On April 10^th, 2012 the First Annual Celebration of Service was held.  The event was set up in the F-wing Atrium in front of the library.  Group of students presented their own or their club’s ideas and achievements in service learning and helping out their community in various ways.  On group presented Anti-Hunger, made up of many different clubs that worked in soup kitchen to help feed the hungry.  The Circle K club was there, showing their many achievements in service learning.  One group called Books Without Borders showed their work in collecting old books to send to less fortunate countries so they have the same learning opportunities as us.  The Eastern Service Workers Association was there, showing their work in preserving the livelihood of the working class.  There was also a poster their showing the work that was done by Habitat for Humanity in their alternative spring break.  There were even a few posters there about things at Stockton like how the school caters to people with disabilities, resources at Stockton, how to concentrate to study better, and how to deal with stress.  One fellow Honor freshmen, Angelica Pezzino, was presenting her service project which was the Celebration of Creativity Student Art Show through the Jersey Shore Children’s Museum. One section of the project is pre-K, daycare, and elementary school classes competing in an art contest to win a trip to the museum.  Angelica’s part of the project is the poster contest which is aimed more at college art students.  The winner of this gets their poster on the next issue of Jersey Shore Family and on the Atlantic Shore Living Website.  This project keeps creativity alive in schools in order to help children learn and become more interested in expressing themselves.

On Saturday, October 20th, I had the pleasure of joining some of the Water Watch crew for a Beach Sweep at the Atlantic City Beach. After waking up early to perform this bit of service (only reason I would get up early), we departed to Atlantic City. Once we got to the Trump Plaza we made our way behind that to the boardwalk and the area where everyone was meeting. Numerous other groups of people came to help as well. We sat patiently as we endured another two or three speeches stating the purpose of the group known as COA or Clean Ocean Action. Clean Ocean Action is a group that is not on Stockton’s campus.  The speeches basically thanked us, the volunteers, for coming. We were then handed a white garbage bag for plastic and recyclables, a black garbage bag for trash and a data sheet to fill out. The data sheet was supposed to be used as a tally sheet for what we found with almost all things you would find at a beach garbage wise. So off we went exploring the great unknown at the beach.

What I was met with was a disaster to behold. I am used to my beaches being for the most part clean. Garbage lay everywhere but it blended in the sand just enough that you could ignore it in your conscious if you had to. We slowly chipped our way across a small section of the beach and under the pier. This path consisted of a hellish mess of cigarette butts, pieces of plastic, Styrofoam, a dead seagull, and other random objects. I have never been at a beach that not only was this unclean, but somehow was hidden enough to not notice without closer examination.  We had almost the entire bag full and we had only just gotten to the pier. We also had to just write “over 100” in the cigarette butts and Styrofoam categories as there was just too many to keep track of.  This was the first realization of how bad the situation on certain beaches can be.

We wandered under the pier, a sight that I was not accustomed to. Moving from the bright sunlight to a relatively dark and damp place was both interesting and odd. It was here we made our major finds of the day; a couple pair of women’s underwear, three syringes, five used condoms, and a few pregnancy tests. While I was not relatively surprised by this find, I was still stumped as to why someone would feel the need to do such a thing on a beach and under a pier. Atlantic City is known for its hotels, why not use them? These thoughts were constantly running through my head as we worked our way through the pier. The really cool part of being under the pier is that when the waves crash into and under the pier, they look much larger than normal and they seem to be racing to you. I wish I had taken pictures of these waves as well as the marks they had made on the sand that hadn’t been disturbed by the incoming tide. Seeing that and collecting a few neat rocks and sea glass made the entire beach sweep an adventure.

After filling up our first bag and going to get another, we went out from under the pier and continued along the beach under it was time to go. Overall, we had filled up four bags full of the litter people decide is a good idea to either throw into the ocean or leave on the beach. While I understood that people threw garbage on the beach, I did not realize the magnitude nor how some items were so much more prominent then others. Seriously, people need to throw out their cigarettes butts where they are supposed to. Perhaps the businesses that are close to the ocean should make more of an effort to keep their beaches clean. Perhaps people shouldn’t do drugs or inject themselves on the beach. Perhaps people should pay more to their junk as well. These are all great possibilities to think about when enjoying a hopefully clean beach. The best thing to do is to support groups on Stockton such as Water Watch and volunteer to help them and their causes such as the Beach Sweep.

A few days ago, one of the students that I work with at the tutoring center asked me to go a dinner with her. She said her friend had given her two free tickets and wondered if I would like to enjoy a nice free Italian dinner. Baffled that no one else had taken her up on that offer, I said sure, thinking free food is great and now this is even Italian free food. So I agreed to meet her at 6 in the campus center.
Standing outside, I realized it was supposed to be a relatively dressed up event. Given that I had just found out about the dinner a few hours earlier and I was a commuter and didn’t have a chance to go home and change, I forgave myself for my lack of looking formal and instead showing up in jeans. Then I realized, it wasn’t just any dinner. It was a dinner for the HERO campaign. I had seen the Be a Hero stickers a few places around campus but I had never really given them much thought. There was a good crowd there. Then people started talking about the campaign and how it is about promoting having designated drivers in order to prevent car accidents and reduce death because of that. The founders had lost their son because a drunk driver had hit him when he was on his way home for his mother’s birthday.
It was an important cause, and the dinner was there to honors students that had worked hard to be a hero and to do the most in order to help their friends stay safe after parties or any events when they were having a good time. The founders emphasized that they were not there to discourage us about having a good time, but rather there to encourage us to make good decisions and plans in order to stay safe while having a good time.
The food of course was wonderful. Three different types of pasta and really good bread and some meatballs and some great salad. Overall, I was grateful I went and learned about this campaign and I hope they can grow and raise awareness at more campuses like they said they were planning on doing so.

Today I attended the Day of Scholarship. On my drive to school I was telling my best friend about it and she seemed very excited as well. She was telling me about how one of her friends from her singing group was presenting his project that he had been working on for a long time and that it had turned into this very big and complicated thing. Then she tried to explain it to me and with the lack of her science background, it turned out to be a really funny and confusing explanation. But she raised some interesting points that I had to go find out what this was all about.
The name of the project was Investigating Underwater Acoustics and it was about how sound could travel faster in water because the molecules are closer to each other and therefore sound can bounce off of them at a faster rate and travel faster. The presenter was explaining how that’s why in the old times when people wanted to hear when their enemies were coming in a war, they would put their ears on the ground because sound travels even faster through a solid material whose molecules are even closer and therefore the generals would be able to tell how far away the enemy is and how fast they are approaching. I thought that was really interesting.
Then he went on and talked about how at a certain frequency the wavelength of a wave is as long as the length between our two ears. At this frequency then, we have a hard time locating where the sound is coming from. In other frequencies, the wave lengths differ and we hear the sound faster in one ear than the other because there is a distance difference and so the waves reach one ear slightly faster than the other ear. This small fraction of time difference helps us locate sound and tell where they are coming from. But when the wavelength is as big as our face, then we get confused because whether the sound came from left or right, we heard it in both ears at the same time so we don’t know which way it actually came from.

On Saturday, November 17th, Circle K invited students to volunteer at the local Petsmart from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Our responsibility was to help the Beagle Rescue socialize their dogs with people, and provide them with increased stimuli. The dogs were extremely receptive to human contact and were pleased to have hours of attention. As volunteers, we conversed with potential adopters who had come over to see the dogs. We also worked to attract attention to the rescue, and hopefully provide these animals with forever homes.

Although the dogs were all beagles, they were extremely unique and independent. There were dominant dogs that howled throughout the event and others that remained quiet and introverted. The most profound aspect of the experience was meeting two crippled dogs, each with perpetual energy. Bonnie was born with a mutation of her front legs. This prevented her from walking on her paws; rather she began to depend on her elbows. Instead of remaining helpless, two year old Bonnie learned to walk and became quite active and capable of moving. In fact, I found myself being dragged around the room by her at times. Another dog that impacted me was a beagle with only three legs. One had been surgically removed, while the other back leg was hyperextended. This prevented walking. Despite this setback, the beagle was extremely full of life, momentum, and strength. She was able to wheel around the room on a dog cart, and greet individuals with her lively presence. These two dogs had overcome insurmountable difficulties and had defied expectations. Seeing these miracles in person made me both empathetic and humbled. Another dog named Jersey Girl had been surrendered that morning, and was already looking for a new home. I felt extremely sorry for the animal, which had spent most of her life in a crate. She was filled with love and patience, and would fit in perfectly to any family.

I am extremely pleased with my decision to volunteer with the Beagle Rescue. Before going to Petsmart, I had not known what to expect and was quite apprehensive. For eighteen years, I have struggled with intense allergies, primarily to dogs and cats. Therefore, I was reluctant to spend time with animals that could potentially give me an allergy attack. Ignoring my fears, however, I decided to take advantage of the great opportunity.  This day reminded me of my passion for volunteering. I will now search for additional opportunities with animals and wildlife, and may pursue a volunteer position in a no-kill shelter.

This is a blog about what it’s like to be a math and science tutor at the tutoring center in J-wing, the process involved with applying and what tutor training is like.
First things first, to be a math or science tutor, you have to have a passion for the subjects and be interested in helping other understand some of the complex ideas involved with these subjects. You do not have to know both math and science. We have all sorts of tutors involved with their own specialties. For example, I’m mostly a science tutor but I help out with math when I can, however there are people at the tutoring center that are far more qualified to help with math than me. The tutoring center is one of the friendliest environments at Stockton. Everyone is nice and willing to help. If you’re interested you have to talk to Luis Pena and ask for an application. Then there is an interview process and if you do well you’ll be hired.
Your first semester you will be working as well as going through tutor training. Tutor training is the most fun training you’ll ever have in your life. We talk about big issues that come up, do role play, draw and when you’re done you get to some arts and crafts. I’m going to keep this vague because I don’t want to give away the surprises of tutor training. But it’s not hard at all, its just fun. Meanwhile you get to start working at the tutoring center and you are paid. They are very flexible around your hours and I say that because I had a very filled schedule and they still managed to work around my schedule and give me the hours I needed. I think that’s a very important quality that they are willing to work with you rather than against you because it creates a comfortable and nice environment to work in. I personally love being a tutor and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in helping others. Some of the subjects we tutor include all levels of chemistry and biology, a whole ton of math and computer science, including statistics and business and economics related things. So stop in, we’re all the way at the end of lower J-wing.

This is about being a Teacher’s Assistant and the process involved with that. First you have to have taken the class you will be TA-ing for and also the lecture that comes with the class and have a grade of A (ok, this part I don’t remember, it’s either A- and above or A alone) in both. Then I recommend getting your schedule for spring together before approaching the teachers because you want to make sure the lab you are planning on TA-ing for is going to fit into your schedule without any conflicts.
Next you want to approach the professor and ask them if they need a TA. In some cases, their sections might be full so you want to make sure that they are free and that they want you. Then when you get an OK from the professor there is some paper work involved and paper work is always annoying and never fun BUT keep in mind the end goal. The end goal is fun.
I TA for Dr.Wohlrab for chemistry 1 and it is a lot of fun. If you are prepared and know your stuff, this will be a stress-free job. You basically go around and help the students individually and make sure that they are doing ok. Sometimes you get to do cool things like throw really reactive metals into water and watch them blow up! I have to be honest and say that out of the two and something hours that I’m there, I’m laughing for 95% of the time. As the TA you kind of get to set the mood in the room. Wohlrab is awesome and kind of gives me my own space and lets me do my thing, but other teachers are good too, which brings me to my second TA job for Dr.Baranowski and Bio 1.
This lab is different only because it is a group setting. It’s more open and you’ll have to walk around less and you’ll be helping three people at once instead of 1 but its always fun. The biology labs I would say are a little easier because you get to work with other people and so you have three minds working at once, whereas in chem lab its just you. Either way, I suggest being a TA to anyone who is interested because it is a really FUN job. I also recommend Dr. Baranowski too because she’s super nice and organized and again lets you do your own thing and help out. It’s good when the teachers let you have some charge because you get more of an experience helping kids and you’re more involved.
one last thing: these go as zero credit courses on your transcript.

Magic, everyone knows it is an optical illusion, but no one can tell you how tricks are performed. Recently I went to see this comedian/magician/balloon artist, a lot of different professions I know, and it turned out to be a great time. His magic skills included a levitating girl, a card trick, and a reappearing trick done with someone’s phone which was put inside a balloon and then reappeared inside a series of boxes. All of these tricks were awe-inspiring to say the least. I knew how a few of the tricks were done, but the levitation was too farfetched for me to consider, and the only word I could use to explain was magic. Although magic was a part of the show, it was not the main attraction. The main attraction was his balloon artistry. He currently holds the world record for the fastest balloon sculptor and his work is actually amazing. When the show started he handed out giant flowers to some audience members, and then began his work. First he crafted an alien on a motorcycle, which I received, then Charlie Brown, then more and more. What I loved most about the show was his audience involvement. Throughout his show he would ask for volunteers that could come up on stage and help him with a trick. One trick was a card trick where he had the person pick a card and he would be able to retrieve that card. Not only did he pick out the correct card, as one would expect, he revealed a neon sign that had the same number and symbol on it as the card that was picked. There was no way of knowing for sure that he would pick the eight of hearts, but the volunteer did. When I got called onstage I had to throw a balloon into a laundry basket and he said that if I could, I would get a dollar. And I made it into the bin. The other person onstage at the time also had to throw a balloon into the bin, but he was told that he would get 19 tries and $100 if he made it into the bin. The balloon sailed up into the ceiling panels as he threw it, so he got a dollar for being a good sport. Here is where his speed with balloon sculpting came in handy; he asked each of us what we wanted made out of balloon. He chose to have a giraffe and I chose a moose for my friend, and he also made me a dog because I was giving away my balloon. While I waited onstage, with him having no prior knowledge of what I was going ask for, he crafted the balloon creature with incredible speed and precision so that I barely had to wait a minute for him to be finished. The show itself was great and I loved the interactive show, but most of all I liked the feeling of being a little kid again, in a world where magic and balloons were a simple reason to be happy.

Dr. Heather Boschey, a Stockton College Alumni, now works for the center of American Progress in Washington, D.C. She is a senior economist and her presentation was about the differences of men and women concerning the job world. She mentioned that over 50% of women make up workers in the U.S. and women are becoming breadwinners and co-breadwinners, but there is still a salary gap. A woman breadwinner by definition is a single working mom, or a married woman that is bringing in as much or more than her spouse. Women have been taking an advantage and gaining educational attainment over men, but are still getting paid more for the same job. Does that make sense? Two qualified individuals with their pay being different due to their gender. The career wage gap over a 40 year period causes women to make $400-$500 thousand dollars less than men over a lifetime. What would these women be able to do with that extra half a million dollars? Send their children to school? Live in better houses?

Then Dr. Boschey talked about the recession and recovery of the 2008 Recession. There was a $787 billion dollar recovery and reinvestment act set in place by the Obama administration. A lot of state and local government jobs were lost. The U.S. is starting to slowly see a rise in jobs and a decrease in unemployment, but that is only growing very slowly and should be increasing 300% more than what it is. This is a serious problem for the country because another recession in the next decade would be detrimental.

Boschey did an excellent job with her presentation. She was extremely clear in her speech, very organized, and did not read straight off of the PowerPoint. She did a Q and A session and had an answer to every question that came her way. She is very knowledgeable and that is important when you are presenting because you do not want to look uneducated. I am very glad I had the opportunity to attend this presentation because I learned a lot. She opened my eyes to see how effected the average U.S. citizen’s life was effected by the recession.