Muslim Student Association (MSA) organized Islam Awareness Week at Stockton. It began from Tuesday, 15 April 2014 and lasted till 20 April 2014, and the students organizing the event did various activities to spread awareness about the Muslim community and Islamic religion.

I had read about the events around the campus on TV screens but didn’t think about attending their table. But on Thursday of the same week, when I was working at the tutoring center, my colleagues walked in with stuffed animals. They said a table was giving away stuffed animals just down the hallway. So, me and my other friends who were working decided to go and check. It turned out to be the MSA.

The MSA was promoting their event, they would interact with the students who would stop by their table and talk to them about their religion. They had free food and drinks. The best part about their table was the stuffed animals, but it wasn’t easy to get them. They would ask a basic question about their Islam and the right answer would get you a stuffed animal. Students were swarming around their table. Before one would leave the MSA representative would ask the student to write down one daily struggle on a piece of paper and they would stick it on a poster that read, “what is Jihad?”

One of my friends was a member of the MSA. I bumped into her the day after I went to the MSA table with stuffed animals. She told me they did other events earlier in the week as well and they were surprised by the large response as well. They did an event where they would show girls how to tie a hijab. The MSA did a great job in promoting and educating people about the Jihad they hear and see about on TV related to terrorism is not the only Jihad.

Stockton, is a very diverse school. When minorities organize events and spread awareness about their communities, unity in diversity is established. MSA worked really hard behind this event. The student representatives were studying for their finals and preparing for the table at the same time. It was a great initiative

Two service projects are required for honors students each semester. My first project was MLK Service day held at Stockton. For the second one I chose to go the Animal Shelter and help  them out. It was an honors service project. We visited the Animal Shelter on 12 April, 2014.

Surprisingly, all the students who decided to volunteer for the service project were girls. We left Stockton at 8:30 am for the Animal Shelter. After reaching there the lady who was in charge of the  shelter walked us around the location and explained the things she wanted us to do. She needed us to work both inside and outside the shelter house. So we split up in groups. I chose to stay inside.

The group inside had to clean all the doors and glasses of the shelter house. It didn’t take us too long to do that. Our team was very fast and efficient. Also, the group outside was done with picking up trash and dog feces around the shelter house. We were done very quickly with that. Then we didn’t have anything to do. All the volunteers had to sit around for about 30 minutes  and wait. After that, we were assigned easy tasks like, collecting trash from all the trash cans in the center, do laundry, fill up cat litter boxes etc. But again we were done with all that very quickly. Volunteers had lots of free time at the shelter house as there wasn’t much to do early in the morning.

But then at noon, we had to feed all the cats. That was the best part of the activity. Some cats were very friendly – would jump on the volunteers as soon they opened the box – and some were very shy – they would go to the corner of  box. It was extremely enjoyable feeding and playing with the cats and kittens.

One of the last things we had to do before we leave was to mop the front hall and clean the bathrooms. Team work was very important for all the projects, and we worked very efficiently as a team and got done with everything very quickly.  All the volunteers did their part and completed all the assigned tasks. We took a group picture at the end and headed back for Stockton.  Also, all the employees working there very thankful and pleased with our service.

On March 29 2014, Honors: Inventing the Past by Prof. Hayse and the Sixties class by John o’hara went on a trip to the Washington D.C. to explore The Mall. It was an educational trip to see the monuments that had been discussed in both the classes. The trip would have been more interesting and worthwhile ii it wasn’t raining in D.C. the whole day.

Both the classes along with Lorraine O’Flaherty,  Education Assistant of the Honors program boarded the bus from the campus at 8:30 am. Prof. Hayse and Prof. John boarded the bus at our first halt, about one hour and thirty minutes away from Stockton. Prof. Hayse bought donuts for everyone, which boosted everyone up. From there it was straight to Union Station in D.C. It took us about four hours to reach the Union Station at D.C. We had our lunch at the Union Station and then we left for the monuments.

It was pouring in D.C. We were in the bus for most of the time. And when we got off the bus to actually visit the monuments and memorials everyone was soaking wet. The students from my class (inventing the past) had small presentations for each of the memorials we were going to walk around. But as it was raining outside, some presentation had to be done in the bus itself. At the same time some students had to present outside too.

The memorial that amazed everyone was the Lincoln memorial, (not only because it provided shade from the rain)  but the monument was huge. Lincoln’s statue and his two famous speeches Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address. Also, as the monument is seen in some of the movies like Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian and  X-Men: First Class. The grandiosity and popularity of the monument exited everyone.

Finally, after covering most of the memorials  at The Mall, we finally departed from D.C. for Stockton at about 4:00 pm. Everyone was  very exhausted by the 8 hour bus travel and the walking around  D.C. in pouring rain.  The trip could have been better if more than an hour and half was spent walking around looking at memorials and the rain was not the ruining factor.

            The 14^th Annual Day of Scholarship was organized by the Grants Office on March 19^th and 20^th 2014. The event wasn’t advertised that well but I happen to know about it from Stockton’s Honors page.

            The event had presenters (who were students and faculty at Stockton), who would present for 30 minutes on their respective topics. I couldn’t go on the first day so went to the event on 20^th March at 11:30 pm. It was a presentation on Guantanamo Bay Detainees & Predictors of their Release by Susan Fahey, who had done a paper on that topic. All the students who attended that presentation were  either a criminal justice major  or communication major, so being a Biochemistry major I felt a bit weird. But apparently I learned a lot about Guantanamo Bay (GTMO).

Being one of the two persons in the room who had no prior knowledge about (GTMO), Fahey introduced the GTMO. GTMO is a naval base in Cuba which is used by US as a detention facility. The government doesn’t share information about the detainees detained at the GTMO. As of January 2002 (when the GTMO started as a prison) there were about 779 prisons in there. Most of the detainees are from Afghanistan or Al Qaeda. There are also prisoners from the Iraq War.

About 150 prisons are still left in the dentition center today. These people are considered to be very dangerous to be released. These are all high value detainees who supposedly have a lot of information that can be used by U.S. officials for the country’s security. The main controversy behind releasing these detainees is that, if they return to their respective countries the likelihood of them being attacked by other fellow citizens is very high. Also, all these detainees have been in prison for a very long time, so they have lost contact with their families. Also, the detainees who are detained in the facility are not guaranteed to be involved in a terrorist activity.

Also, the risk factor of these detainees was determined on how dangerous they are too the U.S. and its allies. Information about all the detainees was relapsed was by the N.Y.T. The newspaper strongly claims that they didn’t obtain the information from the wiki leaks. But, there is no proof showing that the information they published was leaked through wiki leaks. So, Fahey said the credibility of the data available for the GTMO detainees available is cannot be trusted blindly.

In that 30 minutes presentation, I learned a lot about the GTMO. When I walked in the room for the presentation I had no idea about the subject being presentation, but after presentation I obtained a lot of new information. In all it was good presentation, I wished I could go to more of the presentations but due to time clashes I couldn’t.

My journey at Stockton started during the summer of 2013. While all other high school graduates were enjoying in the sun, my college life had already begun. I was enrolled at Stockton as an EOF (Educational Opportunity Fund) student. It is a program that helps students who need help financially. And all the EOF kids had to do five weeks of schooling at Stockton during the summer. These five weeks of fun, stress, joy, pain and many more emotions started on 29th June, 2013.

On the first day we were assigned our dorm mates and dorm rooms and had a medical done. It was an easy beginning. We had an evening meeting on the first day where we got our schedule for the next five weeks. As soon as we saw morning workouts starting at 5:00 am after two days everyone sighed. Also, we had to take a standardized test for the placement in appropriate classes the next day (Yes, we had to take two classes during those five weeks). During the first evening meeting itself every student present there knew, it was not going to be easy.

The food served during the first few days at N-wing (college cafeteria) was very appetizing and everybody used to devour the food. But as soon as early morning workouts started and the classes started, the N-wing food became monotonous and everyone started missing their home food. After first weekend when  everyone come came back, everyone brought tons of food with them. All the dorm rooms were stocked with home food, chips and canned food.

The classes weren’t hard but after the early morning workouts, it was a pain. We also had lights out and curfew during our stay. Doing all the homework during lights out without being caught was the best part of EOF. People used to hide in closets and finish their homework with the cell phone torches (sounds weir but it was fun). If lights were found to be on after lights out by any of the coordinator, everyone on that floor would be called down to dips (even if it was midnight).

As all of us were going through the same kind of pain, EOF students became a family. People on the same floor would make sure no one was late for the workouts, pull all nighters together in the common room, share the home cooked food and many other things. EOF was a lots of fun as well. We went to six flags, went out to bowling arcade and also went to see a Shakespeare play. It was a lot of fun!

I met so many great people and made great friends. Learned a lot about how to survive college in those five weeks. These were some of the best college days. Haleigh Sockwell, another honors student and very good friend of mine shared this experience with me. I surely miss EOF days even today.

Walking around on campus the other day, I stumbled upon the Day of Scholarship.  I had no clue what it was or what was going on so I figured I’d check it out.

I didn’t spend too much time walking around, just a few minutes trying to read what the different things on each table said.  There were only a few tables up and it didn’t seem like there was a whole lot on the tables but there did seem to be some information and from what I could tell the Day of Scholarship was set up to give students a chance to see and apply for different scholarships and internships that the school and local community members offer.  It also looked like there were supposed to be presentations of different things throughout the two days that it was set up at the school but trying to make the time to go to them was very difficult considering it was only from 10:30-3:30 on both days.

Unfortunately, the Day of Scholarship wasn’t advertised all that well.  I had no clue what it was when I first walked by and when I asked people I knew, they didn’t know either.  I don’t recall getting an email about the event or hearing anyone talk about it, especially not in classes.  I just happened to be walking through F-wing one of the days it was happening and see massive signs hanging from the ceiling advertising it.  If it hadn’t been for the signs, I wouldn’t have known anything was going on.

Like I said before, I didn’t spend too much time there.  I just walked through pretty quickly, but it seemed like a great idea!  There was a bit of information on the tables and the concept behind the Day of Scholarship is fabulous.  I guess there were also supposed to be presentations.  I wish the Day of Scholarship had been advertised more because it seems like a great idea and an awesome way to get involved!

On Thursday, February 6, Stockton College hosted a presentation on human trafficking and prostitution.  Each speaker discussed the severity of the problem and two of the three speakers presented statistics and solutions to the issue of human trafficking.

The first speaker, Doctor Robert Barney, explained the differences behind prostitution and human trafficking.  He defined prostitution as a sexual service that is exchanged for money and human trafficking as sexual exploitation through force.  He explained that sometimes they are related but many countries are taking action to reduce or even eliminate both prostitution and human trafficking while other countries are merely hoping that legalizing prostitution will make the entire situation better.

Barney presented three different steps countries have taken to try and solve the issues related to prostitution and human trafficking.  The first is the prohibition of prostitution countries such as Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine have enacted this law and while it seems worthwhile, many people believed it simply created an underground market.  Another step countries like Sweden have taken is the decriminalization of prostitution.  Instead of prosecuting the prostitutes criminals, the pimps and clients are prosecuted.  This also seems to be a good idea and so far it is reducing the numbers related to human trafficking.  The third approach countries like Germany, Greece, and the Netherland have taken is the legalization of prostitution.  Unfortunately, in the Netherlands there are still high levels of human trafficking inflow from other countries.  Therefore, the issue of human trafficking must be evaluated and a solution found.

The second speaker, Doctor Janice Joseph, focused mainly on solutions to human trafficking.  She explained that human trafficking occurs all across the world and while the majority of humans being trafficked are women (68%), men, girls, and boys are being trafficked as well at (17% men, 12% girls, and 3% boys).  She said that there are many groups, such as the Blue Hear Campaign, that are fighting against human trafficking.  She said that there are many reasons for human trafficking including the transition to a market economy, economic hardship, poverty, legacy of war, lawlessness, organized crime, porous borders, close proximity of wealthy countries, and political corruption to name a few.  Joseph emphasized the importance of fighting these factors and explained that while the still exist, human trafficking will thrive.  While the information provided by these two speakers was very in depth, the keynote speaker’s story was really the most fascinating.

Lastly, the keynote speaker presented.  The keynote speaker shared her story which consisted of first hand encounters with human trafficking.  She explained that unlike all of the facts presented from other places in the world, her story takes place not far from here, in New York City.  She opened up her listeners eyes and allowed them to see that these problems don’t just happen in other places, but they happen here in our great county too.  She also explained that unfortunately, these occurrences aren’t uncommon.  She shared how she was forced into human sex trafficking and how she made her escape.  She also explained that the people who are survivors of human trafficking constantly need support and how to become involved and help the survivors and those who are still victims.  It was amazing to hear a survivor’s story.

This event was extremely informative and rather difficult to accept.  Hearing a firsthand account of something so terrible and so close to home is not an easy thing to come to terms with.  The information however, was presented in a very concise and understandable way.  It was a fantastic lecture.

One of the service projects that I did during the second half of my semester was Atlantic City Beach Sweep. It was organized by the club called Water Watch. Me and my friend, who is also a honors student, Haleigh Sockwell wanted to do one service project together. While I wanted to do a road cleanup, she proposed to do the beach sweep, and eventually we set our minds on the beach sweep. The beach sweep was organized on Saturday, October 19th. Everyone volunteering for the beach sweep gathered at the Arts and Science building at 8:15 am. We were signed in by club president, handed out our gloves, and then we carpooled to Atlantic City.

All the volunteers, people from other volunteer organizations were also present, had to gather in front of the Rainforest Cafe on Atlantic City boardwalk. I was not expecting this to be a big event, but surprisingly it was. Before the beach sweep the mayor of Atlantic City along with an associate from The Atlantic City Electric were present to encourage the volunteers on the chilly Saturday morning (The Atlantic City Electric was one of the main sponsors). At the end of the clean up as a compliment to the volunteers, the members of The Barenaked Ladies were going to perform. After reaching there we also found out that we were going to help the organizers in carrying out  a survey of the trash we find on the beach during the clean up to keep a record of the trash found. Everything was nice and organized. Teams were formed, me and Haleigh were partners, and each team was given a record sheet, pencil, a regular trash bag and a bag to throw trash that could be recycled.

During the clean up the data that we collected was horrifying. First of all me and Haleigh found about 246 cigarette butts from a small section of beach itself. Also the number of beer bottles and soda cans collected were not any less terrifying. I personally felt bad about how people were using a public beach. Also, some highly inappropriate and  embarrassing things were found. Another group also found a dead seagull, which the organizers took care off. It was so much fun doing the clean up with Haleigh that we wandered off too far on the beach and a Stockton student had to call me to inform us that it was time to leave. Overall, it was a well organized event and a nice day spent with Haleigh.