Category Archives: First Year Experience

An “Honorable” Visit

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As part of the Honors freshman seminar course Life of the Mind, we were told to read the book Boardwalk Empire by Nelson Johnson. Now most people aren’t always thrilled with required reading in school, but I’ve been never one to shy away from reading of any kind. However, uncharacteristically I was one of those people who inwardly groaned when it came to it. Growing up in Galloway, New Jersey for the last sixteen out of eighteen years, I’ve been to Atlantic City more times than I could count and the prospect of having to read about a place that isn’t exotic seemed really tedious to me. But the more I read the book, the more I came to realize that Atlantic City isn’t at all anything I thought it was. Sure, there are casinos and gambling, bars, and even prostitutes today, but I never would have imagined the manipulation and corruption that was consistent with the formation of this city so close to home.

On Wednesday, October 24, the honors freshman had the amazing opportunity to meet Nelson Johnson, who is not only the author of another Atlantic City based book, but also a judge. In the Lakeside Lounge, Judge Johnson talked to us about the reasons and inspiration for writing Boardwalk Empire. He first came to Atlantic City knowing it was corrupt, and once he was here he was intrigued by it. He wanted to find out why it was like that. After doing some research, he found out that no one had ever written an entire book about AC’s whole store. Once he decided he would be the first to do it, it took him a year and a half to write the book. He successfully booked an agent and got it published after many tries. Later, he was able to pitch the idea to HBO after a lot of hard work and the influence of a book called The Perfect Pitch.

Nelson Johnson has had a very successful life and being able to sit in the same room and listen to his story kind of had me a little star struck. After reading the book and meeting the author, one thing is for sure, Atlantic City will probably never look the same to me again.

 

Fundraising for relief

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Coming to Stockton came with a lot of changes for me. I was suddenly no longer in high school, where it had been almost a continuous schedule for four years. I was no longer going to see the people I had gone to school with for the last twelve years. I also came to fully accept that I wouldn’t be seeing my best friends every day anymore. Having your best friends with you in almost every class is something so relaxing and almost mundane for four years, that you don’t even realize how much you’re taking that for granted. So yes, coming to Stockton came with a lot of changes and to say I was nervous was an understatement.

Besides how nervous I was my first few weeks of school, I’ve come to believe that part of the beauty of schools is the opportunities that are presented for the students. There are clubs upon clubs and sports for every single perspective. The only real work that students have to put in regarding clubs and sports is actually looking for them. When I found out about the Muslim Student Association, I was extremely excited. After going to the first meeting, I knew I would be sticking with the club. The club doesn’t only deal with religious beliefs, but deals heavily with the idea of volunteer work which is a very important thing for me.

Stockton’s MSA is very involved with a few organizations, one being the Islamic Relief fun for Aid in Africa. This past October, our MSA joined up with dozens of other university MSAs to form the MSA-United fun for the Islamic Relief cause. The MSA-united group decided on a joined fundraising event for all the clubs across the state to meet up and raise money together. However, before that, all the clubs decided to indivicually raise money first.

Stockton’s MSA set up tables in lower D-wing for three days and I was fortunate enough to table for a few hours during the days. We sold baked goods including cookies, browines (which were heavenly) and samosas. We also provided Henna art for anyone willing to pay, and I was happy to offer my services in applying the henna to customers. It was fun and a completely different experience than what I was used to when tabling for clubs. We raised a significant amount of money and the joined MSA event was a lot of fun. It felt good to have connected and made friends with people of similar beliefs, and along the way it felt even better to have done something for people in need. College might have been a big change for me, but it was a change that has gladly been accepted.

 

 

Much Ado about Nothing

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On the evening of October 22, 2011 the Stockton Entertainment Team and Student Development sponsored a trip to The Eagle Theater and Marcello’s. The group of forty students that signed up for the free trip met outside of Big Blue. The two shuttles drove us into the quaint town of Hammonton. We were dropped off outside of The Eagle Theater and we walked over to Marcello’s, a well-known Italian restaurant. There were a few different options for dinner platters, but I am sure that all were delicious. After we ate dinner we walked back to The Eagle Theater and took our seats before the show began. Much Ado about Nothing had also played at the Performing Arts Center on Stockton’s campus last week. Prior to the play beginning there were actors and actresses dressed in khaki baseball caps, khaki polo shirts, chocolate pants, and army boots. These people did not talk, but were very interactive with the crowd they pretended to be mute and had all different kinds of antics to humor the audience. Once the play began the room was silent and all ages enjoyed the two intermingled love stories that Shakespeare creates on stage. I think the casting for the show was done exquisitely because the actors and actresses played their parts to a “t”. This comedy was a great night out on the town and since Stockton is transforming a factory in Hammonton into classrooms it was a great way to be introduced to the town. I think that the classes held in Hammonton starting fall 2012 will offer a different setting and this will appeal to some students. Hammonton itself has many boutiques and is rather appetizing to college students.

 

Cleaning Up Atlantic City with WaterWatch

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I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into when I forced myself out of bed at eight am on Saturday, October 20th to head to Atlantic City for a beach sweep. A few of my friends had asked me to give the club WaterWatch a chance and I was curious to attend my first event with the group.  The beach sweep I participated in was organized on campus by WaterWatch in collaboration with the off campus group, COA, Clean Ocean Action.

Once the group of Stockton volunteers arrived on the boardwalk and the event was introduced, pencils, trash bags, and gloves were in everyone’s hands within minutes.  Soon we were advancing on the beach as a small trash collecting army.  I was given the job of recorder in my group.  As I tried to check off all the items, I became quite overwhelmed. The paper was full of little spaces for everything you could imagine throwing away from plastic bottle caps to rubber bands.  I quickly tallied everything as my group members combed the beach. It was evident early on that Atlantic City’s beach was filthy.  Within the first five minutes, we had already counted over a hundred cigarette butts.  I watched in horror as my group members repeatedly dug into the ground and came up with handfuls of junk.

I was even more disgusted at what we were finding as we moved to beneath the pier.  I had never seen so much illicit paraphernalia lying blatantly in the sand. As I watched my group scoop up the items and dispose of them, I thought of the innocent children who discarded the broken toys we had collected beforehand.   Had they discovered the same illicit items?  I thought of how ugly and uninviting the beach became because of the trash as I scanned the ground for garbage.  It spoiled the natural beauty of taking a trip to the shore.

I took a break under the pier as we switched trash bags and gazed at the waves breaking. The morning sunlight peered into the darkness between the columns and caught a bit of beauty I did not see when I was focused on the garbage littering the beach. The image of the tide coming in under the pier was a beautiful reminder to what the beach had been and still could be. As I stood concentrating on the scene, I was reminded of why so many people had gotten themselves out of bed early on a Saturday to pick up gross items on the beach.  The beach was being destroyed and we had to help it come back to that serene beauty it naturally had.  Nature could not fight our liter that was not decomposable, but we could.

The beach sweep turned into an enlightening experience of environmental awareness.  I had no idea until I got hands on with the clean up how bad the beach in Atlantic City was. I figured I would find some trash, but I did not expect what I did find, such as the hundreds of cigarette butts washed up on the shore in tidelines. The beach sweep was able to educate me on how bad the littering situation is on the Atlantic City beach.  It is evident from participating in the event that there is a ton of harmful waste just left on beaches that needs to be taken care of.

My group squirmed together but after walking away from a clean pier, a sense of success made leaving our comfort zone to pick up the illicit trash worth it. At the end of the day, trash bags lined the boardwalk trapping in the harmful things to the beach environment.  The beach sweep was a well organized, enlightening experience that I enjoyed.  I will definitely be at the next WaterWatch Beach Sweep no matter how illicit and gross the trash is that I will have to pick up.  The environment needs to be protected and just a day of combing the beach for trash can make a difference.

Osprey Ball 2011

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On October 15th 2011 the annual Osprey Ball was held in its new location–the Campus Center event room. Prior to this year it was always held in I-wing gym, but this year they changed it up. All of the work and effort put into this dance was extremely worth it. The parade on Friday was enjoyable to see all of the clubs and sports teams’ floats. My floor mates and I prepped by painting our toenails and watching Mean Girls the night before. The day of the dance I was working at the bookstore because it was family and friends weekend. While I was at work, there were numerous sports activities going on for all of the families and friends of the athletes to express their support. My mom and grandmom drove down to see all of us before the dance. I got to play the role of hairdresser because I styled my hair and I did five other girls’ hair as well. We all put on our dresses and high heels and took pictures with all of our dates. This ball really brought us closer. Once we got there we were offered sparkling cider and food. The bright lights cast down on the dance floor and made us all want to dance. This ball was beyond worth the $5 not to mention the Student Senate sponsored free pictures for us so we will always have a little memory to remember the night. I would not change a single thing about that night because all of it ran so smoothly. I took the survey that was e-mailed to me because I feel like that’s the best way to get your opinion heard on a Stockton event.  My friends and I will never forget our first Osprey Ball and I cannot wait for next years!

 

Blood Drive

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I have given blood twice before, once in high school and once at the local fire house in my town. I had no idea that Stockton hosted blood drives here and the process was not complicated in the least. I signed up online to donate on September 22, arrived the day of and was greeted by the slender, older man at the sign in desk. I read my pamphlet about how important it is to be hydrated and then moved over to the waiting area. Once I was at the waiting area the nurse escorted me over to the questions that a donor has to answer on the laptop to ensure the blood that is being donated is clean. After I finished my questions I went to the table and laid down. The needle was inserted and my blood began to flow. I enjoy donating because I know once that bag is filled there are three lives that I can save. People in my family have needed blood before and there is no other way to get blood other than to rely on the volunteer donations. I pride myself in knowing that three other people will benefit from a process that only takes me twenty minutes and causes me no pain. I am left with a tiny little scar on my left arm where my elbow bends and these three scars that I now have symbolize the lives that I have saved which totals to nine. I really hope that other people donate so we can band together and save even more lives.

WaterWatch Beach Sweep

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On September 28th, I attended a beach clean-up in Ocean City sponsored by Water Watch, one of Stockton’s leading environmental clubs. Water Watch offers many eco-friendly volunteer opportunities such as stream monitoring, campus cleanups, and non-native invasive plant removal. They are dedicated in keeping Stockton green and allowing students the opportunities to put together their own service projects that are tailored to their interests. The Beach Sweep is a casual event where a group of students would get together and pick up trash along the boardwalks. This was the first event I attended as a member of Water Watch and I was very excited for a day out on the beach with friends. We were given trash bags and durable gloves and were told to just walk along and find as much trash as we can. I had no complaints; it was a beautiful day which just added to my feeling of satisfaction of cleaning up the beach.
Our group happened to be comprised of all Honors kids. We spread out underneath the boardwalk, which was not as littered as expected. Although that was a good thing, we wanted to have an impressively-filled garbage bag. We literally would flop down on our bellies and shove ourselves underneath the narrowest parts of the boardwalk in order to grab a single plastic spoon. This meant much cursing and wincing due to the abundance of spiky plants that liked to cling to pant legs and ankles. Unfortunately, we didn’t keep in mind that garbage bags do not do well when being dragged around filled with broken bottles and jagged pieces of wood, so our bag was on the verge of splitting wide open before we met up with another group. We all were sporting pretty hefty loads of trash, which was a job well-done for all of us. This was eye-opening, considering how earlier we believed the beach to be pretty clean. One or two pieces of trash every few feet wasn’t much to look at, but by going along big stretches of the boardwalk we were able to fill 3 large garbage bags.
What I found pretty great were the interesting things people picked up as they searched the beach. We found different colored sea glass, a horseshoe crab shell, and a dead monarch butterfly. It was a little morbid, but still was very pretty. What I found great about this was not in the objects themselves, but rather, the way we can all be caught in the beauty of the simplest things. It was very cool being around people that cared for the environment and who enjoyed the simple and honest things such as good weather and perhaps even just a smooth stone they found. It made me like Stockton all the more because I can encounter those moments just by walking to and from classes, since we are located within a nature reserve. If all people were to just take a second and look around them in admiration, I bet that they would think twice before throwing a plastic bottle on the ground. Otherwise, people seem to just walk around campus and leave their trash anywhere they please, because they have better things to do than walk five feet to a trash can.
Not only was the day spent clearing away trash, it was also spent clearing the mind. I know that may sound a tad contrived, but I really believe that if people were to do some task that may seem menial such as trash clean up, they are able to reflect on it, and see the bigger picture. This down-time gave me a chance to breathe and enjoy the sun as we worked to make the beach clean and beautiful for everyone. I saw people watch us pick up bottles and cans, and I hoped that they saw the importance in what we were doing, because this was also about spreading a message. Definitely the best part of the day was when a husband and wife saw us with our garbage bags and they thanked us for spending our time cleaning up, while reaching into their own pockets for trash that they had picked up themselves to add to our collection. So if anyone is interested in a club that has many branches to fit your interests, yet is rooted in compassionate values about the environment, Water Watch has it’s arms open wide for new members.

Mat’s Honors Blog Post Numero Uno, The blogining, Service Learning Day

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During the day of service many of my friends and the fellow freshman undertook activities to try to improve the state of the area around the college. While I can’t speak for the people who went ‘Arch’ or others who went to feed the homeless in Atlantic City, I can speak for myself. My classmates and I went to the Atlantic county office of emergencies to help reequip the trucks that were sent to aid with the evacuation and housing of people who were affected by hurricane Irene.

While originally we were meant to help evaluate and plan evacuation routes for the county, with the advent of Hurricane Irene the plans for the day had to be changed at the last minute. Instead of planning out routes, my fellow volunteers and I were told that we were to restock the trucks instead. So began a few hours of manual labor. While I am not a big fan of manual labor, it wasn’t too difficult, and the fact that I was going to aid others made it that much easier. After a few hours we were done, the trucks were restocked and ready to go, and we were headed back to the college.

Again, while I can’t speak for others, I felt the day of service allowed me to spread my wings as it were and help others. I believe that the day of service was a great idea and I hope for this tradition to continue for many years to come.

 

A New Way of Thinking

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Being an Honors student, I’m always up for doing anything for extra credit.  So when my into to psychology teacher mentioned there was a guest speaker coming on a Wednesday afternoon, I was marking it on my calendar before I even knew what it was about.

Dr. Stephen Christman came to Stockton College to shed some light on handedness in people.  He discussed the physiological, genetic, evolutionary, and behavioral aspects that affect the degree of handedness.  Most people think you are either right-handed or left-handed.  However, Dr. Christman claimed it’s really either mixed handedness or strong handedness.  Mixed handedness is when you use your opposite hand for at least one activity like brushing your hair, opening a jar, or throwing a ball.  Most people are strong handed on their right because the left hemisphere, accountable for things like motor control, is responsible for the right side of the body.  In people who are mixed handed, their brain hemispheres work together.  That is possible because their corpus callosums are larger so information can travel from one hemisphere to the other.  Mixed handed people are, therefore, good at tasks that require the hands to independently do different things at the same time like playing the piano. Those who are strong handed have smaller corpus callosums. Genetically, there are no genes that depict handedness.  It is determined by the connectivity of the brain’s hemispheres, the activation of the right hemisphere, and how you body decides to work when you need to perform a task.

I found it this presentation to be very compelling.  Christman changed my perspective on handedness.  It’s really interesting how our minds and bodies work in something as simple as what hand we use for a task.

Tap Dogs

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            The dance show Tap Dogs was performed at Stockton’s Performing Arts Center on Saturday, September 22nd.  Tap Dogs was created by Dein Perry and it premiered in Australia in January of 1995.  It features six brutish tap dancers who perform in a construction site.  As the show progresses, the set changes and the performers utilize the change in environment in unique ways.  It’s an exciting and high energy performance that has its audience clapping and tapping their feet too.
            The show follows six construction workers who fool around on the site.  They tease each other while entertaining themselves with different sequences of tap moves.  It is filled with interesting attention-grabbers such as the use of sparklers, water, basketballs, and pressure sensitive plates that produce percussive sounds.  The cast taps on different surfaces like wood floors, metal plates, long pans, ladders, metal bars, and steel girders that are slanted on a forty degree angle.  At one point one member even taps upside down!  Throughout the show the rhythm is emphasized by two talented percussionists who assist them from above with occasional drum solos. 
            The show is unique since it uses unconventional objects and surfaces to produce vivacious sounds while using the performers’ bodies to create a theatrical act.  They have distinctive ‘costumes’ that are simply casual clothes similar to a construction worker’s.  Furthermore, the characters in Tap Dogs each have their own personalities that are shown through their dancing and gestures.
            Overall, it was a great show.  The dance moves they performed were very impressive and entertaining.  I was amazed at the fact that they were able to dance for seventy five minutes straight, and, still able to perform an encore.  I recommend all those who are interested in dance or simply a good show to see this performance.