On April 25, 2013, I attend Stockton’s Celebration of Service. I originally thought that this event was going to have tables and tables of students wishing to display their service efforts in the past semester. I was rather surprised to find that there were only a handful of service projects being displayed. The area by the library where the Celebration of Service was occurring was rather bare, and I was disappointed to see that not a lot of students wanted to share their projects.  I give a lot of credit to those students who were willing to display their hard work and efforts and I applaud them for their generous efforts in trying to make the community a better place.

One of the projects that caught my eye was called Clean Ocean Action. Clean Ocean Action is a project involving the cleaning up of the oceans after Hurricane Sandy. Anything that involves the revival of the shores after the hurricane immediately grabs my attention. The students that were running this project asked me to fill out a brief survey. The survey asked me questions regarding the beach I attend and how it has been affected by Sandy. It also asked me if I have been turned away from my beach due to the ruins of the shore after the devastating hurricane. The survey also asked how much I would be willing to donate, time or money, in order to help revive our shores. A bribe to filling out the survey was that you are actually put into raffle to win a free gift basket! The boys were giving out free bumper stickers to help raise awareness of this particular issue which is extremely relevant to a lot of our daily lives.

After having attended Celebration of Service, I was really disappointed that my roommate and I didn’t display our Jersey Strong Tee Shirt project. I think this would have stood out amongst the projects that were displayed and would have really caught people’s eyes. If we decide to continue working with this project, maybe we will document our efforts at next year’s Celebration of Service!

On November 19, 2012 my roommate and I attended Stockton’s fall a Cappella concert. It was a beautiful combination of popular songs sung by three different a cappella groups. As a whole, all three groups are called Stockton a Cappella. Stocktata is an all girl group and the youngest of all three groups. The Stocktones is a co-ed group of college students that attend Stockton College. The third group is called Stockapella and is the oldest and most experienced a cappella group at Stockton. This group competes with other a cappella groups across the nation. Stockapella began competing in 2011 and every competition since that point, they have qualified for the quarterfinals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. That is an incredible feat! What is even more exciting for me personally is that my boyfriend is in this group!

            The show was a huge success. There were more people in the audience than seats. Each group wore a different color, accented throughout their outfits. Stockata, the all girls group, was given the color purple. Their clothes were splashed with bits of purple and their particular songs were written in purple in the program. The Stocktones were blue and the Stockapella group was yellow. These color differentiations made it easy to see and distinguish who was in which group. It was also interesting to see what some students would do with their color! One of the girls in the Stocktones actually dyed her hair blue!

Stockton a Cappella opened up with “Some Nights” by F.U.N.  It was beautifully sung and the harmonies were phenomenal. This song is one of my favorites to listen to, so this excellent performance of it made it exponentially more exciting for me. Some of the other songs that were sung were: “Give Your Heart A Break” by Demi Lovato, “Summer of ‘69” by Brian Adams,  “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” by The Script, “Over My Head” by The Fray, and “Happy Ending” by Mika, in addition to about ten other songs. The closing song, “Happy Ending” by Mika, was described as very special to the Stockton a Cappella groups because it has been a tradition to close the concert with this song. They also invite all of the Stockton a Cappella alumni to come to the stage to sing it with the current members. This concept is familiar to me because in my high school’s winter choir concerts, we had a tradition of singing Carol of the Bells and O Holy Night. We, like Stockton a Cappella, would invite all PTHS alumni to join us in singing O Holy Night on stage. I think this is a great way to continue to involve the alumni in something that they used to love so much.

Not only was I glad that I came to this concert to support my boyfriend, but I also thoroughly enjoyed every song that was sung and performed. These students worked so incredibly hard to reach this final point, and you can tell that their hard work paid off. They all had large grins on their faces and they looked like they were having a great time as they swayed with the musing, bounced their knees, and tapped their feet. As a performer, I know how empowering it is to hear that loud audience cheer for you. At this concert, the audience didn’t cheer after every song, they screamed. They loved every minute of the concert, just as my roommate and I had. I will most definitely attend more Stockton a Cappella concerts and I know others will too. I think they should move their concerts over into the PAC where there are more seats!

            I was three years old when I first stepped into the mirror-surrounding walls of a dance studio. After this moment, dance slowly became my life. By the time I was thirteen years old, I was in the studio six out of seven days a week, eating my dinner in the waiting room between classes, and doing my homework on the benches outside. I thrived on being onstage; I lived for the glitter and glam. I was obsessed with rhinestones and the loud music that would play as I performed. Throughout the course of my dance career, I took lessons in tap, jazz, lyrical, ballet, musical theater, pointe, and acrobatics. My dream when I was a young girl was to become a professional dancer when I grew up. I loved everything about the life of a dancer.

            It is hard to believe that Dracula, performed at Stockton College on October 24, 2012, was the first ballet that I have ever attended. Dracula was a performance executed by the Atlantic City Ballet. The Atlantic City Ballet Company is made up of dancers from nine different countries across the world.  One of the things that I found particularly exciting about Dracula was the fact that I knew what all of the dance moves were called that they were doing throughout the play. I knew when they had made a mistake or when their performance was absolutely beautiful. If I hadn’t been a dancer for ten years, I would not have been able to pick up on such minute things like these.

What was so different about this experience for me was that the entire story was told through dance and not a single word was spoken. I am used to watching television or musicals where the changes in intonation of the actors indicate the moods and feelings of the actors in the story. Being that I do not know the story of Dracula, the fact that it was being told without words made it that much more difficult for me to understand the plotline. If I had known the story of Dracula like I know Cinderella, or the Little Mermaid, I would have probably gotten even more out of it than I did.

The majority of the dancing was spectacular, especially by the lead women in the show. They made every movement look so simple and so graceful, which is awe-inspiring considering I personally know how difficult those moves actually are. There were a few points in the show where I noticed that the dancers weren’t synchronized with each other. Most of the time, this occurred when the younger dancers were performing.

As much as I wanted to see a beautifully executed ballet with flawless dancers with years of experience when I was watching Dracula, I was very pleased to see that they incorporated their younger dancers in the performance. I was a younger, inexperienced dancer at one point, and I would have loved to have been given an opportunity to dance in the same production with people as experienced as these dancers.

I am very glad that I went to see this ballet because it brought back a lot of memories from my dance past. Seeing things like this makes me miss dance because I loved it so much. However, I have moved on and I couldn’t be happier in the place that I am in now. As much as I would love to go back to dance, I think it’s best for me to keep it in my memories, and continue to move forward with my life.

            August 16^th was my first day at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. I was the first one of my friends to leave for school and I was also one of the first ones to move in at Stockton. I am currently a member of the Stockton Ospreys field hockey team. Continuing to pursue my passion for field hockey threw me into college two and a half weeks early for preseason. I was placed in an apartment with two other girls on the team, also known as complete strangers, and was surrounded by apartments filled with other strangers. My choice to play field hockey at Stockton also stripped me of a proper “goodbye” to my family. Moving into my apartment entailed my parents dropping my belongings off in the apartment as I was taking my concussion baseline test. That was it.

            I am incredibly close to my family, meaning this abrupt goodbye was incredibly hard on me. Not only was I trying to adapt to a college which was two hours from my home, but I was also trying to get used to a new coaching staff, a hectic practice schedule, and a team of girls who I have never met before. Needless to say, I was beyond overwhelmed. My stress ended up turning into sub-par performance on the field and countless tear-filled phone calls to my mom and dad. I began second guessing my love for the sport, and started preparing myself for that talk with my coach that would ultimately place my field hockey career on a shelf.

            Moving into my actual dorm room with other freshman flipped my perspective on everything from new friends to being so far from home to field hockey. On August 27^th, my parents and my siblings spent hours with me unloading the car, decorating my dorm room, and organizing all of my belongings into my new home. At this point, my practice schedule was beginning to lighten up and classes were about to begin. My free time quickly vanished and as a result, I had less and less time to think about home.

            Deciding to stay on the Stockton field hockey team was probably one of the best decisions I have made in a long time. I now have a close knit group of friends that are also freshman field hockey players, in addition to twenty other friends. I continue to have my good days and my bad ones, but that comes with the territory, field hockey or no field hockey. I love being involved with the team and having something to take up my free time. I thrive on being busy and field hockey keeps my daily schedule quite eventful. It devastates me that I almost gave that all up because of my insecurity being in a new place with so many aspects of life that I was not yet accustomed to. I am so incredibly proud of myself for pushing through one of the hardest transitions in my life.

            The Stockton Field Hockey team has made it through about half of our season so far, playing nationally ranked opponents and handling referees that make game-changing calls. Our record does not nearly represent the talent that we have, but as a team, we are pushing through, and gradually regaining our hunger for victory. We are out on that field to have fun and to do what we love. I pushed through those tears and the stress of being new; my team can push through losing streaks. Whether I am handling my own personal problems or team difficulties, we are all in this together; we are the Stockton Ospreys.

I have always loved music and singing. I especially love a cappella music. I love how people can make the sounds of instruments with their mouths to make beautiful, spine chilling music. It’s incredible. My boyfriend is a part of Stockton’s A Cappella group, therefore I didn’t even have to bat an eye before I agreed to go see his concert on April  15^th.

Stockton’s a cappella group is composed of three smaller groups: Stocktones, Stockata, and Stockapella. The Stocktones is a co-ed group of college students who like to sing for fun and enjoy the a cappella style of music. Stockata is similar to the Stocktones, however Stockata is an all girl group. The final group is Stockapella. Stockapella is a co-ed competition group that represents Stockton in competitions similar to those featured in the recent movie Pitch Perfect.

Stockapella , the competing group, is a three time quarterfinalist for the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA). The ICCA is the competition that was featured in Pitch Perfect. My boyfriend is a part of this group, and had a solo in this particular concert. I was so proud of his performance and the performance of all of this other friends in the group.

Some popular songs such as Viva La Vida by Coldplay and Hero by Bonnie Tyler were sang with beautiful execution and precision. I personally enjoyed Some Nights by Fun. and You’ll Be in My Heart by Phil Collins. My personal favorites are the songs I can sing or hum along with!

I will also be a proud supporter of Stockton’s A Cappella. I love the music they make and how beautifully they always sound. I will always have an aspiration to learn how to beat box, and maybe I can get one of the beat boxers to teach me a little something! Keep working hard, Stockton A Cappella, you sound beautiful with every song you sing!

One of the most exciting things about college in the spring is the amount of people that you see in the quad by the freshman dorms. People are playing volleyball, playing catch, longboarding, sunbathing, doing homework, and the list goes on and on. Also, being a college student, we tend to gravitate toward locations and events that serve free food.

On one of the most gorgeous days of the semester so far, the Neighborhood Watch here at Stockton decided to hold a barbeque in the freshman quad. It was advertised everywhere and there was endless amounts of free food. There were hamburgers, cheeseburgers, veggie burgers, turkey burgers, hot dogs, pasta salad, chips, pretzels, lemonade, iced tea, and water. It was delicious!

I think what I liked most about this event, aside from the free food, was the fact that students that were not solely freshman were there. There were upper classmen over by the freshman dorms, something that you don’t usually see. It was like a decent amount of the school was coming together to enjoy the gorgeous weather, free food, and the nearing of the end of the semester. It was awesome!  This event in particular reminded me of what I pictured college would look like!  Hopefully there will be more events just like this before the semester ends!

I have always taken part in my hometown’s Relay for Life. Therefore, I am used to the traditions and the general idea of the night. This event is usually held around a track and is an overnight fundraiser ran by the American Cancer Society. You have to pay a small fee in order to participate, but the money that is raised because of those fees in addition to donations, is donated to the American Cancer Society to continue the funding to hopefully find a cure for cancer.

This year, Stockton held its own Relay for Life. I was thrilled because I loved doing these events at home. It was a bit different because it was held inside the Big Blue gym, which I have never seen or heard of before. There were also no tents, which were where people slept when the event was held outside around the track. What was great about the indoor scenery was that the music played by the DJ was heard everywhere, regardless where you were walking on the “track”. Also, there was an hour of Zumba! I mentioned in one of my other posts how much I love Zumba!!

What was so incredible about this specific Relay for Life was that the entire field hockey team decided to take part. Numerous clubs and groups at Stockton decided to participate in Relay for Life, but we were the only athletic team at Stockton to be represented. I thought this said a lot about us as a team. We all had matching purple head bands that said “HOPE”. We all had each other’s back when the atmosphere got emotional, which again, was very moving.

I loved how involved my team was in this particular event. It says a lot about the well roundedness of the team and how much we like to stand together and unify with each other on and off the field. It means a lot, not only to be a part of a collegiate sport, but to have a group of people who have your back and want to participate in events like this together.  I hope we participate again next year!

After Hurricane Sandy, my roommate Katherine Austin and I were devastated. We were so upset by the ruins our state was left in and we were willing to do whatever was necessary to help. Katie decided to make up a T shirt design that would be put onto shirts and sold to benefit the relief fund for Hurricane Sandy. When she told me about this idea, I was immediately on board, and would help in whatever way necessary.

We were able to find a printer in May’s Landing that was more than generous. He absolutely loved our idea and told us that he would put the design on all of the shirts for free. All that he would charge us would be the price that his manufacturer charges him. This was an excellent deal. We decided to sell our adult shirts for $15 each and child sizes were $10 each. We owed the printer $4 per shirt, therefore we were making $11 profit for each adult shirt and $6 for each child shirt to donate to the Red Cross.

We made a Facebook page, informed all of our friends and family, contacted our high schools, and our clubs here at Stockton. We wanted to get the word out as much as possible. Whenever people would ask me, “what club are you doing this with?” I smiled and shrugged back, and said “we aren’t affiliated with any club with this project, my roommate and I are doing this completely on our own, out of our dorm room”. People were completely shocked by my honest statement.

It wasn’t long before orders started flowing in. We had countless orders from family members and friends. But what was more remarkable was that we were able to reach people in different states through our Facebook page. We were getting orders from people we knew and people we have never met before. It was incredible.  

Originally, our goal back in November was to raise $500 to donate to the American Red Cross, to benefit the Sandy Relief fund. Not only did we make our goal, but we tripled it. We ended up raising $1,611 dollars to donate to the Red Cross. We sold 156 shirts and collected $2,235. After paying our generous printer, we were able to donate 100% of our profits, $1,611, to the American Red Cross.

I am still astounded that we were able to run such a successful fundraiser on our own. I am blessed to have been a part of this and having my name attached with it. I wish the interest in the shirts didn’t die out, because I would love to continue with it. I would just like to let you all know, that one person (or two) CAN make a difference. Don’t give up on your passion. Keep working hard, and it will pay off!

Being that I am a part of the honors program at Stockton, it is mandatory to go to one Dialogue session per semester. This semester, I decided to attend the Womyn at Stockton Dialogue. At first, I didn’t know much about the premise of this particular session. I knew that the spelt “women” wrong intentionally, and I was very interested to find out what the purpose was behind this misspelling.

This dialogue was primarily about how even though today women are treated “equally” we aren’t equal with men. What was probably most ironic about this dialogue was that the entire room was filled with girls, aside from Daniel Tome. This, right off the bat, bothered Daniel and Diana, who are the Service Learning coordinators that were running this dialogue, because just because the topic is about women, doesn’t mean that men aren’t involved. Men are one of the primary reasons why women are being neglected in certain ways. And no men at Stockton found it necessary or fulfilling to attend this session.

 I found out in this powerful conversation that, in general, women get paid 70 cents for every dollar a man gets paid. Why is that? Personally, I think this is appalling being that a 30% difference in annual salaries is a lot of money. Also, I was informed that out of the major news stations such as CNN, Fox, NBC, etc., when covering the case regarding the teenage girl who got raped by teenage football players while she was intoxicated, the news stations took the sides of the teenage boys, instead of sympathizing and empathizing with the young girl. How or why is this happening? Why do people side with the individuals who are clearly wrong in this situation, while the young girl couldn’t even defend herself?

What probably took me by most surprise was a mere statement that Diana said in the midst of one of our conversations. She said: have any of your teachers, either in college or in high school, refer to the subject of history as “her-story”? I never thought that meaning behind this word, this subject that is vital to our education, was “his”-story. Why is this subject referred to as “his-story”? What about her story? It was at this point in our conversation when I found out why “women” was misspelled in the title of the dialogue. The word “women” contains the word “men”. Why should women even be remotely defined by a man? That is why the “e” was changed to a “y”, to make a clear distinction between the two genders.

I got a lot out of this dialogue, more so than any other dialogue I’ve attended. It was beyond informing and eye-awakening. I wish some men at Stockton would have come to participate in our discussion as well. Maybe next year! I fully advise anyone who has not attended this particular dialogue session to attend it next year.

Being that I have the amount of credits as a sophomore, I was qualified to apply for the Stockton Foundation Scholarship. This application required that you get two letters of recommendation, one of which had to be from someone a part of the Stockton faculty. You also had to attach a copy of your unofficial transcript and you had to write a 250 word statement about yourself.

That seemed easy enough for me, so I decided to give it a shot. I had no problem getting the letters and my transcript. But once I hit the 250 word statement, I got stuck. Have you ever tried to write about yourself in 250 words? Not only are you writing about yourself, you are trying to convince a panel of faculty members that you deserve whatever amount of compensation that they are willing to give to you to repay you for your hard efforts. You think to yourself, 250 words is easy to write. I can do this. Until you sit down with your computer in your lap, and you realize that you have way more than 250 words about yourself that you would like to tell this panel. This was definitely a struggle for me, considering if I listed the amount of things I’m involved in or have been involved in, I would use up the 250 in an instant. I needed to figure out how to weigh what was important and was worth elaborating on briefly. I needed to try and figure out how to get into these people’s head, to try and figure out what they would consider worthy of receiving this scholarship.

I did my absolute best with the 250 word statement and I think that it summed up who I am and what I stand for very well. I have yet to hear back from the panel of reviewers but I am keeping my fingers crossed!