Gianna Nitti

Movie Night: Inside Out

Sponsored By SET

9/24/2015

I went to the weekly movie night hosted by SET. When you swipe in they give you a raffle ticket and you can get some snacks. They choose movies that are new and popular. This week they played the new Pixar™ movie Inside Out. Inside Out is a movie about growing up and the conflict between a person’s emotions during everyday life.

                The story begins with Joy’s quick overview of Riley’s life, Joy explains how Riley’s mind works and how she is a happy girl with a great life and Joy doesn’t think anything could go wrong. As soon as Joy finishes her explanation and introduces the other emotions a “SOLD” sign appears in front of Riley’s home. Riley’s Father has a new job opportunity in San Francisco so that’s where they are moving to.

When they arrive at their new home Riley is disappointed to find out how her home is dingy, small, and a bit run down. While Joy is attempting to have Riley keep a positive outlook, Fear, Anger and Disgust are fighting over the controls. Sadness begins acting weird and she keeps tainting all the memories from Minnesota with sadness, Joy tries to keep sadness from doing this but she cannot and Sadness ends up knocking all of Riley’s most important memories, her Core Memories,   out and they get sent to Long-Term Memory along with Joy and Sadness leaving only Fear, Anger and Disgust in Headquarters.

Inside Out shows the struggle that Joy and Sadness face to get back to headquarters before Riley ends up running away and how Joy has to learn the importance of Sadness before she is able to return to Headquarters to save Riley. This movie definitely is a must see with fun animation, a tearful storyline, and lots of laughter.

Gianna Nitti

One Night Stand Up Comedy Show featuring Carly Aquilino

Sponsored By SET

10/09/2015

Carly Aquilino

I went to the comedy show featuring Carly Aquilino hosted by SET.  I went with my parents and best friend from home who were all visiting with me for University Weekend.  My parents really enjoy comedians so I was excited to be able to spend time with them and have fun.

When we got there we were all able to get free t-shirts.  I was worried because the line seemed very long and I am a bit impatient but fortunately, the line went extremely quickly and we were soon in our seats.  There was plenty or seating available so while there was a lot of people I never felt crowded or uncomfortable.  There was also pizza and refreshments offered to everyone before the show started.

Carly was very funny and entertaining.  Her comedy was definitely aimed for college students and I found it very funny.  My friend and I were cracking up for almost the entire hour that she was onstage.  My parents also found her hilarious so she was funny for all older audiences.  I really enjoyed her stand up and though she did an amazing job, if I ever have the opportunity I would see her perform again.

Gianna Nitti

S.O.A.R.

Sponsored by T.A.L.O.N.S

June 25-27

I attended S.O.A.R. this year. S.O.A.R. is a leadership retreat offered to incoming freshman students before Move-In day and Welcome Week. The students who participate in S.O.A.R. get to move in a few days before the rest of the incoming students. This is a big advantage because it allows for a calmer and quicker move because there are fewer people and it is not crowded. When arriving at check in students are given a string of beads to represent which tribe they will become a part of. After moving in, separating into tribes and going through introductions, everyone travels to the YMCA Camp Ockanickon.

Tribes are separated by different colors. There are eight different tribes: Red, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Navy, Sky, and Purple. Each person receives a bag and a bandana of their color and this is used to identify which tribe a person is in. Being in a tribe allows you to bond with a smaller group of people which makes it easier to form friendships. At first, everyone was a bit scared but as we spent time together we all bonded with each other and our T.A.L.O.N.S. Every tribe had their own set of T.A.L.O.N.S. and they really made S.O.A.R. special because they took the time to bond with us and pushed us to really be our best. They also encouraged us to have a good time and open up because at first it was a bit awkward being with complete strangers but the T.A.L.O.N.S really made us excited to support our tribe and embrace the S.O.A.R. experience. While you are often in your tribe you are not limited to interacting only within your tribe because there are plenty of activities where tribes are combined. Another fun thing about tribes is that you develop competition between other tribes and a strong sense of pride for your own tribe.

At camp, the counselors there were really fun to be around and made the experience great. They took us through different team building activities such as icebreakers, leadership courses, team building games, high ropes, and free time activities such as kayaking, archery, yoga and many other interesting activities.

I would highly recommend attending S.O.A.R. to anyone who plans on coming to Stockton. I found it to be a fantastic opportunity because I got to meet people I may not have otherwise known and I formed great friendships with amazing people. It also made the transition into college a lot smoother, because I was able to slowly unpack early with family and avoided the hustle of Move-In day.  I already had a great group of friends to hang out with when I began my college experience, all because of S.O.A.R.  The experience was one hundred percent worth it and I made an incredible amount of memories with people I know I’ll stay close with for the rest of my years here at Stockton.