On November 15, 2013 I participated in the tenth annual Active Minds Conference hosted in Washington, D.C. Active Minds is a club at Stockton that addresses important issues such as suicide awareness, lessening stigmas for students on campus, and the importance of having good mental health. The Active Minds Conference is an annual event in which Active Minds chapters meet from across the nation in order to do various workshops and listen to speakers for three days. I was luckily able to attend this event by recently becoming nominated as the public relations officer for the club here at Stockton. What I at first thought was going to be a semi-boring event turned out to be an experience that would forever change my opinion on this club and the ideas it stands for.

At the conference, there were many speakers who shared their stories with all of us, and most of them were able to touch our hearts in one way or another. These speakers were able to show us the importance of being confident enough to share our stories. This, in turn, would help give others the strength to share their experiences as well, which would strengthen our bonds as individuals. There were also many other workshops and events that were held throughout the three day conference. One of these events that I particularly enjoyed was a leadership workshop for those of us that had leadership positions in our chapters. During this workshop we did activities such as human bingo, planning our dream vacation, and learning how to troubleshoot problems that chapters often face, such as recruitment and fundraising. Overall, this was not only an insightful experience, but also one that truly helped me better connect with the core concepts of the club Active Minds.

As of last week, I have been nominated as the public relations officer for the Active Minds Club of The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Part of my duties as an officer include, but are not limited to: spending time in the Active Minds office doing various tasks, creating flyers for numerous events that the club will participate in, and helping to plan these events out. On October 22, 2013, the Active Minds Club will be participating in the Send Silence Sailing Event, which addresses important issues such as suicide awareness, the importance of mental health, and diminishing stigmas for students on campus.

There will be games, food, and music throughout the event in order to keep everyone entertained while still spreading this important message. In addition, the Active Minds Club will be making one thousand one hundred sailboats, which represent the number of college students who have committed suicide in the last school year and their struggles. The club will be hanging the boats in front of the library on campus. There will also be club members administering surveys to determine whether or not students may be at risk of depression in the future. This is vital to the theme of the event. It can not only help students discover possible complications that they normally may not have picked up on, but also will allow them to face these problems with confidence as there will be therapists on location to talk with these students. Overall, this event will be a wonderful experience for all of those who attend, and I will recommend it to anyone who is looking to have a good time and learn something important too.

On September 7^th, 2013 I participated in the Tenth Annual Day of Service at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. What I initially expected to be an experience that would not significantly affect me turned out to be one of the most defining moments of my academic career here so far. I had woken up that morning with the idea that a group and my friends and myself were going to all work together on the same project and have a great time. However, the tables for each project only had so many spots so we eventually were all separated and I was only with one friend. At first I thought this was a disadvantage but in the long run it truly helped me branch out and meet some new people whom I otherwise would never have spoken to.

The service project that I had joined was called “DO ART” and the objective was to help volunteer at a local art festival hosted on the Atlantic City boardwalk. My job was to hand out ballots for the festival that would determine which art exhibit was the best. This task was a lot more important than I had originally thought because it really helped inform some people on the boardwalk of the show. It greatly increased the number of visits to each stand and overall revenue to the artists due to more pieces of art being purchased. Another task that I was given was to go around to each exhibit and ask if any of the artists needed help with any small jobs. We also talked to those interested in the festival and helped to keep everything up and running. Overall, this was a very positive and eye-opening experience for me, and I hope to participate in the next day of service.