One of the most important places on all of Stockton’s campus is the tutoring center. Here is where I now spend most of my time. I recently discovered this hidden treasure which many students don’t take advantage of. Stockton pays student employees who are knowledgeable upon a variety of different subjects, to tutor students. While classes may be two or three days a week, it is tough to fully understand all of that information in a matter of an hour and fifteen minutes. As a matter of fact it is impossible to retain all the information you learned in class without putting it into practice. At the tutoring center I get to practice whatever I may be working on, and I have friendly tutors who help guide me in the right direction on problems. The center is filled with computers, books, scratch paper, chalkboards, whiteboards, and of course tutors. They are open Monday – Thursday 9am to 6pm, Friday 9am to 2pm, and Sunday – Thursday night 7pm to 9pm. The day sessions are in room J-108 and the night sessions are at the TRLC. I do not think there is not a better resource out there to help me with my studies and I encourage you to come too!

I believe one of Stockton’s simplest yet greatest features is the Argo. If you don’t go to Stockton you might be wondering to yourself, what is an Argo? The Argo is none other than Stockton’s own newspaper. Every week or so, a new edition of the paper comes out. It is always filled with tons of useful information. On the inside cover, there is always a letter from the Stockton College Campus Police Chief. He always writes about something that applies to the well-being of the Stockton community. This is followed by a police blotter, which gives you statistics of the funny or not so funny things that may have occurred on campus. I myself got to be in the paper along with the Stockton Innovations team (Stockton Innovations is a new undergraduate research e-zine coming soon). The newspaper describes events that have happened recently or are on the horizon. One of my favorite sections is the Poor Man’s Palate where they showcase a local restaurant that satisfies your appetite without putting a hole in your wallet.
My favorite edition of the Argo was the April Fools edition. It was full of funny jokes and gags, for example the coffee from one of Stockton’s eateries was found to be brewed with dirt not coffee grinds. They have a funny sense of humor over at Argo headquarters. All in all the Argo is a great resource to see what’s up in the Stockton community and learn about different events. P.S. You can also get a job writing for the Argo. I have a friend who does it and he loves it. So if writing is your thing, check it out!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a part of the zombie apocalypse? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a zombie in this apocalypse? If you answered yes, I have two suggestions. One, you need to stop watching so many movies. Two, join my friends and I in participating in Stockton’s game of Humans versus Zombies.

This game, which occurs each semester and lasts for an entire week, begins with one zombie, the “original zombie” or OZ. This person wears a green headband and must try to tag other people who are playing. Everyone else starts out as a human and is allowed to carry a Nerf gun of their choosing. These people wear green armbands and must avoid being tagged by the OZ. if you are tagged, you become a zombie as well and now you must tag other humans. The game is ongoing and people must defend themselves between classes. As if this isn’t stressful enough, the humans must go out each night on missions to find “rations”, which are pieces of paper with a code on them which the human must enter online in order to “eat” and stay alive.

Throughout the week, the humans (whose numbers are constantly shrinking as more and more people are tagged and turned into zombies) must complete other missions, such as finding the pieces of a radio or assembling said radio, in order to be “saved” at the end of the week. Anyone who manages to stay human and attends all of the missions wins. There are generally less than ten winners per game. I firmly believe this is because of people like my friend Ky, who are super sneaky zombies who refuse to accept a truce. The only reason I didn’t survive this semester was because he tagged while I was going to a roller-skating event organized by the Pride Alliance. I still say I would have survived if not for him!

I figured since this is a topic many college students care about I could write about it. The topic is staying in shape. Especially since I’m writing on the Stockton honors blog, we all know how time is a crucial factor in our lives. With tons of classes that amount to thousands of tons of homework, finding the time to keep ourselves in shape seems a little out of reach.
One positive is, if you live on campus there are 3 gyms within walking distance! If you find an extra half-hour that you would have spent playing words/hanging/scramble with friends, get to the gym instead. A little bit of activity each day can really make a difference. One trick I use is when I’m studying I will study for half an hour and then workout for five minutes. Whatever works for you, push-ups, sit-ups, squats, the exercise doesn’t have to be elaborate or even have to be done at a gym. Yes, you can work out in other places then the gym. Another smart idea is to join forces with a friend who also wants to stay in shape. Motivation and friendly competition are a smart way to stay focused. Now imagine if Honors kids could be the smartest and most fit kids on campus!
Another key factor in your health is sleep. Don’t waste time all day just to pull an all-nighter. Although pulling an all-nighter before some big tests is sometimes unavoidable, don’t make it a nightly ritual. Try to get 7-8 of sleep per night this also helps you stay in shape!

Welcome Week Volleyball Tournament
The first event that I ever encountered at Stockton as a student was the “Welcome Week” volleyball tournament. I figured there was no better way to make friends than to bump, set, and spike as a team. I was slightly nervous attending an event where I would not know anyone, but within minutes of arriving the counselors made me feel like family.
I didn’t have a pre-registered team, but I met five freshmen that were in the same boat as I. A perfect six! We decided to call our team “ Team Zebras ”, based on the fact a few of us were wearing zebra printed clothing. Before the events began, we met a new group of friends who invited us to practice with them. We practiced right up until the first game started. As “Team Zebras” we lost both of our games, but we enjoyed ourselves in the process. After all winning isn’t everything!
During the tournament, there was a huge, delicious barbeque filled with great food and snacks. One item that raised a few questions was the vegetable hotdogs. They looked like raw hotdogs, but someone explained that the chefs went out of their way and prepared a meal for the vegetarians. I thought that was very thoughtful of the chefs to do that. My favorite item was the macadamia nut cookies. I couldn’t stop myself from getting another of a newfound love on campus.
Overall, attending the “Welcome Week” volleyball tournament was an awesome way to meet new friends, eat a large portion of great food, and get acquainted with Stockton.

On Wednesday, October 17^th, Stockton’s Pride Alliance organized a trip to a roller-skating rink. I attended with my roommate, Lauree Klein, and my friend Savanna Asta. I actually had to get a ride with my friend Ky, as I had just recently become a zombie in Stockton’s Humans vs Zombies game and my roommate, who was the person originally driving me, was still human and didn’t want to have to worry about getting tagged while she was trying to focus on driving. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Ky had very good music tastes, and, like me, liked to play his music loud enough to shake the car’s frame.

As a bit of back story, the Stockton Pride Alliance is a club dedicated to helping people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning their sexuality, or for people who are LGBTQ advocates. I originally went to the first meeting because my roommate Lauree was going and CJ, my friend from high school, was on the executive board and was bugging me to join, since I had been in our high school’s gay-straight alliance with her.

Getting back to the story, I was incredibly excited to go to the rink. I hadn’t gone rollerblading for several months, and the last time I had gone had been an absolutely fantastic time. I can’t skate for my life, on ice or otherwise, but rollerblading is something I love to do. I’ve always loved how fast you can go with so little effort, and I got to hang out with some of my best friends while doing so.

Once we were there, I tried on about three different sizes of blades until I could find one that was comfortable, skated the entire night, wound up with a huge blister, met some absolutely fantastic new people, and overall had the time of my life. I would go again in a heartbeat, and I’m hoping the Pride Alliance decides to organize a trip again so I can bring more friends, which will be even better.

April 10 was Stockton’s first annual Celebration of Service sponsored by Service Learning.  The event was from 10am-2pm in lower F wing outside of the library.  Students were able to showcase service, internships, projects, club service/projects, etc. for anyone to see.  There were some students presenting, but I mostly saw posters around the area.  Some posters did not really look like service at first, but then I realized some of the projects had been used to educate the community for free, so they were indeed service.

For instance, there were posters educating people about problems college students have.  Some of use have cognitive disabilities that make it difficult to study up to date on whatever tests/quizzes are coming.  As college students, we all share stress, and I learned it causes headaches, nightmares, depression, insomnia, etc. and to combat it we must have sleep, quiet time, exercise, organization, etc.  Also with no stress, we have a better immune system, low blood pressure, happiness, better judgement, etc.  This entire project was shown to the community to educate college kids on problems they may have and how to fix them to get the most out of their college experience.

A few other clubs brought their posters and presentations, including Water Watch, and there were some students who did individual presentations that I unfortunately could not see because of class.

This did seem quite interesting, but I believe next year there should be more actual presentations instead of posters, and perhaps we should get even more people involved!  I believe this day has great potential for the future.

It’s been a few months since I started this project, but I’m going to write about it anyway. If you guys remember, I asked you to write letters or make cards for valentines day for a nursing home that I have been volunteering at for years. Well, the project was a success. I didn’t expect the overwhelming response from the high schools around the area, from the clubs that I had been a part of and from Stockton itself and I would like to thank everyone for that. The residents loved it.
I have been delivering the letters, and it’s a slow process because I have to sit there and read the letters myself, then since I’m a talkative person, we kind of just have to get into a conversation. That is just an unavoidable thing. Then we end up talking for like 20 minutes and 3 letters later I’ve already spent an hour at the nursing home. The people who work there are helpful as well and my best friend came in one day and helped me out.
The residents respond differently. Some know what is going on and appreciate it. Some are confused but at least they are entertained for a few minutes by someone who is reading something to them and they are probably thinking “who is this girl?” Others have been meaning to write back. It’s hard trying to keep it all organized, while balancing my school work but I’d say I’m doing an ok job.
In the future, I managed to ask Stockata, and Stockapella to come and perform at the nursing home and it seems as though they are interested. Though I don’t have a final answer from them yet, I’m very hopeful and I’m pretty sure they’ll be visiting the nursing home at the end of this month. I can’t wait. Maybe next semester, I can organize a talent show. The thing is, the residents are all alone and bored because most of the time they don’t have anything to do so any kind of entertainment or visit is appreciated.
Thank you guyssssss for all of your support and love.

Coming into Stockton, one of the things I looked forward to most was getting involved in my school and pursuing my own interests. I wanted to go out and do something instead of just sitting in my dorm room working on schoolwork all day. The Get Involved fair made this very easy for me by showing me every conceivable club there was.

On the first day of the fair, September 19^th, all of the clubs were inside at tables, and it was going on from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. I enjoyed seeing all of my options laid out and meeting some of the members of different clubs. Everyone was happy to tell me about why they enjoyed the club and what activities they were involved in. Overall, it was good way to introduce the clubs, because it was not overwhelming and gave me a chance to just sort of casually browse through them as I walked to class without being asked to sign up for anything.

That being said, the second day of the fair, September 20^th, was quite a bit more fun, despite the fact that it only went from !0 a.m. to 4 p.m. For one thing, I wasn’t rushing off to class, so I had time to stop at different tables and look at what each had to offer. Also, the tables were outside and it was a beautiful day. My friends and I wandered around, getting free tattoos, food, information, and even a caricature. There were several tables that weren’t from any specific club and were simply people there who had been asked to come by the school. One of these people was doing henna tattoos, something that I have always enjoyed immensely. I wound up getting two henna tattoos, one on the inside of my left wrist (a star surrounded by a sunburst) and one on the back of my right hand (a traditional Indian hand tattoo with a palm leaf pattern).

As a whole, the fair was a great time and I signed up for several clubs’ emailing lists, such as Books Without Borders, the Math Club, and EDIBL, which is a club dedicated to finding alternative food sources, especially insects, and a club which I find endlessly fascinating.