Author Archives: munsonc1

Day of Scholarship?

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Walking around on campus the other day, I stumbled upon the Day of Scholarship.  I had no clue what it was or what was going on so I figured I’d check it out.

I didn’t spend too much time walking around, just a few minutes trying to read what the different things on each table said.  There were only a few tables up and it didn’t seem like there was a whole lot on the tables but there did seem to be some information and from what I could tell the Day of Scholarship was set up to give students a chance to see and apply for different scholarships and internships that the school and local community members offer.  It also looked like there were supposed to be presentations of different things throughout the two days that it was set up at the school but trying to make the time to go to them was very difficult considering it was only from 10:30-3:30 on both days.

Unfortunately, the Day of Scholarship wasn’t advertised all that well.  I had no clue what it was when I first walked by and when I asked people I knew, they didn’t know either.  I don’t recall getting an email about the event or hearing anyone talk about it, especially not in classes.  I just happened to be walking through F-wing one of the days it was happening and see massive signs hanging from the ceiling advertising it.  If it hadn’t been for the signs, I wouldn’t have known anything was going on.

Like I said before, I didn’t spend too much time there.  I just walked through pretty quickly, but it seemed like a great idea!  There was a bit of information on the tables and the concept behind the Day of Scholarship is fabulous.  I guess there were also supposed to be presentations.  I wish the Day of Scholarship had been advertised more because it seems like a great idea and an awesome way to get involved!

Human Trafficking

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On Thursday, February 6, Stockton College hosted a presentation on human trafficking and prostitution.  Each speaker discussed the severity of the problem and two of the three speakers presented statistics and solutions to the issue of human trafficking.

The first speaker, Doctor Robert Barney, explained the differences behind prostitution and human trafficking.  He defined prostitution as a sexual service that is exchanged for money and human trafficking as sexual exploitation through force.  He explained that sometimes they are related but many countries are taking action to reduce or even eliminate both prostitution and human trafficking while other countries are merely hoping that legalizing prostitution will make the entire situation better.

Barney presented three different steps countries have taken to try and solve the issues related to prostitution and human trafficking.  The first is the prohibition of prostitution countries such as Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine have enacted this law and while it seems worthwhile, many people believed it simply created an underground market.  Another step countries like Sweden have taken is the decriminalization of prostitution.  Instead of prosecuting the prostitutes criminals, the pimps and clients are prosecuted.  This also seems to be a good idea and so far it is reducing the numbers related to human trafficking.  The third approach countries like Germany, Greece, and the Netherland have taken is the legalization of prostitution.  Unfortunately, in the Netherlands there are still high levels of human trafficking inflow from other countries.  Therefore, the issue of human trafficking must be evaluated and a solution found.

The second speaker, Doctor Janice Joseph, focused mainly on solutions to human trafficking.  She explained that human trafficking occurs all across the world and while the majority of humans being trafficked are women (68%), men, girls, and boys are being trafficked as well at (17% men, 12% girls, and 3% boys).  She said that there are many groups, such as the Blue Hear Campaign, that are fighting against human trafficking.  She said that there are many reasons for human trafficking including the transition to a market economy, economic hardship, poverty, legacy of war, lawlessness, organized crime, porous borders, close proximity of wealthy countries, and political corruption to name a few.  Joseph emphasized the importance of fighting these factors and explained that while the still exist, human trafficking will thrive.  While the information provided by these two speakers was very in depth, the keynote speaker’s story was really the most fascinating.

Lastly, the keynote speaker presented.  The keynote speaker shared her story which consisted of first hand encounters with human trafficking.  She explained that unlike all of the facts presented from other places in the world, her story takes place not far from here, in New York City.  She opened up her listeners eyes and allowed them to see that these problems don’t just happen in other places, but they happen here in our great county too.  She also explained that unfortunately, these occurrences aren’t uncommon.  She shared how she was forced into human sex trafficking and how she made her escape.  She also explained that the people who are survivors of human trafficking constantly need support and how to become involved and help the survivors and those who are still victims.  It was amazing to hear a survivor’s story.

This event was extremely informative and rather difficult to accept.  Hearing a firsthand account of something so terrible and so close to home is not an easy thing to come to terms with.  The information however, was presented in a very concise and understandable way.  It was a fantastic lecture.

MLK Day of Service

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On January 20, 2014, Stockton held a Martin Luther King Junior Day of Service at the main campus in Galloway and at many of Stockton’s satellite locations.  Tons of people showed up to help the community with projects varying from a campus clean up to preparing meals for those in need.

After getting signed in and listening to the opening remarks and brief speeches, I went with my fellow members of Water Watch and participated in a campus clean up.  Several other people volunteered to help and we all went off in groups of about four and wandered the campus picking up every piece of trash, including recyclables, and putting them in our trash/recyclable bags.  It seemed like the only things we picked up were cigarette butts, there were way too many to count, and wrappers.

The group I was working with ended up cleaning trash all over the campus.  We started outside of D wing and walked around the smoking gazeboes, down the light walk way, all around the upperclassman dorms, and back to the main campus down the walk way without the lights.  We found everything under the sun in terms of trash.  Like I said before, there were tons of cigarette butts!  However, we also found beer cans, plastic, glass, rotten fruit, and cardboard just to name a few.

After we made our rounds about the campus, we sat down to have some lunch and a reflection session.  Each group shared what they had picked up and where they had gone to clean.  Everyone found a ton of cigarette butts and wrappers while cleaning up and we all felt like we had accomplished a lot and helped make our campus greener.

This Day of Service was much more organized than the last Day of Service that I attended and it wasn’t nearly as confusing.  The lines were still long to wait to sign in and it was slightly crazy trying to find the table that I wanted to spend my day with, but knowing what groups would be at what location and exactly what they would be doing before going into the event room was a huge relief!  It made the process a lot less crazy and a lot more fun.  Overall, it was a really great experience.

Civil War Reenactments

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Today, November 22, 2013, a senior at Stockton named Adam came into the honors freshman seminar class and talked to us about Civil War Reenactments.  He came in wearing his uniform that he wears to the battles which was pretty cool and easily got everyone’s attention.

He started out by talking to us about what he was wearing and the whole uniform is completely authentic.  It was all wool and leather just like what soldiers used to wear when they were in the army.  He said the uniform is really hot and doing reenactments in the summer is hard because of this.  He also told us that the uniform is extremely expensive and when you join a group that does reenactments you have to buy your own clothes and weapons.

After he talked about his outfit he explained what happens when you’re doing reenactments.  He said a lot of people get really into the battles and it’s easy to get lost in character.  He also explained that there are two main types of reenactments.  There is one where it’s very accurate and follows history meaning that the side who really won the battle wins the battle during the reenactment.  On the other hand, there are battles where the both sides go into the battle not knowing what the result is going to be and they just fight until one side wins.

A lot of people were really confused at how they determine who wins because they can’t really shoot each other so how do they know when they’ve been shot or when to die?  Well, Adam said that they just kind of fall over and die or “get shot” whenever they feel like it.  If you get shot at and it’s clear they were shooting at you then you just die.  Then the question of theatrical deaths came about and he said that because the uniforms are so expensive they don’t typically tend to die in a theatrical manner.

After a few more questions had been asked, he concluded with some information on local groups that engage in reenactments.  He also left some business cards for a few of the local groups so that anyone who was interested could go up and grab one.  It was a really neat experience.

Nelson Johnson

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On November 1st the author of Boardwalk Empire, Nelson Johnson, came to Stockton and talked to the honors freshman seminar class about his book Boardwalk Empire.  He started with a brief introduction about himself and then went on to explain why he decided to write a book on the history of Atlantic City.  His main reason behind writing Boardwalk Empire was that before it was published, there were not any complete books on the history of Atlantic City, only books of the history of components of Atlantic City.

After his introduction, he opened the floor for questions and the majority of the questions revolved around how Johnson feels about the HBO series based on Boardwalk Empire.  He really likes the series, even though it doesn’t follow his book all that well.  He said that he is a huge fan of the series and that he gets to read the script for every episode before it airs! I thought that was pretty cool.  Before he explained why he gets to read the scripts, I thought that it was because he wrote Boardwalk Empire and they wanted to make sure he likes what they’re doing with the story.  Turns out that’s not actually the case.  He gets to read the script beforehand because he asks them for it I guess they aren’t really seeking his approval anymore.

Another interesting question that was asked was about Johnson’s childhood.  I never really thought about asking him that so it was neat to hear about what he liked to do as a child and where he went to school.  He said he had always known he wanted to go into law, and he had pretty much always wanted to be a judge.  His love for law led him to learn more about Atlantic County and then Atlantic City.  This is where he found out that there wasn’t really a complete history of the city and caused the book Boardwalk Empire to come about.  After everyone’s questions were answered, he signed books and went on his way.

Listening to Nelson Johnson talk about his life and his journey that led him to write Boardwalk Empire was fascinating.  It was a really unique experience, and I’m glad I got to be a part of it.