My roommate and I are both in the honors program and were looking for an event that we could attend and fulfill our last discussion requirement. As we were discussing where to find information on events such as these, our RA, Kristen, sent us a text in GroupMe. Kristen is also a member of Honors at Stockton and just happened to send us a flyer for an event that would be happening the next day. Sophia and I then contacted the other honors students we knew to see if anyone else wanted to make the trek out to the lodge at 7 p.m. Our friend Sydney decided to join in. We all walked for 20 minutes across campus in the freezing cold, thinking that the presentation would be a packed room with a speaker that we would barely be able to hear, but what we found instead was exceedingly better.

We walked into the lodge to find a small group of 15 people, warm pizza, drinks, and a professor named Richard Miller. Professor Miller has been teaching for over 5 years at Stockton and mainly educates students on religion. The presentation was titled Connections and Shared Humanity and was advertised to focus on social justice topics, human freedom, and personal and social responsibility. But when the Professor Miller introduced his presentation, he made it clear that the main point of this discussion was listening. He had us do multiple listening activities, such as listening and staring at the person sitting next to us, as they talked for two minutes, then summarizing back as much as we could. At first, this “icebreaker” exercise made Sophia and I feel awkward mainly because although we are friendly as roommates, what friends hold eye contact for two minutes straight? Sophia talked mostly about her classes that day and her upcoming honors work, such as the essay on Gulliver’s Travels. I told Sophia about some movies that I wanted to see over the weekend, mainly Thor: Ragnarok and Call Me By Your Name. When we were done discussing what each other spoke about, Professor Miller brought up an interesting point. The more we were able to connect with the person next to us, the easier it was to listen. For example, I was able to understand what Sophia was talking about more because I share classes with her and I have a similar workload. Professor Miller explained that it will always be easier to connect, listen, understand and therefore help a person if you can stand yourself in their shoes.

As the presentation continued on Professor Miller examined why being an attentive listener can impact the people around you every day and his own personal stories where he helped his students through problems in their personal and academic life. At this point in the presentation it was clear that it was no longer a discussion on just simple listening skills and leadership skills, but on how one person with kind intentions can change multiple people’s lives. He explained the different struggles he has seen his students go through such as drugs, drinking, depression, and mental health problems; and how he helped his students overcome these difficulties through patience and understanding.

Professor Miller’s presentation really did feel like the kind of discussion our honors professors recommended we attend. It was a conversation between him and the audience, with personal stories and attentive listening on both sides. The advice and stories that Professor Miller told were very inspirational and I feel his ability to share his experiences with my friends and I will change the way we look at the people around us.

On October 19th, during the internet safety week at Stockton University, I attended a small group discussion and presentation with a few other freshman honors students. I heard of this discussion through friends within my honors seminar class, we wanted to attend an event together to get more involved around campus and take part in the overall theme of the week. We were expecting to be in a large group of people watching a presentation, but what we found were fellow students who wanted to share their research on Net Neutrality. The students told us at the beginning of the event that they hoped to open up a discussion of internet laws and guidelines that are going to shape the way we use technology as a whole in the future.

They first asked us about the topic of Net Neutrality and what it meant to us and as a whole. According to the information they provided us, Net Neutrality is the ability one company has over another to speed up, slow down, or block content. An example one of the students used was concerning Comcast and how they wanted to make a deal with Netflix. When the two companies did not agree, Comcast made the downloading speeds of shows on Netflix extremely slow. Once a deal was made, the speed of Comcast internet while using Netflix went from being the second slowest to the third fastest, with only two other companies downloading faster. We then discussed how these cable companies act as monopolies, buying and owning certain parts of land that they then sell to, not allowing other companies to steal their customers. Startups and other companies are overrun by these few giant companies that all have deals with each other to share resources such as satellites and cell towers.  Laws such as Net Neutrality hope to either counteract these monopolies or encourage them. We explored different benefits and downsides to each side of the law, but ultimately agreed as a group that these monopolies are in no way helping the actual consumer of the product. The customer is not only being given just two companies to choose from, they are also not receiving the customer support they deserve. The population of the United States pays more for the same amount or slower internet service than almost anyone else with an internet connection.

Having this small group discussion seemed intimidating at first, but having only a few people helped the conversation merge into more complicated and controversial opinions and topics. There was no exact layout for the presentation, as a group we were able to learn and discover our own opinions on the topic and ask any immediate questions we had without interrupting. I also learned many facts about America’s internet usage that I had not known before, such as America only being in 31st place for download speed in the world. This small and short presentation not only informed me about a worldly issue that will affect my everyday life, it helped introduce me into getting involved on campus and the many ways I can learn not only from my professors, but from my peers.

When I decided to join Honors at Stockton, my main interest in the program was the ability to help my community. After being a Girl Scout for over twelve years, I knew I would need to take part in something that would allow me to continue the service that I completed within Girl Scouts and to keep that sense of teamwork and leadership. So far, the Honors Program has not let me down. A few weeks ago I spent a Saturday working with 400 other students at the Stockton University Fall Day of Service.
The Day of Service was an event that brought together multiple different volunteer organizations such as Rise Against Hunger, Books Without Borders, and Ronald McDonald House. As a volunteer I was separated into a group where I then rotated between several different service opportunities. These ranged from information sessions, to hands on work, to discussion sessions. Not only did these coincide with the requirements that I will have to complete later in Honors, they also were a great opportunity to find what kind of volunteer work I would be interested in continuing.
I was sorted into the Red group where our first activity was constructing simple three page coloring books and decorating them for an organization named Circle K. My friend Stephanie and I worked in a small group where we created around 20 coloring books and constructed extra so the next group was prepared. This kind of volunteer work was very familiar to what I was used to with Girl Scouts, helping my community in small ways that may seem easy to complete, but will change someone’s entire day.
The second event I took part in was a small information session on drug use and addiction. Hearing two different speakers discuss addiction and drug use, and how addiction is a disease was very impactful. They also discussed ways we could help those struggling with drug addiction such as a training course on Naloxone (Narcan), a drug to treat those who have overdosed, that will be held on October twelfth at Stockton.
The third volunteer activity was very hands on, our group helped take part in the goal of making 45,000 meals for those who have limited access to necessities such as food. I worked with four other Honors students and constructed the bags of rice, dried vegetables, bread and seasoning. Our group worked as part of a much larger team that together filled the bags, weighed them, and packaged them. This volunteer work is what stuck with me the most, being directly involved in the process of helping those in need. Much like making boxes of supplies for those in the military like I did with Scouts, the feeling of teamwork and the overall happy mood of so many people working together at a common goal is what I hope to continue to be a part of in my work within the Honors Program at Stockton. Together as a large community, everyone at the Day of Service reached the goal of making 45,000 meals, was given the ability to spread awareness on drug addiction, and helped numerous other organizations with their ambition to help the world around them.