Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a part of the zombie apocalypse? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a zombie in this apocalypse? If you answered yes, I have two suggestions. One, you need to stop watching so many movies. Two, join my friends and I in participating in Stockton’s game of Humans versus Zombies.

This game, which occurs each semester and lasts for an entire week, begins with one zombie, the “original zombie” or OZ. This person wears a green headband and must try to tag other people who are playing. Everyone else starts out as a human and is allowed to carry a Nerf gun of their choosing. These people wear green armbands and must avoid being tagged by the OZ. if you are tagged, you become a zombie as well and now you must tag other humans. The game is ongoing and people must defend themselves between classes. As if this isn’t stressful enough, the humans must go out each night on missions to find “rations”, which are pieces of paper with a code on them which the human must enter online in order to “eat” and stay alive.

Throughout the week, the humans (whose numbers are constantly shrinking as more and more people are tagged and turned into zombies) must complete other missions, such as finding the pieces of a radio or assembling said radio, in order to be “saved” at the end of the week. Anyone who manages to stay human and attends all of the missions wins. There are generally less than ten winners per game. I firmly believe this is because of people like my friend Ky, who are super sneaky zombies who refuse to accept a truce. The only reason I didn’t survive this semester was because he tagged while I was going to a roller-skating event organized by the Pride Alliance. I still say I would have survived if not for him!

I figured since this is a topic many college students care about I could write about it. The topic is staying in shape. Especially since I’m writing on the Stockton honors blog, we all know how time is a crucial factor in our lives. With tons of classes that amount to thousands of tons of homework, finding the time to keep ourselves in shape seems a little out of reach.
One positive is, if you live on campus there are 3 gyms within walking distance! If you find an extra half-hour that you would have spent playing words/hanging/scramble with friends, get to the gym instead. A little bit of activity each day can really make a difference. One trick I use is when I’m studying I will study for half an hour and then workout for five minutes. Whatever works for you, push-ups, sit-ups, squats, the exercise doesn’t have to be elaborate or even have to be done at a gym. Yes, you can work out in other places then the gym. Another smart idea is to join forces with a friend who also wants to stay in shape. Motivation and friendly competition are a smart way to stay focused. Now imagine if Honors kids could be the smartest and most fit kids on campus!
Another key factor in your health is sleep. Don’t waste time all day just to pull an all-nighter. Although pulling an all-nighter before some big tests is sometimes unavoidable, don’t make it a nightly ritual. Try to get 7-8 of sleep per night this also helps you stay in shape!

Welcome Week Volleyball Tournament
The first event that I ever encountered at Stockton as a student was the “Welcome Week” volleyball tournament. I figured there was no better way to make friends than to bump, set, and spike as a team. I was slightly nervous attending an event where I would not know anyone, but within minutes of arriving the counselors made me feel like family.
I didn’t have a pre-registered team, but I met five freshmen that were in the same boat as I. A perfect six! We decided to call our team “ Team Zebras ”, based on the fact a few of us were wearing zebra printed clothing. Before the events began, we met a new group of friends who invited us to practice with them. We practiced right up until the first game started. As “Team Zebras” we lost both of our games, but we enjoyed ourselves in the process. After all winning isn’t everything!
During the tournament, there was a huge, delicious barbeque filled with great food and snacks. One item that raised a few questions was the vegetable hotdogs. They looked like raw hotdogs, but someone explained that the chefs went out of their way and prepared a meal for the vegetarians. I thought that was very thoughtful of the chefs to do that. My favorite item was the macadamia nut cookies. I couldn’t stop myself from getting another of a newfound love on campus.
Overall, attending the “Welcome Week” volleyball tournament was an awesome way to meet new friends, eat a large portion of great food, and get acquainted with Stockton.

On Wednesday, October 17^th, Stockton’s Pride Alliance organized a trip to a roller-skating rink. I attended with my roommate, Lauree Klein, and my friend Savanna Asta. I actually had to get a ride with my friend Ky, as I had just recently become a zombie in Stockton’s Humans vs Zombies game and my roommate, who was the person originally driving me, was still human and didn’t want to have to worry about getting tagged while she was trying to focus on driving. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Ky had very good music tastes, and, like me, liked to play his music loud enough to shake the car’s frame.

As a bit of back story, the Stockton Pride Alliance is a club dedicated to helping people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning their sexuality, or for people who are LGBTQ advocates. I originally went to the first meeting because my roommate Lauree was going and CJ, my friend from high school, was on the executive board and was bugging me to join, since I had been in our high school’s gay-straight alliance with her.

Getting back to the story, I was incredibly excited to go to the rink. I hadn’t gone rollerblading for several months, and the last time I had gone had been an absolutely fantastic time. I can’t skate for my life, on ice or otherwise, but rollerblading is something I love to do. I’ve always loved how fast you can go with so little effort, and I got to hang out with some of my best friends while doing so.

Once we were there, I tried on about three different sizes of blades until I could find one that was comfortable, skated the entire night, wound up with a huge blister, met some absolutely fantastic new people, and overall had the time of my life. I would go again in a heartbeat, and I’m hoping the Pride Alliance decides to organize a trip again so I can bring more friends, which will be even better.

April 10 was Stockton’s first annual Celebration of Service sponsored by Service Learning.  The event was from 10am-2pm in lower F wing outside of the library.  Students were able to showcase service, internships, projects, club service/projects, etc. for anyone to see.  There were some students presenting, but I mostly saw posters around the area.  Some posters did not really look like service at first, but then I realized some of the projects had been used to educate the community for free, so they were indeed service.

For instance, there were posters educating people about problems college students have.  Some of use have cognitive disabilities that make it difficult to study up to date on whatever tests/quizzes are coming.  As college students, we all share stress, and I learned it causes headaches, nightmares, depression, insomnia, etc. and to combat it we must have sleep, quiet time, exercise, organization, etc.  Also with no stress, we have a better immune system, low blood pressure, happiness, better judgement, etc.  This entire project was shown to the community to educate college kids on problems they may have and how to fix them to get the most out of their college experience.

A few other clubs brought their posters and presentations, including Water Watch, and there were some students who did individual presentations that I unfortunately could not see because of class.

This did seem quite interesting, but I believe next year there should be more actual presentations instead of posters, and perhaps we should get even more people involved!  I believe this day has great potential for the future.

It’s been a few months since I started this project, but I’m going to write about it anyway. If you guys remember, I asked you to write letters or make cards for valentines day for a nursing home that I have been volunteering at for years. Well, the project was a success. I didn’t expect the overwhelming response from the high schools around the area, from the clubs that I had been a part of and from Stockton itself and I would like to thank everyone for that. The residents loved it.
I have been delivering the letters, and it’s a slow process because I have to sit there and read the letters myself, then since I’m a talkative person, we kind of just have to get into a conversation. That is just an unavoidable thing. Then we end up talking for like 20 minutes and 3 letters later I’ve already spent an hour at the nursing home. The people who work there are helpful as well and my best friend came in one day and helped me out.
The residents respond differently. Some know what is going on and appreciate it. Some are confused but at least they are entertained for a few minutes by someone who is reading something to them and they are probably thinking “who is this girl?” Others have been meaning to write back. It’s hard trying to keep it all organized, while balancing my school work but I’d say I’m doing an ok job.
In the future, I managed to ask Stockata, and Stockapella to come and perform at the nursing home and it seems as though they are interested. Though I don’t have a final answer from them yet, I’m very hopeful and I’m pretty sure they’ll be visiting the nursing home at the end of this month. I can’t wait. Maybe next semester, I can organize a talent show. The thing is, the residents are all alone and bored because most of the time they don’t have anything to do so any kind of entertainment or visit is appreciated.
Thank you guyssssss for all of your support and love.

Coming into Stockton, one of the things I looked forward to most was getting involved in my school and pursuing my own interests. I wanted to go out and do something instead of just sitting in my dorm room working on schoolwork all day. The Get Involved fair made this very easy for me by showing me every conceivable club there was.

On the first day of the fair, September 19^th, all of the clubs were inside at tables, and it was going on from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. I enjoyed seeing all of my options laid out and meeting some of the members of different clubs. Everyone was happy to tell me about why they enjoyed the club and what activities they were involved in. Overall, it was good way to introduce the clubs, because it was not overwhelming and gave me a chance to just sort of casually browse through them as I walked to class without being asked to sign up for anything.

That being said, the second day of the fair, September 20^th, was quite a bit more fun, despite the fact that it only went from !0 a.m. to 4 p.m. For one thing, I wasn’t rushing off to class, so I had time to stop at different tables and look at what each had to offer. Also, the tables were outside and it was a beautiful day. My friends and I wandered around, getting free tattoos, food, information, and even a caricature. There were several tables that weren’t from any specific club and were simply people there who had been asked to come by the school. One of these people was doing henna tattoos, something that I have always enjoyed immensely. I wound up getting two henna tattoos, one on the inside of my left wrist (a star surrounded by a sunburst) and one on the back of my right hand (a traditional Indian hand tattoo with a palm leaf pattern).

As a whole, the fair was a great time and I signed up for several clubs’ emailing lists, such as Books Without Borders, the Math Club, and EDIBL, which is a club dedicated to finding alternative food sources, especially insects, and a club which I find endlessly fascinating.

First of all, I would like to give a shout out to Momina for planning this, it really was great. Next, I have to say Stephanie Reda is going to be the best freshman ever! I absolutely loved her. We had a really busy day ahead of us and she was up for it and very easy going which made everything infinitely easier.
We started off by going to the biology 1 lab that I TA for, and she helped me with my job which is always nice. I told her about what it’s like to be a TA and how she could apply. She also got a taste of the bio 1 lab which was great since she’ll be taking it next semester. She was very good at the microscope.
Next, we had 20 minutes to get food. So we ran to the campus center, got food and even had 1 whole dining bucks left over. Then we ran into the other incoming freshman who were sitting at a large table with all their mentors eating. I kind of felt bad that she didn’t get to sit with them, but we had to be on our way to the tutoring center cause I had to work from 11:30-12:30. Again, being the best freshman that she is, she was ok with it and came to the tutoring center. Met some great people and got a taste of what the tutoring center is like: a bunch of easy going, fun nerds. We had a chance to talk about the program that she was interested in and what she was doing in high school and how AP exams were right around the corner and that she should kick butt on those.
Next, the poor girl had to come to physics II with me. I told her before hand that she should take physics for life sciences, then right before physics II started I said “remember when I told u to take the life sciences one? Well, now im going to prove to you why.” Physics was hard, as always. Then, I had permission to take her to the chem II lab. She helped me with my experiment, which was great again cause she got a taste of what chem II would be like as well. Then we took a walk around Lake Fred, realized that we are basically the same person and went to meet her parents around 5:30 (honestly, I didn’t want to let her go home). I had actually met her parents in the morning. They were waiting outside meeting room 5 to make sure she was ok. That is exactly what my parents would have done so I totally related to her on that level, and I also knew that my parents would have wanted the mentor I had to talk to them and tell them whats going on, so I did. Then we laughed about how similar our parents are. Anyway, I just love my freshman and I cant wait till she gets here next semester. 

On April 10, 2012, Richard Stockton College held its annual Celebration of Service. This event was located in the lower F Wing of the main campus building, and lasted throughout the day. This even gave students the opportunity to showcase the research, internships, and volunteer activities that they have recently participated in, or are currently undertaking. Dozens of posters and presentations were used to show passing faculty, staff, and students what interesting and captivation work is being done by the college’s students.
Many different forms of posters could be seen lining the hall of lower F Wing, including those for campus clubs such as Circle K, Water Watch, and Energy Corps. Also included were posters to inform passers about the college’s offered services such as learning access programs and counseling. There were also posters for Strategies to Develop Comfort in Social Situations for College Students, Coping with Stress, and Resources at Stockton. Posters created to bring current problems to light, such as a lack of physical disability accessible resources on campus (i.e. bathrooms, water fountains, computers, etc.), were also presented. Posters were also presented to raise awareness for Alternative Spring Break programs, Books without Borders, the Campus Kitchen, and the Children’s Museum in Jersey Shore.
Overall, Stockton’s Celebration of Service offered a great opportunity for these students to show off what they have accomplished, explain what they are currently involved in, and raise awareness of what should be done in the future. This event allowed for students and faculty alike to see what was, is, and should be going on at Richard Stockton’s campus, hopefully allowing us all to come together and make it a more beneficial and productive environment for current and future generations.

The other day I had the opportunity to see a presentation by Stockton’s very own Dr. David Lester. The presentation, “The “I” of the Storm: Understanding the Suicidal Mind”, is about his experiences and research about the mind of a suicidal person. I was excited to see this presentation because the topic was one that I was interested in and I wanted to see how my future teacher (for next semester) would be.

At the start of the presentation, Dr. Lester voiced his surprise at the turnout of people. He was really only expecting a couple of psychology students to show up so he did not have a microphone. This, I imagined, did actually affect how many students heard him. While he tried to speak up it was somewhat hard to listen to him even though I was in the middle row. Anyway, he started off with an introduction; what was the objective of this presentation, where he got the inspiration and the materials for this study, and how        he had compiled the information. Dr. Lester is fascinated by suicide and what goes on in the suicidal mind. He had published a number of papers on the subject but had not really come to understand what occurs in the suicidal mind. However, one day in one of his classes, a student came up to him and offered him her sister’s diary. Her sister had died from suicide a couple months earlier. He took the diary and ran it through a writing analysis program, and saw how she had felt about herself. Dr. Lester explained how even though the common thought is that suicidal people are very depressed; there is actually a lot of anger in them too.  She was very into her appearance and how if she was perfect, then she would be loved. That was another important word, perfection. She was constantly striving for perfection or wishing to be perfect, and in that way shut herself off from the rest of the world.  A month or several weeks before she died however, there was a change in her style of writing. She became happier or at least more at peace and talked more positively.  Dr. Lester used this example to show how the mood changes once the decision seems to have been made to commit suicide. He stressed how rare suicide was though.  According to him, only about 32,000 out of 380 million people in the United States die from suicide. This to me seemed very small compared to how suicide had been stressed in my health classes. The health classes as well as the media had given me the opinion that suicide was actually quite prominent.

Dr. Lester used several other examples, including other male and female diaries each with their own set of issues and writing styles. One man seemed to have suffered from an anxiety disorder increased by his living in constant darkness and having a major road by his house. The most interesting example Dr. Lester had though was two tape recordings from a young man who had committed suicide. One was taken before lunch the day of his death while the other was taken after. The first one showed him as a weeping emotional wreck but the second one showed a completely different person, calm and worrying about how his death would affect others. Dr. Lester’s analysis of the tapes was quite interesting as was the rest of his presentation.

Overall, I enjoyed Dr. Lester’s seminar and hope that he continues to do more research on the subject and show his findings. I would like to see another seminar with his findings in the future and hopefully more people will come to learn about this saddening topic and there will be a way found to stop it.