On Saturday, October 26, I participated in Make a Difference Day at Stockton. We filled out some forms at a table in the campus center and shuffled into the event room where we figured out where we were going for the day. I was able to sign up to go to the food bank, so after speeches were made, I made my way to the yellow school bus with the rest of my group and the other groups that were leaving campus.

Once getting to the food bank, we had to leave our things in lockers and were put right to work, filling and packaging boxes of non-perishable food supplies for Thanksgiving. I was given a tape dispenser and was told to seal the boxes after they were examined for the contents. After sealing the box, a sticker marking that the box was from the food bank was to be put on the side of the box. Previously, I had never used a tape dispenser quite like the one they gave me, so I had a bit of trouble, but by lunchtime, I had it down. I also had trouble both taping the box and putting the sticker  when the assembly line sped up, so the box examiner next to me put a bunch of stickers on the boxes to help.

After filling hundreds of boxes, we had our lunch break, but we were not down for long. We set back to work after finishing our meal. This time we ended up putting the boxes together to be filled. As it turned out, Stockton students are pretty adept and quick at constructing cardboard boxes. We kept piling the boxes up at a pace unrivalled by others. We quickly finished up putting together the boxes, and the boxes filled up steadily. After all was said and done, it was incredible to see how many pallets of boxes we put together for Thanksgiving.

Feeling good about ourselves, we boarded the bus to return to campus. It felt good to know that we were able to help people for the holidays. It also made me think about how many families are out there that need these boxes of food. I often tend to forget how many people are impoverished in our area and how many people live on minimum wage. It made me happy to accomplish filling hundreds of boxes, but saddened me that there was a need for hundreds of boxes. Overall, I really enjoyed this community service event and plan to participate next year, as well.

On September 26, convocation was held in the PAC in which we were given the opportunity to meet Mary Roach, the author of the freshman common reading, Spook. She was a delight to listen to, and I was able to gain a broader understanding of the book through listening to her experiences and inquisitive nature. It was a pleasure to be able to listen to such a renowned author. I felt like I left the room with a plethora of new knowledge to share with my peers.

The question and answer session was very helpful and provided new meaning to the book. She explained that she was not all that happy with how she ended the book, and the reasons for not including topics such as Western reincarnation. The issue was that the university that held the studies in the paranormal that researched cases such as reincarnation did not want their work to be released to the public to avoid humiliation. Hearing these answers quelled some of the discontent I had held previously towards the book, as I was not too fond of how the book ended, and I really wanted to hear more on the topic of reincarnation, especially in Western culture.

Mary Roach was an overall delight and kept the crowd entertained. Everyone in the audience seemed to enjoy having her there and had insightful questions for the question and answer session. It was also an option to actually go up to and talk to Mary Roach and get your book signed. Sadly, I had to run to get a bite to eat before heading to class, so I was unable to take up on the offer although I did have my book on me. However, if she was to ever return to campus, I’ll be sure to be in the audience.

September 7th was Stockton’s Annual Day of Service. The day started out with signing in before getting breakfast at the Campus Center cafeteria. After grabbing a bite to eat, I rushed to the Event Room to sign up for the day’s activity. I went with the Alpha Lambda Delta Honors Society to assist in a back-to-school recreational event in Atlantic City alongside the Peacekeepers.

We arrived at the small park before the Peacekeepers did, so we scoped out the place and cleaned up the area a bit. When they arrived, we helped them unload donated gym bags full of school supplies to be given out to the children during the event. The children slowly arrived, and we set up a game of kickball and made sure the kids were having fun. We also spun jump ropes, and a few children even tried their hand at double dutch, or maybe they already knew how to, because they were pretty good.

The day closed up with a barbeque for the children and school-oriented prizes being handed out to them to ensure they had enough school supplies for the coming year. The Peacekeepers also spoke of the meaning of the entire get-together: to make sure that the children stay in school and do their best in hopes for a brighter future for them. To enforce this, they had some of us Stockton Students participate in small skits, mainly focusing on bullying.