It was a quiet morning on August 30^th when TALONS, excited freshman, and nervous parents disturbed the peace to move the incoming freshman in to start a new chapter of their lives at Stockton University. All the new students who moved in on this day signed up for Stockton’s Outdoor Adventure Retreat. S.O.A.R. is located at YMCA’s Camp Ockanickon just a little over an hour away from campus. This experience is to help new students step out of their comfort zone and make start friendships that could possibly last a lifetime.

The incoming freshman were welcomed very enthusiastically by TALONS and were then revealed which tribe they would be one for the next three days. After this warm welcome, the students and their families took the next 2-3 hours to quickly set up their room and get settled in. After saying on last emotional goodbye to their families, it was then time for the “tribelets” to get on the bus and head over to camp.

When all the students arrived, there was not much time to relax before all the exciting and fun ice breakers began. At this point some people had already made friends that would be by their side for the next 4 years at Stockton. It was truly an amazing thing to see how close some people got in such a short amount of time. The next two days consisted of a little bit of canoeing, some great TALONS, a lot of ice breakers, even more camp chants, and overall an unforgettable experience. One activity that really helped many students step out of their comfort zones were the high ropes obstacle course. It was inspiring to see people who were afraid of heights conquer their fears. The overall experience at S.O.A.R. was one that every freshman should be a part of at Stockton.

On September 10, 2016, the Fall Day of Service took place, one of the many community service days on campus. I signed up for it not quite knowing what exactly I was getting into, but I was pleasantly surprised. At the very beginning of the day, we chose teams. These teams would determine how we rotated through different activities; there were too many of us to count, so I only really became familiar with my own team.

The day consisted of several different activities, including the sewing and creation of pillows for patients at AtlantiCare, where I attempted to create a pillow that actually looked like a pillow (spoiler alert: I failed) as well as an activity where we answered different questions about the election and politics in small groups. We had previously decided how to preoccupy ourselves for a small duration of the day by deciding what we wanted to do from a list of different volunteer activities; I personally picked a session on Suicide Prevention and awareness, as it is a topic that is very near and dear to my heart. The session was quite general, but we all walked away secure in the knowledge that there was a place we could go to talk about our problems and people who cared; this session is actually what drove me to join Active Minds, a club on campus dedicated to mental health treatment and awareness.

The final activity that we partook in was an appropriate send off to the day; in groups of five, we worked together to put together bags of ready-to-make meals that people without access to food in other countries could easily make. It wasn’t necessarily a highbrow job, but there was something glorious about it, about old pop songs blasting on tinny speakers, about the way we methodically moved along, about the unification of so many different people just to do something good. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t know what to expect when I signed up, and prior to this I had felt very isolated, new to campus. And perhaps I’m making something out of nothing, but this day really made me feel like I belonged, like I had a place in this world. My job, when we were making the food, was to scoop a sort of fiber into the bag, and this may be cheesy, but I felt like I was making a difference, one little grain at a time.

The first Marine Science seminar of the year was hosted earlier in October. The seminar was hosted by the Marine Science program and it was on the future of marshes. Erin Reilly who is from the Barnegat Bay Partnership was the presenter.

This seminar focused on problems facing marshes, particularly the Tuckerton and Cattus Island marshes. Reilly also explained the methods by which employees of the Barnegat Bay Partnership would collect data, like using quadrats and transects. After collection of this data, elevation maps were created and outlined the marshes according the elevation. The classification of elevation were referred to as zones. Zone 1 had the lowest elevation, and zone 5 had the highest elevation. The low elevation zones could be considered possible candidates for a new process called thin layer deposition.

Thin layer deposition is when dredge is put on top of marsh in places where the marsh is suffering, either through sinking or erosion. Based on the elevation maps and quartiles completed, the Tuckerton and Cattus Island marshes could be candidates for thin layer deposition, but more data is needed. If these marshes are deemed appropriate for this procedure, additional funding is needed, because thin layer deposition is a costly and labor intensive process.

The information learned from going to this seminar was incredibly valuable. It is interesting to learn about marshes whether you are a marine science student or not. Marshes are incredibly important assets, especially in New Jersey, and more information needs to spread about them.

            On November 2^nd, the freshmen honors trip to Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia occurred. After an hour-long bus ride, we split into two groups for a tour of the penitentiary. We walked around the outside and through the cell blocks as the guide explained the history of the revolutionary – for its time period – prison system. The penitentiary was originally built in the shape of a wagon wheel so that a single guard could stand in the very center of the spokes and watch all six wings. The prisoners were all low-risk and were meant to be rehabilitated completely. They were kept isolated from each other so they would not influence each other’s recovery. This system became a model for prisons across the world. However, this idealistic system did not last for long as crowding began to take precedent over the perfect system. At the beginning of the twentieth century, they abandoned the system entirely and became just like any other prison.

           As I enjoy history, and the prison is supposedly haunted, I found the experience quite interesting. After the initial tour, we were allowed to explore the prison and visit the areas that were not a part of the tour. The people I was with stayed in the ‘haunted’ cellblock for a long time, looking for signs of ghosts. There was one especially creepy cell which was dark with a human-shaped tree growing inside. When we finally left, we went to eat and walked along the street the prison was on, going in various stores such as a nifty book store, an icecream parlor, and a pet shop. All in all, the day was very informative but also a great bonding experience for our group. I would definitely recommend attending any future honors-related trips, if not for the activity itself, then for the people you would be with.

One year ago, my ideal college was Ithaca College in upstate New York. Every fiber of my being felt a sense of belonging to their campus, their physical therapy program, their community. Their institution was perfect for me except for one key aspect: the expense. I let my heart become attached to a college that, in the end, I would only get to experience on a campus tour rather than as a student.
The thought of coming to Stockton was one that nauseated me. I had fallen in love with Ithaca College and felt married to it, I felt adulterous informing Stockton that I would be attending their campus in the fall. When I came for the Honors Overnight Experience I was ambivalent, trying to find something to love about Stockton when I felt very prejudiced against it. I looked at the agenda with a critical eye, doubting that anything would spark an interest for me. That was of course until I read the title: Whose Line is it Anyway.
Comedy has always been my guilty pleasure and improv my bread and butter. Growing up I would stay up late whenever I could so I could watch episodes of Whose Line air on ABC Family around 11 o’clock. As my taste for comedy matured I added television like Saturday Night Live and The Office to my repertoire of favorite shows. But my gateway to comedy, my gateway to funny, was Whose Line is it Anyway.
My heart opened up to Stockton as soon as I saw the program in the Campus Theater at the Honors Overnight Experience. I knew that it was a night of theater that I would never forget. More importantly it was the first thing that I could see myself becoming involved in at Stockton. I saw the show again during Welcome Week- the actors were playing to a full house. As an actor myself I know there is nothing more euphoric than the feeling of performing for a full and receptive audience.
After the show that night, the director of the program announced that Whose Line was a program open to anyone who was interested in improv comedy. I proudly fell into that category. The criteria for being a cast member on the show at that point was simply expressing interest in the program; so many people had done so however that auditions became necessary.
Sitting in the Experimental Theater lobby waiting to audition for the show, I felt oddly star struck simply talking to the members that I had seen perform just days before. In that moment I wanted nothing more than to be among their ranks for the next Whose Line production. During the audition we just played the improv games together that they use in performance. I had so much fun goofing around with them I almost forgot that I was at an audition. When the cast list was posted, I was thrilled to see that my name was second on the list, I was on Whose Line is it Anyway?! My inner child was squealing with joy, I had just accomplished a life dream.
The following Monday I got to perform in the Campus Center Theater for around sixty people. I had butterflies in my belly all day prior to the performance. I had watched episodes of the show on YouTube in between each of my classes to prepare for the night’s production. I had the best time playing different games with my theater friends and was feeling the euphoric joy of entertainment each time the audience laughed at one of my jokes. It was one of the best performances I have ever gotten to be a part of. I can’t wait until next month when I’ll have an opportunity to do it again.

The lecture I attended was part of a lecture series called “Globalization lecture series: Language and global culture.” It was hosted by Dr. Lois Spitzer and she talked about if making English a global language I a good idea and what the advantages and disadvantages are to having a global language. She talked about why English would be the best choice for a global language and not any other popular languages. She described what we may lose with a globalization of one language but also what we would gain. The main point in this presentation was the concern for culture around the world and the impact it would have on all these different cultures that exist.

The reason for wanting to make English the global language is not because of how many people speak it but because of how widely spoken it is. If it was decided by how many native speakers there are of the language we would all have to learn Chinese. But Chinese is not the native language of many countries. English is the native language of almost fifty countries in the world.

The main problem with a global language, and making other languages die off is the loss of cultures. In many languages across the world there are unique words that we do not have words for in English. So we would lose all those unique words which will then develop to a loss of culture. Losing all these cultures will be very bad for the future of the world. There will be nothing for kids to learn about other countries. If we all spoke the same language we will all eventually fall into the same culture. There will be no differences between countries so there will be nothing interesting to study anymore.

A global language does have some benefits though. It will help to communicate better in business markets and fields of research. If a German scientist discovers something he can easily share it with the rest of the world because everyone will have the same language. There will be no more confusion in business markets and no more miscommunications. But along with a global language should come a global currency if we are doing it to make things easier. We will not have to convert Dollars to Yen or Pounds anymore so there will be no mistakes in those conversions and no money lost.

On Saturday the 23rd I attended the Day of Leadership with the speaker Naomi Natale. I was not looking forward to spending the majority of my Saturday out going to this event. The only reason that I was going was to fulfill my requirements for service learning. Waking up early and getting moving all so I could finish my service learning requirements was not going to be fun. However, I willed myself up and out to this event and I was extremely impressed. Each of the workshops were fun, creative, and informational. I was able to take away a lot of information about how to be a leader and what skills are needed to organize and run an event/project.
During lunch Naomi came over and sat with my table and talked with us. This was by far the coolest part of the day because the five of us at the table got to ask her personal questions. We were able to talk with her about her projects and what she thought of the ideas we had. She was very nice and gave us some advice about what she thought we should to in order to further our ideas. After the day was over my opinion on the day had changed drastically, I began the day thinking that it would be a boring day filled with guest speakers but it was much more fun that that.

On Friday November 22, the Environmental Discourse on the Ingestion of Bugs Leage (EDIBL) hosted a movie night in the Campus Center Theatre.  They played the 1950’s horror science fiction movie Them!  While attendance was low, everyone had a good time talking with each other and watching the movie.

Them! takes place in a rural town in New Mexico where the first nuclear bomb was tested.  Due to nuclear radiation, ants mutated into nearly 10-feet-long monsters.  There was not enough food for the ants in the wasteland to feed the gigantic ants, and they began to feed off of human flesh.  The Doctors Medford attempt to put an end to the ant menace, but even if they can destroy the ants, there is no telling what the other atomic bombs might have caused as the radiation infected the surrounding wildlife.

The majority of the people that came to see the movie were from EDIBL while one person was from outside the club.  The movie started at 8:30 pm and ran until 10:15 pm.  Everyone spread out in the Campus Center Theater taking advantage of the amount of empty seats.

EDIBL arranged to have snacks for the movie night, but they were unable to have them at the event.  No one seemed to mind as they were watching the movie.  It was the final event of the semester for EDIBL, and that appeared to be what mattered most to everyone.

EDIBL advertised the event over Facebook through their page Edibl at Stockton College, titling the event “Them! A B-rate Horror Movie Night.”  The movie brought about both scares and laughs and kept the audience’s attention even if it was considered “B-rate.”

I got the chance to see the Stockton Theatre Club’s performance of Hello Herman. The show focuses on the story of a boy, Herman Howards, who murders about forty people in his high school. A reporter tries to learn the reason why Herman has committed such a violent crime. As they speak through his journey more characters are revealed and parts of Herman’s past are relived. From Herman dealing with his parent’s divorce to seeing his sister die, after be hitting by a car, while he gets bullied, the reasons for his crime become slightly more clear. Herman discusses how he wants to be remembered like no one else, how there will be more of him, but once the reporter turns off the camera, everything changes. Mikey, the actor playing Herman, began to shake and speaks of how scared he is and how he wants to take it all back. It is too late for Herman however. The next day, he is executed.
This show definitely has a darker side to it than most of the shows I have seen. Friends of mine left feeling sick and completely disturbed. Their feelings were created by the remorseless acting of Mikey, along with depressed Ms. Howards, played by Taylor. The other characters in the show also added to the cringe factor that the lines already held. This show is not like most, in the sense that you watch people get murder by a teenage boy, the reporter beat a man with a bat, a mother have a hysterical break down, or an electrocution. All of these events are seen in Herman and leave you feeling just a little too close and in touch with what happenings before, during, and after a school shooting. While this closeness was disturbing I think there is a very relevant point in doing it. School shootings happen all to frequently, and while we mourn them, many are not a part of them. This show brings you deep within what it is like to be tangled with characters like Howard, his mother, and the reporter. Disturbing, as it is this play shows you the true horror of death and destruction.

Stocktonopoly happened the first weekend of October. On Friday the 4^th there was a parade and pep rally to show appreciation for clubs and sports. I am a member of our Track and Field team and our coach wanted all future and former members to meet up and join the parade for some team bonding and to show everyone how wonderful our team was. We met outside of Big Blue or The Sports Center, all wearing a track shirt with other teams that were meeting. We were all led to the gym where every club was preparing or gathering around their float and there were a lot of floats. The whole gym was colorful and full of people. It made me realize that Stockton really does have a lot of clubs and organizations, and they clearly put a lot of effort into their monopoly themed floats.

I stayed with the track team the whole time. In the gym we were all talking and laughing with each other and waited for the parade to start. We took a nice team picture and then were on our way. As we were walking out, my friend and fellow pole vaulter asked me if I could pull up “The Fox” by Ylvis to show his friend. Since I thought the song was hilarious, I gladly pulled up the song and we all had a good laugh about it. Who doesn’t love that song right now?

We walked from the back of Big Blue to the Campus Center for more pictures and some spectators. It was nice seeing support from people around the campus for this event. We paraded along in between other floats and banners. Everyone seemed in high spirits and happy to be there, which was wonderful. The day was hot but that didn’t seem to bother anyone. We paraded towards the freshman dorms where people were starting to come outside and waving from their windows. We walked from Housing 3 to Housing 2 where the parade dispersed and gathered for the pep rally.

The pep rally was on the side of the TRLC and there was a little stage. My friend and I sat down on the ground to watch the events of the pep rally. There were performances by different clubs which were pretty impressive. Cheerleaders, dancers, and singers were all pepped up and bravely performing in front of all the students that were gathered. Each group earned cheers from all the students. There were speakers from different people around the campus, and each sport team got individual recognition. They all were together with their team and cheered when their accomplishments were announced. Homecoming King and Queen were announced and each gave a short speech. When the pep rally ended, almost everyone lined up to get a free t-shirt. Everyone loves free t-shirts.

The pep rally and parade definitely raised spirits that day. I know I walked away in a great mood from seeing how close, talented, and determined these clubs and organizations were.