I went to Rise Above’s annual pumpkin picking gathering at R&J Farms on October 25^th. Rise Above is a club here at Stockton that does different service activities, and they even helped at Lolla-No-Booza, among other things. This event was a one-time event for the year, and was super fun because I had not done anything with this club before. I play for the tennis team at Stockton and had finally finished the season around October 15^th so I figured it was finally time to start going to some clubs, especially since I was less busy. Plus, it was a great way to meet some new friends.

This event started off well because not only did we do some pumpkin picking, but we went into a corn maze as well. As we went into the corn maze we had to go around finding seventeen different hints throughout the maze that would help us solve the crossword puzzle that the farm gave us. It took about an hour or so to finally muster up all the clues, and it helped us win a small prize at the end for finding all of them. After that, we got in line to go on the hayride that would then take us to our nice, round, and orange friends. Once we got to the pumpkin patch it took about 15 minutes or so to find the perfect pumpkin, and some of us even took two because of how cute they were. I still even have my pumpkin, and it is amazing how long it has lasted even a month later. Overall, this event was a blast and I’d highly recommend anyone going for next year if they are looking to have a great time with new friends.

The event that I attended was the freshman convocation that occurred on September 29^th, 2016. This event was organized by the honors program freshman seminars, with special thanks to Georgeann Lenard. The convocation was a one-time performance that occurred in the PAC. This event hosted the lovely Ellen Forney, whom is the illustrator of The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. To begin, Ellen Forney went into detail of how she created her illustrations, and would show her illustrations on the screen to give examples. At one point, Ellen talked about how she would use facial expressions and words at the same time to confuse people and make an illustration seem more like a joke than something to be taken seriously. When she finished, Ellen Forney then discussed her illustrations that she created in her own personal memoir Marbles. Ellen Forney was able to share her personal experiences with bipolar disorder and how she was able to overcome her hardships a lot of times through drawing. She told the audience what it felt like to have others feel that you have one or more personalities that could come out at any time. Forney then discussed and answered questions from the audience, such as how she came to know Sherman Alexie and have the privilege of illustrating for him. Afterwards, she even signed her books for those that wanted a signed copy. This event was very enjoyable and useful if you really loved the summer reading book; however, it could be a little dry if the book did not have a personal meaning to you as much as it did for her, so you may not understand the significance of the illustrations. It definitely was a worthwhile experience, and in the end, no matter how I felt about it, it was still noteworthy to be able to meet an accomplished, and hard-working modern artist.

One of the many events that I attended so far at Stockton University was on a casual Friday night when so many people went home for the weekend and there was nothing to do. This event is known as the Billiards Club. I went on September 8^th and have gone every Friday since. It is a great way to meet new people and I was able to learn a game that I never really knew the rules of. I felt like the group was very welcoming and they were all so excited to have new people join and all wanted to know my name. In the beginning it can be intimidating because all the returning people already knew each other but it didn’t take long before I made some new friends to talk to. In fact, I was able to hang out with three people that are in my housing that I never even knew existed beforehand and now they are great friends of mine. Plus, the gameplay was super fun and there was some fierce competition. The secretary of the club made brackets of all our names and we would play best of three games to see who would then move on to the semi-finals and the finals. I feel that the Billiards Club is very useful for those that are bored on a Friday night and when you go to a university that has over half of its students being commuters the campus can be kind of dead and depressing. Therefore, it can at least boost your mood for two hours or so and make your night more enjoyable. Now every time I go to the game room with friends outside of Billiards Club I am able to beat them more because this club has taught me some tricks and made me a more well-rounded player.