this club has it all. Well… it almost has it all.
The only thing that disappointed me was that they did not have the game pictionary! It is my favorite game of all time. When I realized that they did not posses pictionary, I quickly found the guy in charge and expressed my concern. His name is Mark and he is the president of gaming club. He let me know that there is a suggestion list of games for the club to buy, and they are really open to any types of games that people would like the club to have. All I needed to do was add it to the list, so I did.
The first game I played was cards against humanity. There was about twenty people playing in total. The group of us were having a great time and I think our laughter was drawing in more and more people. There was so many of us, but not enough chairs or table room. We eventually had to split into two different groups because more people showed up and they were forced to stand.
Another game that I played there was elefun, which is a game that is typically played by children three and up. College students fall into that category right? Gaming club does not discriminate against any type of game. Whether it’s games for children or games for the elderly, they would accept it. They take all suggestions and they will even buy games from people. It is a great place to make friends and to take current friendships to the next level.

The other day, my friend Julie and I were walking back from our N-wing lunch extravaganza and something caught our eye. We noticed that some fellow stockton students were setting up some sort of table. As we got closer we could make out some t-shirts on the table along with some other items. We asked one of the girls how we could get a shirt and she said the first fifty people could get one. After finding out that information we decided to find out what this little shindig was all about. Apparently the Unified Black Student Society was throwing a Welcome Barbeque in the freshman quad.
Originally we were just going to go for the free shirts and then bail but we decided to stick around for a while so we felt like we actually earned the shirts. One of the stands that was set up was a build-a-bear type worksop where you could stuff your own bear. You even got to give it a birth certificate and name it and everything. After we made sure our bears had proportional amounts of stuffing in each limb and the belly, we tied up the string in their bellies to keep them forever.
After that we got to the actual barbeque and ate hot dogs and hamburgers which were
delicious. We ventured over to the popcorn stand afterwards. Next to the popcorn machine was a photo booth that Julie and my friend Heather and I squeezed into. Everyone loves a good photo booth!
As we were about to leave, we saw a guy starting to set up an art easel. He was right in the middle of all the commotion. This could only mean one thing… caricatures! After he set up, Julie and I watched him draw a few caricatures and this guy was amazing! The amount of talent he had was unbelievable. We weren’t sure if we wanted to get one or not. It was a weird thing to have people watch you as you got your face drawn. Finally, we decided to get one because it was free so why not? It turned out beautifully!
Once again, we decided to leave because we didn’t think there was anything left to do but we were proven wrong once again! There was a bean bag toss where you could win prizes. At first they were giving out gift cards but they were going fast. When we played, the prize was t-shirts! We were very excited for more free t-shirts so we played for about a half hour trying to get our bean bag in the hole. Eventually they just gave us the free t-shirt because we just were not getting it.
Over all the barbeque was very fun. You can’t go wrong with free food and prizes! The music was great, and the atmosphere was even better. The Unified Black Student Society definitely made my day.