On Thursday September 10, 2015, I attended the panel discussion called Frozen Earth at The Noyes Museum of Art. The event was based around the issue of climate change. In attendance was a panel of 5 distinguished speakers. These panelists were each allotted a ten minute time block in which they could speak about the issues of climate change and how to combat it,  as well as their personal work.

Dr. Jeff Niemitz spoke first. His discussion focused on how the Earth’s environment has never changed as much as it is in this day and age. He also refuted a common misconception that the greenhouse effect is negative. He argued that this very effect was keeping the Earth at a moderate temperature and protecting its inhabitants. Next was Michael Lemonick who explained how the ozone layer is depleting and the positive feedback loop of climate change. Amy Lipton, an artist, spoke next. She described a work of art in which a chalk line was drawn at the ocean’s water line and explained how the water continued to rise closer and closer to the line of chalk. Andrew Revkin took the microphone next and spoke about how fixing climate change will be a long process. The last speaker was Aaron O’Connor. He spoke about the founding of his The Arctic Circle residency program.

This program was very informative and interesting. During this program visitors got the opportunity to view artwork related to the issue of climate change and listen to five distinguished panelists speak about their work in that field. This allowed the event to encompass many different aspects of the issue and show artistic and scientific views of climate change.

One of Stockton University’s clubs, Circle K, held their first meeting on Wednesday, September 16th in room F111 of Stockton’s academic wing. The meeting began with the introduction of the officers and a description of the club. They said that Circle K is a worldwide club for college aged students who are passionate about community service and leadership. Then they welcomed all new members and got into the heart of the meeting, which was talking about the service opportunities for this semester.

They explained that Project Linus is an opportunity for students to make teddy bears and pillowcases for sick children in local hospitals. Next, they talked about Atlantic City Rescue Mission. This service project allows students the ability to help prepare and serve dinner to the homeless people of Atlantic City. A third service project that was mentioned is serving with the Salvation Army. This entails helping younger kids with their homework and playing games with them at an after school program. Another project for this semester is the opportunity to travel to Spring Village, a retirement home, and play Blackjack with the elderly residence. This is a way to give older members of our community some fun and allows the students to interact with the residents as well. Another service project that was mentioned is with Campus Kitchen. During this project, Stockton students partner with students from Atlantic City High School to make meals for the homeless. The last off-campus service project that was talked about during this meeting was horse rescue. This allows students to be able to assist in the feeding and grooming of rescued horses.

The final service project, which takes place on campus, gives students who do not have time to leave campus an opportunity to help the community with different service projects each week. For convenience, this project takes place right before the Circle K meetings every Wednesday night. Overall this meeting was very informative and gave a lot of good information about service opportunities around the area. Circle K seems like a great club to have on campus because they are so focused on helping others.

Stockton University’s 2015 Welcome Week included an event based on the reality television show, The Amazing Race. This event, hosted by Stockton’s Entertainment Team (SET), took place in the Campus Center Event room on Monday, August 31st. As students arrived, they formed teams of four, and were given a sealed envelope with their team name on it. As soon as everyone was seated, including my team, “Is Butter a Carb?” a SET team member began giving out the instructions. They began by allowing teams to open the envelope, and explained that there was a clue sheet inside. The objective of the game was solve the riddles, in order, as fast as possible. Whichever team made it back with the majority of the tasks completed would win the treasure hunt. The prize for first place was tickets to Six Flags: Great Adventure, and Hurricane Harbor.

After the rules were fully explained, the countdown began, and the teams were off to their first locations. The clues were scrambled to ensure that groups did not rush to the same locations at the same time. As teams deciphered the clues, and went from station to station, they came across detours, such as locked doors. They also encountered road-blocks, which consisted of tasks that teams had to complete before they could move on. A few of these challenges included playing the game Kan-Jam, doing 30 push-ups, and stacking cups as fast as possible.

As the time neared 9:45, groups rushed back to the event room to hear the results. Many teams finished close to 25 tasks, but a select few finished either 37, or all 38 clues, claiming the top spots. Even though they didn’t win one-million dollars, like on the Amazing Race, teams still had a great time meeting new people, and learning how to navigate the campus. Overall, the event was a very successful part of Welcome Week 2015.