The Mutter Museum Trip was a lot of fun and filled with excitement regardless of the horrible weather. Forget about it being cold, but it was snowing…in October!!! The museum itself was smaller than I expected it to be but there was a lot of interesting stuff. I think some of my favorites included the skeleton of the giant. It was so crazy to think that a man was actually that tall. Can you imagine standing next to him? I wonder what the world must have looked like to him. To him, we were all a bunch of kids, and kids were infants and infants were just pebbles. The twins joined at different spots was very interesting as well. There were lots of drawers of stuff that people had swallowed. Objects like pins, bones, jewelry, or buttons that had been recovered after a person had swallowed it. People are amazing! There were lots of skulls. I think the best part was that they had written the ethnicity of the skull on a card next to it, so then we could all look for an ethnicity similar to ours and be able to compare our head to the skull on display. I didn’t find an Iranian one, but it was cool nonetheless.
They Mutter Museum also had Day of the Dead festivities going on. We had the chance to decorate our own skull cookie and make flowers. After all that, there was a gift shop. It was small but they had a section for stuffed animals that represented different diseases. I have to say that was awesome. I would so want to buy every single one and just have a display in my house showing off the different diseases. It would be such a fun way to learn about them. I really wanted to buy one but they didn’t seem worth the money. Instead I bought two pins. One for me and one for my brother. I always buy something to bring back with me as a memory and I figured the pin would be nice. It has a “U” on it representing the “ooo” sound in “Mutter.” Overall, I feel like the trip was very interesting and a great learning experience and getting to explore Philadelphia a little bit, even if it was in the worst weather possible, was definitely an incredible way to top it all off.

On Saturday, September 8^th Stockton held their 9^th annual Day of Service where students came together and were distributed on and off campus to volunteer. Being a freshman in the Honor’s Service Learning program I was told about this event at orientation in June. Professor Rosner and the older honor’s students continued to speak highly of this event throughout our bonding sessions. Although they talked about it, they never truly explained what it was all about. They simply told us newcomers to sign up early and attend the event. When I returned home from orientation I did as they directed and signed up as soon as possible.

I received an e-mail a few days before September 8^th notifying me that I was assigned to participate in gardening at the Noyes Museum. I am not a gardener what-so-ever so this sounded like it would be a fun and interesting new experience. I was not really sure what to expect, but as the day was approaching I became more and more excited.

It was finally September 8^th. I arrived at the Campus Center and signed in at the table. I proceeded to fill out a questionnaire in order to claim my FREE t-shirt (I learned the minute I arrived here that college students really enjoy free merchandise and most of
all, free food.) I walked into the room containing all the volunteers and was pleasantly surprised to see all the students sitting around the dozens of tables set up. I instantly became very proud of my college and the students that attend it. It is not every day you see so many students in one place eager and excited to help others and the community.

Once everyone was seated and eager to start the day, President Dr. Herman J. Saatkamp was introduced and spoke about how proud he is of everyone’s involvement and how truly wonderful Stockton students are. He also announced that this Day of Service was the biggest Stockton has yet to have. Proceeding President Saatkamp, Daniel Tomé, the coordinator of Service-Learning, directed everyone to the locations they were assigned to volunteer at.

Nine other people and myself pulled up to the Noyes Museum as it continued to downpour. Unfortunately, the rain did not allow us to garden, so we were all directed to perform odd jobs around the museum. Most of the other students dusted, mopped the different exhibit’s floors, and disinfected the children’s area. I was assigned cleaning and organizing storage space in the basement. It was actually a lot more exciting than it sounds. A new friend I made on the way to the location helped me create a very nice and clean environment in the basement of the museum. We then had to haul large pieces of art up to the main area of the museum for the new exhibit that was to go up the next day. Eventually everyone else joined us. It was really nice to see the amount of team work occurring between people that had just met about three hours prior to being there.

It seemed as though none of us wanted the day to end. It was such a fun and amazing experience being able to lend a helping hand to the community. The man in charge during our time at the museum was so appreciative of all the work everyone did. I was extremely proud of what we accomplished and I learned a lot about the history of the museum and how it came to be. I am so glad I listened to the honor’s students at orientation and participated in the Day of Service. I would suggest that all incoming freshman take part in this day, honor’s students or not, to get to know this lovely community we now reside in.

I am personally not a big baseball fan. Actually it’s not just baseball, I just don’t follow supports. Even reading Shoeless Joe was too sporty for me to enjoy very much. So when our professor, Dr. Lenard told us we had to research Pop Lloyd I wasn’t very excited. Even after my research I still had not found anything exciting about him that would make me want to go to the Pop Lloyd event on that Friday. We were supposed to go see a speaker who was going to talk about Roberto Clemente.
Friday comes and we are sitting in the PAC. The speaker starts speaking about his personal relationship with Roberto Clemente and how he was inspired by Clemente. He talks about how at a very young age he was touched by baseball and it was such a big part of his life. He told us about the many things that Clemente did. Even as unenthusiastic as I was about the event, I still enjoyed it. I couldn’t figure out why I was actually able to keep my focus and follow his speech, but I did. Mid-way through the speak, I realized I was sitting behind Clemente’s son! His actual offspring! I have to admit, that part did excite me a little. I felt like I was feeling a part of history, and it was sitting right in front of me.
That’s when I realized why so many people were crazy about baseball, or any sport in fact. Sure the game is exciting and getting home run or a touchdown is absolutely worth the cheer it gets. More importantly though, there is a human aspect to it. It’s the thrill of being around thousands of other people cheering for the same players. It’s the joy of believing in someone, supporting them and seeing them pull through. That is something that everyone can relate to, and in any situation. Then I remember the speaker telling us about Clemente’s background in helping people and how he died. I feel like the part about his death was the most powerful part for me, but not because I was a fan of him. Before that day, I didn’t really know Roberto Clemente. His death, and the way he died, really upset me because he was trying to do something noble. He was doing something that I would do in a heartbeat if I was given the chance, and seeing him be a type of person that I can relate to, and then dying while he was trying to do something good, that touched me too.

On a cold rainy day we ventured into the wonderful world of Philadelphia to go to the Mutter Museum.  Despite the inclement weather, the trip turned out to be quite a blast! The museum was quite fascinating with its many oddities.  Since I am a biology major, seeing all the body parts was really cool.  They had a wide array of human skulls with their country of origin and cause of death listed below them.  It was really cool to compare and contrast the different skulls to each other.  There was also a variety of different diseases and aliments affecting different parts of the body.  It was awesome to see Siamese twin babies and small pox’s affect on the body.  Also it was neat to see how corsets affected a woman’s skeleton.  What was really neat were the drawers full of weird things that people had swallowed.  How did people swallow buttons of that size?  Since it was the time of the Day of the Dead, they offered different fun, festive things like skull cookie decorating and paper flower making which were fun crafts.  Also in the gift shop they sold little stuffed creatures molded after diseases.  I bought rabies since I aspire to be a veterinarian.  It was a great trip and I want to go again the future.

GO OSPREYS! Well, I just got back from the soccer game and it was awesome! From the beginning, I was extremely excited. First, it was my first time watching the women’s team play. Second, it was under the lights which always increases the intensity. Third, I knew it is a talented squad (which I will get into later). For the entire game Stockton dominated. The ball was on our offensive end most of the time, we had control of possession, and they had a multitude of great opportunities. The team truly contributed to the excitement with their incredible ball movement and all together cohesiveness. I found myself up on my feet many times as they found themselves inches from the goal. Regular time ended and the score was surprisingly still tied 0-0. As a fan, I was so excited to watch overtime and I had a lot of confidence in the team to break the tie. After a period of overtime and many chances that almost converted into goals, the score remained 0-0. Here came the ultimate nail biter: double overtime! As the minutes ticked away I waited for the goal that I was sure our team would score. The minutes turned into seconds and before I knew it the game was done, the score still 0-0. Even though it ended in a tie I was still so proud of the Ospreys and I was so glad I attended the game.

I came to a realization while I was at the game. The spirit that the fans have for the game surprised me! I am really glad they have a great fervor for the sport. At my school, football was the sport that everyone paid attention too. However, our football team was not that talented and usually had a losing record. The only time the school cared about the soccer team was when we defeated our rival, Millville. Yet, if the football team beat Millville it was valued much greater. I love watching soccer and the excitement from the crowd makes it even more enjoyable. Hopefully most of the games are as exciting as this one was.

I am very excited to watch them play again. The team is full of star players and I knew this before the game even began. There are about five girls who played on teams I competed against in high school. The girls from my area who currently play here were the star players at their respective schools. Many of them were the leading goals scorers and made a huge contribution to their teams success. I specifically paid attention to them and they did not disappoint.

Watching the game made me very nostalgic. I have played soccer since I was ten and this past year I was my school’s captain. This is the first time in eight years that I am not playing soccer at this time. Seeing them play made me want to be a part of it. I miss the feeling of control you have when the ball is at your feet, the feeling of your teammates depending on you, and the accomplishment felt when you successfully tackle and steal the ball. The feeling of the cleats on my feet, my school colors sported, and the sweat on my brow signifying my accomplishment. As previously stated, I played against many of the girls who I watched play together. Usually I would be competing against them but tonight I was cheering them on. Seeing them play increased the nostalgia. Maybe I can find I way to ease it, such as playing for a club team. Even though the nostalgia is present I will not cease to cheer on my team!

In my previous blog I discussed how excited the Day of Service made me for this year at stockton. The soccer game increased my excitement even further. I now know I have another activity to participate in with my friends: cheering on the soccer team! Being surrounded by your friends and supporting your team is a great feeling. It is a way for the stockton community to become even closer. It is also a great way to meet new people. I am ready to become a fervent osprey fan. GO OSPREYS!

Written and Experienced by, Yours Truly, Horace Leung.

Eight dollars for a day at the Mutter Museum? Hmmm… I must say, it was an eight dollars well spent. Whether or not you have seventeen different things to do, like projects, exams, quizzes or anything else, this was a pretty amazing field trip to a place not so ordinary (I would have used a better word to describe the Mutter Museum, but it was just too difficult. You will understand when you go visit.). For those who didn’t go, you probably didn’t see the variations in skull structures in the different provinces of Italy, or the outrageous skin deformities and diseases that were represented and preserved at the Mutter Museum, but it’s fine. There’s always next year.

This one hour trip to the Mutter Museum, in the hustle and bustle city of Philadelphia, was a great escape from the beautiful pinelands surrounding Stockton where we were able to walk around the city, learn more about El Dia de Los Muertos, or be blown away by the various exhibits at the Mutter Museum. There were just so many options. As for the Mutter Museum, there were many skulls of humans and other species, chucks of skin with various diseases on them, developing fetuses, tumors, and objects extracted from people’s throats and stomachs. Because there this field trip was held at this time of the year, we were able to learn more aobut the cultural event called “The Day of the Dead” where there were activities to decorate skull cookies, and make tissue paper flowers, or just enjoy a nice cup of rich hot chocolate from the crazy weather (snow in October! I guess Fall dressed up as Winter for Halloween). If you are into these types of things, there were so many other “interesting” (still in lack of a better word) types of displays like Chinese Siamese twins who married two sisters and had 21 children, and the various instruments used during the origin of medical practice.

All in all, there was never a dull moment during this field trip and I definitely recommend this to anyone who is interested to go next year if you want to see something extremely out of the ordinary.

On Saturday, October 29, there was a trip to the Mutter
Museum in Philadelphia. The majority of students who went to the museum were
students in the honors Life of the Mind class, however there were other
students who took advantage of the trip. The bus left Stockton College around
nine forty-five in the morning and got back around six in the afternoon. The
students arrived at the museum, received their tickets, and went their separate
ways to explore the museum. All of the students found at least one thing, if
not many, that interested them. The museum held many interesting collections of
objects, including skeletons and molds of deformed twins and a skeleton of a
giant man. Along with various abnormal skeletons, the museum held drawers full
of objects that people had swallowed, an enormous colon, and jars of fetuses at
different stages of development.

Although there were many interesting things in the museum, it only consisted of two
small floors, and most of the students were finished looking around within two
hours. The museum was also celebrating the Day of the Dead, and the activities for
it occupied some more of the students time. The museum sponsored a
cookie-decorating activity, where the cookies were shaped like skulls, paper
flower-making, and a guest speaker who talked about the Day of the Dead. After
exploring the museum, and making cookies and flowers, most students headed out
to find lunch. A large number of honors students ate at a nearby pizza
restaurant and then returned back to the museum. By that point there was still
about two and a half hours left before the students were scheduled to come back
to the bus. Some students stayed at the museum, participating in further
activities, but others broke off and left to explore the city, despite the cold
weather. In the end, all of the students were back in time for the bus, and each
of them had a very interesting day.

On October 29th, a number of students took a bus to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to visit the Mutter Museum. The trip was structured around the current Freshman Honors Life of the Mind class, linking the discussed body and mind arguments of Descartes with the exhibits of different bodies and their strange deformities at the museum. While there, students and faculty viewed many displays, some being much stranger than others. The exhibits included several conjoined/Siamese twins, many molds of skin diseases, human horns, malformed skeletons, dried bodies, and many other unique displays.
In celebration of the Day of the Dead, El Diá de los Muertos, the museum hosted several small events. These included skull cookie decorating, tissue-paper flower making and a speaker. Several Mexican dishes were also offered to the visitors that day, including chips and salsa, mango lemonade, and several others.
Having some free time, students also took an opportunity to explore some of the city. While the weather seemed to take a turn for the worst, bringing a mixture of rain, snow, and hail despite the time of year, the students still managed to do a bit of sightseeing. However, the weather did finally become a strong enough deterrent and the groups made their ways back to the museum, where many tissue-paper flowers were made. Overall, the trip was very interesting and offered a much needed break from the mundane schedule of college.

On Saturday, October 29, there was a trip to the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. The trip was exciting and very educational. While the museum itself was small, the exhibits themselves were fascinating. On the topmost floor were the skulls of different creatures: bears, tigers, domestic cats, dogs, and different monkeys and apes. There was also a wall of human skulls staring at visitors, each with a little card stating the name of the person who the skull belonged to, their race, their gender, their occupation and how they died.

On the bottom floor there was a room with the skeleton of a 7’6” man towering over the visitors. There was also a colon that weighed 40 pounds, and the exhibit showed a picture of the man where it came from. Across the room was a corset, a popular fashion statement for women On either side of the corset were the skeletons of two women, their rib cages flattened severely from long term use of the item. There was also a set of drawers filled with things that people swallowed. Everything from dentures, to safety pins, to bottle caps, to coins, to buttons was in there. There was also an ovarian cyst that weighed 70 pounds. Lining the walls were fetuses that were deformed and died in the womb.

Overall, the trip was very fun and informative. The museum was interesting even though it was smaller than most other museums. Because it was the Day of the Dead, there were little activities on the side that included making paper flowers, and decorating skull cookies. The only problem was something that was out of human control, the weather. It was snowing, hailing, and was too cold for anyone to go anywhere too far to eat or to explore the city. Those that did came back shivering and soaking wet, while the rest of the students huddled in the museum

On September 10th, many Stockton College students and faculty members gathered in the Campus Center early in the morning, eager to offer their volunteer services at Stockton’s 8th Annual Day of Service. A wide variety of service projects were performed both on and off campus, with some students traveling to the Noyes Museum in Oceanville, NJ, the Absecon Lighthouse, and other locations. I was involved with Mire Ministries and worked both on and off campus to help bring food to the hungry at Brown Park in Atlantic City.
Led by Pastor Ray Laird and his wife, Beverly Laird, the group of about twenty people assembled to begin the job. Many of the group’s volunteers were current members of the Stockton Christian Fellowship and were familiar with the tasks ahead of them. Those who were unfamiliar with the food runs were welcomed and introduced to the group. With many helping hands, we brought in loaves of bread, cases of water, peanut butter, jelly, paper bags, bananas, cookies, totes, and napkins into the Campus Center Event Room and set up work stations to begin assembling bagged lunches to bring to the park. Working as an assembly line, some members of the group made sandwiches while others put bananas, water, and snacks in brown bags. After creating approximately two hundred lunches, the group went to the Mire Ministries van carrying filled totes: some filled with meals, some with socks.
After a twenty minute drive to the park, we set up tables to serve as stations for handing out lunches and socks to those in need. Many people were at the park in response to fliers that were put up about the free lunch. Although another group was offering hot food to the hungry, lines quickly started at the tables as people waited to get bagged lunches and new, clean socks. Many people approached the table with smiling faces as they expressed gratitude for the time and effort that the group had invested. In addition to attending tables, some students cleaned up garbage around the park, while others walked around the park greeting people and handing out food. Quickly, there was no more food or socks to distribute and we departed for our return to Stockton College.
This experience was very new to me, as well as to several members of the group, and proved to be quite memorable. Other students and I were able to see the result of the work that we performed as we witnessed the gratitude of the hungry that gathered in the park. Pastor Ray Laird explained that the Stockton Christian Fellowship makes such trips on Saturdays once a month. Those who enjoy helping others and interacting with those in need directly may find this experience extremely rewarding and eye-opening.