Playing volleyball all four years through high school was a big part of my life. Coming to Stockton and knowing they had a great volleyball was very exciting to me because that meant I was able to continue to watch and love the sport. On November 5, 2015 the volleyball team was having an important game at 7 PM in Big Blue. If they won this meant that the team would advance to the NJAC tournament final for the eighth consecutive time. The team they were playing was the Ramapo Roadrunner from the Ramapo College of New Jersey, which is located very close to my home.

        The game started out in Stockton’s favor. The Ospreys started off the evening in fine shape as they came out to a 15-9 lead. They won the first set 25-15 Lindsey Schuele and Stephanie Kovacs had five kills each, which set up a good pace for the Ospreys.

        The second and third sets of the match did not go in Stockton’s favor. To start off the second set the Ospreys held a 12-9 lead, but Ramapo used a 13-2 run to take a 22-14 lead. They ended the match with the 25-19 victory. A hitter on the Ramapo team registered 13 kills while the whole Stockton team registered just 10 kills the entire set. The third set was an intense match with many long volleys and difficult calls made by the officials. Schuele kept Stockton close with six kill in this set. The teams battled back-and-forth during the third set but the Roadrunners scored the last three points and came out on top by a slim 26-24 margin. In volleyball the set is normally played to 25 but teams have to win by two points so they had to play to 26 in this case.

        The fourth and fifth set the Ospreys gathered themselves. The team took set number four with a score of 25-17. Middle hitter Idi Uffen had a great set and took charge with five kills and two blocks during the period. The fifth set is played only to 15. Stockton led 5-2 early but later fell behind 11-8. With the score tied 15-15, Shannon Clark placed a kill deep into the Ramapo corner for a one-point lead at 16-15. The Ospreys came away with the final point and the win 17-15 to advance to the NJAC championship match. In the last set, Schwartz came up huge with six of Stockton’s eight kills plus two blocks.

        Going to the volleyball was a fun and exciting experience, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the sport that I played throughout high school at a higher level and watching the team battle through tough spots to come out winners together at the end.

The Honors Experience at Stockton University is a program for the incoming freshmen or transfer students who will be in the honors program. This year it took place from June 22^nd-June 23^rd. At this the students got to meet a few of the older students in the honors program as well as the freshmen and transfers who attended the event.

To start off the two days everyone went to a room and went over each other’s name and a fun fact. After going through every student, Irish step dancing was next on the schedule. At first everyone was hesitant and wasn’t sure why we were doing it. After a few hours of trying to learning and attempting the dance it was time for a different activity. All the students got some free time and could either play volleyball or go back to their room. Playing volleyball was fun because everyone was doing it. There were about 20 students at least on each side of the net, and it was easy to meet and bond with your fellow classmates. After a little bit of free time it was time for dinner, which was a taco bar.

After dinner the students learned about service learning, which is a main component of the honors program at Stockton. All the students got to be a part of a service projects that the older students were running. One of the projects was making dog toys for a local shelter, and another was making care packages for homeless people. After finishing each project the students were a part of a reflection session to go over what was accomplished in each project.

Later on that evening all the students went to a “Whose Line ” show preformed by the theater club. This show is an improv show and all the actors, who are students at Stockton, were extremely funny and would pick random students from the audience to be a part of the show. After the show was over it was time to go back to our rooms and get ready for orientation the next day.

The overall experience was a success in my mind. It helped to introduce important concepts of the honors program while incorporating fun activities. The honors program did a good job to keep the students entertained, and I would recommend it for other incoming freshmen in the honors program to attend.

Going away for college and leaving home can be a scary part in someone’s life. For incoming freshmen at Stockton, the experience doesn’t have to be as intimidating. Stockton Outdoor Adventure Retreat (SOAR) is a two-night, three-day program for incoming freshmen that sign up early enough. This summer, the program ran from August 25^th to August 28th at the YMCA Camp Ockanickon.

After moving into the dorms and saying goodbye to family and friends, the students went to an auditorium to get shirts, a bandana with our tribe color, a backpack with our tribe color, and various other things that would help throughout the trip. Every person was assigned a tribe and a color that they should stay with for the whole trip. The tribes were comprised of people with the same major or similar majors and 4 Talons, or leaders of the tribe. After going through a few icebreakers and mind games, we were ready for the buses to take the tribes to the destination. After 45 minutes the groups arrived on the buses and everyone gathered their belongings and went to set up the cabin.

The next three days were jammed pack with events for everyone to do. Team building was a huge component to the retreat. Every day there would be at least 2 team-building exercises. These activities could range from climbing onto high obstacles in the sky to making a simple tribe chant. On the retreat there were also a lot of activities based on how to make friends. These activities ranged from games to meet new people and be silly to simple icebreakers to remember everyone’s name.

Overall the retreat was a good experience and taught the freshmen that attended how to open up, make new friends and how to be apart of a team. I’m happy that I was able to go to SOAR and learn valuable skills that will help me throughout college. My favorite part of the experience was conquering my fears and jumping off one of the high obstacles. It made me feel so much more confident in myself. I think that the Office of Event Services, the group who helped make this possible, did a great job and hopefully they continue this retreat so more freshmen can enjoy it.