On Sunday, September 27^th, the Performing Arts Center (PAC) presented The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra. The Orchestra was formed by Glenn Miller 75 years ago, and since then has performed in all 50 US states as well as Europe, Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Guam, the Philippines, South and Central America. Traveling 48 out of 52 weeks a year, the Orchestra play a total of about 300 play dates a year. The Orchestra consists of music director/male vocalist Nick Hilscher, female vocalist Natalie Angst, five saxophone players, four trumpeters, four trombonists, and three rhythm musicians (piano, bass and drums). By two o’clock the audience was seated and the show began.  The Orchestra members all came out in matching suits and ties, their brass instruments gleaming under the stage lights. The band sat in their seats and started playing Tuxedo Junction, filling the room with swinging music. The band then went on to play other classics before ending the first half of the performance with The American Patrol as a salute to War veterans.

When the band began the second half they introduced a vocal group called The Moonlight Serenaders, which included Nick Hilscher, Natalie Angst and three other Orchestra members. The group sang along to Chattanooga Choo-Choo, which earned The Glenn Miller Orchestra the first gold record ever awarded to a performing artist, Perfidia and I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo. They also played Pennsylvania 6-5000, a crowd favorite, and my personal favorite September in the Rain, which Nick sang as the vocalist. The Orchestra’s finale consisted of Sunrise Serenade and Moonlight Serenade. The crowd loved it so much they did an encore performance of St. Louis Blues March.

Although the performance was only two hours long it transported the audience back to the era of swing and big band.

The 12^th annual Day of Service project took place on Saturday, September 12, 2015. All volunteers arrived at 8:00 am and after checking in divided into four teams – Red, Purple, Blue and Green

After being assigned a team we were lead to a complimentary breakfast and then ushered into the Campus Center Event Room, where we sat at tables designated by our group color. The program began with an opening session welcome by President Kesselman & Keynote Speaker Todd Bernstein, both giving speeches to inspire us take action after today in local community service. Afterwards, the groups exited the Event Room and began their activities.

Purple group headed toC134 for an hour long session on Environment, with speakers from ACUA, Water Watch, and Stockton University’s Sustainable Farm. ACUA’s (Atlantic County Utilities Authority) President Richard Dovey, who is a Stockton alumnus (class of 1975), spoke about the history of ACUA and how it helps the community. Water Watch gave a presentation on the hazards of bottled water and how tap water is actually safer for consumption. Last, but certainly not least, one of the volunteers from Stockton University’s Sustainable Farm came up and explained all the ways we could volunteer and help out on the farm, such as working on the solar panel or becoming a bee keeper.

At 10:30 am we headed over to the Campus Center Meeting Room 2 for the Health & Wellness: Prescription Drugs session, which was presented by JTAC. The JTAC’s (Join Together Atlantic County) “mission is to prevent, reduce and/or delay substance use among youth of Atlantic County in a long term and sustainable manner” (Join). We learned that heroin deaths in NJ are more than triple national rate, surpassing homicides, suicides, car accidents and AIDS. One reason that heroin is such a large problem I NJ is because it is very pure and sold very cheap. A police officer was also there, telling us stories of past drug incidents that he has seen over the years and how the officers are trained to use Narcan, a drug that can reverse the effects of opioids, in case someone is experiencing an overdose.

At the end of that session we headed over to the Campus Center Theatre for lunch and our third session, Hunger & Homelessness. After finishing eating volunteers from Covenant House New Jersey, the nation’s largest privately funded agency serving homeless, runaway & at-risk youth, came on stage and gave a presentation. The volunteers explained how they provide food, shelter, immediate crisis care and an array of other important services to homeless, runaway and trafficked youth between the ages of 18 to 21. The next speaker, however, brought a pleasant change of pace. Books Without Borders, an organization that collects and donates books to libraries, had the teams participate in a service project of packing and loading books into a van to be placed in a storage container for later distribution. Doing hands-on work was a lot of fun, even when it started raining, and I ended up remaining to assist instead of going to the fourth session.

Around 3:00 pm all of the groups met up again in the Campus Center Event Room were we had a quick reflection session and got free t-shirts to commemorate the day. I had a lot of fun at my first Day of Service and now I feel more aware of what service opportunities are available around me. I can’t wait for next years!

Running from September 3rd to September 6^th, Chrysalis Staging and the Stockton University School of Arts and Humanities Theatre Program proudly presented Promised Land in the Experimental Theatre. After volunteering to usher on opening night, I was invited back the next night to view the show. The play, written and directed by Lane McLeod Jackson, took place in a post-apocalyptic world where climate change has wreaked havoc and left the earth barely able to support human life. Abraham, played by Rodger Jackson, is a farmer/scientist trying to help move humanity forward. He has built a community with strict laws, such as when and how much people can eat and when couples are allowed to have children. Although his community is thriving (as best they can in this destroyed world) Abraham constantly feels conflicted over the amount of power and control he has over others. His wife Ester, played by Melanie McLeod, is always supporting him and reminding him of how the decisions he’s made, though harsh, have helped keep them all alive and fed. She supports Abraham in his work to move forward towards a better future. However, their daughter Rebbecca, played by Carla Gamarra, does not share their hopeful thinking and thinks that they should just accept the present reality and try to make the best of it. As things are starting to look bleak, in walks a smooth talking salesman named Elliot, played by Evan Williamson, who may have the key to what Abraham and Ester need – if they can trust him. This play causes people to question the morality in the way these characters are surviving. In a world where the end has already happened and people are struggling to survive, is there truly good and bad? Or does survival become the only thing that matters? The play puts its characters in a permanent grey zone, leaving the question of whether they are good or bad totally up to you.