Run Run Rudolph Run

I volunteered to help out with the Run Run Rudolph Run that Kate Volpe put together. The run took place on Saturday, November 19. We, the volunteers, arrived to start setting up, decorate, and make posters at 7 in the morning. I made a poster that said “Gotta Go Fast” and had a lovely drawing of Sonic the Hedgehog and a picture of Ricky Bobby, Will Ferrell’s character in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. After we finished putting up Christmas decorations and singing along to Christmas songs my friend Maggie and I headed out to the front of the campus center in order to direct people as to where to go for the run.

The run was well planned, just not very well advertised. I believe only about twelve runners showed up. For next year, we need to try and advertise better off campus and make it more of a donation. Having it set at a standard $10 price may be a little expensive for poor college kids who can barely afford food. Also we could see if we could get more of the school teams involved, such as cross country, track and field, softball, etc. This would encourage students to get involved and perhaps donate more to the cause. If we could get posters out at local shopping stores and restaurants it will also allow for more people off campus to hear about the run. We could also put an add into the local newspaper for it and onto the Stockton Newspaper as well. The run was a great idea and well planned, but if we can get the word out more I believe it will be even more of a success next year.

Freshman Blog: October

On October 2^nd, the honors program took a trip into Philadelphia. In Philadelphia we got the opportunity to see a play/musical (there was a fair amount of singing) called This Is the Week That Is. It was about the upcoming debate, which has been a major topic of discussion within our honors seminar. Seeing as this is one of the more “entertaining” campaigns and debates, people are constantly talking about it. The production was a comedy that mocked the whole campaign. There were a lot of jokes made about both candidates, and a recurring theme of terror for the future of the country.

I thought that the production was funny but I personally am not that into politics. I prefer to keep to myself about my beliefs because I understand that everyone has his or her own beliefs and I find people tend to get rather heated about their opinion or belief being correct. That being said I did enjoy the production as a whole. I thought it was very tastefully done in that it was rather unbiased (perhaps a little left leaning) and the jokes were respectful. Considering some of the things that have been said and done throughout the campaign there were many opportunities to use disrespectful jokes and I feel the actors/actresses all did a wonderful job.

Also, every one of the performers had amazing voices and I loved listening to them cover songs. All of the songs they used were funny, catchy, and well known so it was easy to see how they changed up the lyrics. All in all it was a fun day for the honors program and a great way to spend time off campus with friends.

Freshman Blog: September

On September 13 I attended the Stockton University’s Women’s Volleyball team match. The team played against Montclair State University in Big Blue and was sponsored by Stockton Athletics. The game started at 7 o’clock but we arrived at about 10 to 7 in order to get seats. There was a fair amount of parents there to support their daughters, as well as a student section. My friends and I sat in the second row because we had never been to a volleyball match and were unsure of what was going to happen.

The match started and the girls took the court. It was surprisingly intense as people started cheering. There were two people sitting in front of us that explained the game to us throughout the match. Volleyball works that when the serving team loses the serve the other team receives a point. This is called rally scoring. Each team gets three hits to get the ball over the net, and a block does not count for one of the hits. The game consists of three sets each to 25 points, or if it gets to 24-24 then a team has to win by 2 points.

As the game progressed the crowd was getting super into the match, especially the student section. One student started screaming at a girl on the Montclair team that he apparently knew, seeing as he called her by her name. He would yell things at her such as “Natalia, the ball goes over the net,” or “You can’t hide from me Natalia” when she was not on the court. It was so much fun because the everyone was there to support the girls and they were playing amazingly. They won the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th sets and therefore won the match. They have multiple matches throughout the season. I honestly cannot wait to see another match.