Yesterday, I attended a reflection session to provide input on the Honors Program at Stockton. By attending the session, I was able to learn more about the Honors Program and ultimately was reminded that my time in the program will provide me with innumerable skills for my future.

While one student inquired about the difficulty of the courses -concerned that they would not be challenging enough- an upperclassman of the program informed us that the Honors Program’s mandatory courses all sufficiently challenge the students. As a student who loves a good challenge, I felt more confident in my choice to continue in the Honors Program, as I contemplated how I felt about the program.

Some of the benefits I realized I was receiving from the project was predominantly the varied connections and opportunities. The Honors Program links to all kinds of different organizations and people that one can meet through the various things the program organizes in addition to the many service projects that I will be completing throughout my time here at Stockton.

The leadership, communication, and organizational skills that I will learn from being at Honors Student solidify my conviction to be a part of this fantastic community.

As a freshman, one thing you worry about is what to do when you get sick on campus. There’s no mom to take care of you. You are responsible for deciding if you are so sick that you cannot go to class, if you are sick enough to go to the doctor or if you are even sick enough to go home. When I got sick on campus the first thing I did was call home, which is a natural reaction. The next step was to go to the doctor. Fortunately, we have a place you can go to on campus that can be used with your insurance so you personally do not have to pay money to go in. This is the wellness center at West Quad. I went there when I had an awful rash on my knee. I had no idea what it was, but the knowledgeable people there knew that it was chiggers. Chiggers happen when a very tiny bug bites you and you have a reaction to it. It is a common thing to happen here at Stockton if you are out in the woods a lot. Anyway they are able to prescribe medication and can send it to any pharmacy where you can go and pick it up. They accept walk-ins and will evaluate what is wrong. If it is something not life-threatening then they will arrange an appointment with you to see the doctor that is on campus. In my experience, they are professional, courteous, and make the appointment as soon as possible to be able to help you. If, however, it is something that needs immediate attention, then there is always the hospital. Luckily, we have a hospital practically on campus. Atlanticare has seen many Stockton students and from what I have heard they take care of their patients very well. I personally have not had an experience there, and hopefully neither will you. Altogether the experience of being sick on campus is not fun, but there are friendly, helpful people surrounding you who are willing to help.

As I headed toward my 9:55am Honors Freshman Seminar today, dozens of clubs and extracurriculars were strewed about the halls. Although I was brought up to ignore the countless boardwalk stand attendees and New York City hagglers, I resisted the instinct to walk by. By doing so, I found myself signing up for clubs that I never even knew the school offered while finding the single club I was searching for.

Although I was the Managing Editor for my high school’s school newspaper, I had not considered continuing my amateur journalism career while at Stockton; however, after meeting some of the members of The Argo, I signed up for email notifications and have planned to become a regular writer. I have always been interested in submitting opinion articles to online publications, so I look forward to the criticisms from my peers at Stockton in order to develop my abilities as a writer in the field of journalism.

Outside of writing, my efforts in the vegan movement and my yoga practice consume a significant portion of my time. I had never heard of Stockton having a Holistic Health/Wellness Club and was pleasantly surprised to find a collection of people with my common interest. Upon first looking through the freshman seminars at orientation, I hoped to join a course on holistic health, but did not receive such an opportunity due to the mandatory Honors Freshman Seminar. After finding a extracurricular in the field of my interest, I am glad to be enrolled in a course outside of my comfort zone that is helping me participate in the Honors Program.

Unsure as to whether I would pursue environmental efforts as my service-learning projects in the Honors Program, I knew I wanted to be involved in the school’s garden when I first entered the Get Involved Fair’s halls. I was able to find the garden and sign up for the emailing list right before class started.

I now have new connections to my interests on campus that will hopefully connect me to new people and new opportunities.

            Stockton is a distinctive college for many reasons. Our school is located on a beautiful campus within a national reserve, operates inside state-of-the-art buildings, and has full-time faculty members that truly care about the success of their students. Perhaps the most distinctive of all, the student body, have the potential to make Stockton’s name world-renowned.

Some of the most impressive work from our students can be seen within the pages of Innovations, our undergraduate research journal. Each year, inspired students generate ideas for research that have the ability to enlighten the community on a certain issue, test the validity of a particular theory, or potentially spread awareness regarding a social movement. One of my proudest accomplishments that I can take away from my time spent at Stockton thus far has been the opportunity to work on the editorial staff for Innovations and meet these individuals, who I truly believe can change the world through their research.

            Each year, undergraduates submit InDepth or InBrief research projects to the editorial board, which then have the role of meeting with these authors to create an article that is ready for publication. As an editor, I have the opportunity to read drafts of these articles and interview the authors to gain insight on their personal backgrounds, experiences and motivation for conducting their research. Last week, I met with an author who wrote about social mobility.

Nicole was assigned a research project for her Economic Wellbeing course, and was told that the research could be done on virtually any topic that fell under the umbrella of economics. Nicole saw this assignment as an opportunity to take her knowledge of this concept to the next level, and hopes to continue researching this topic in the future because she believes the concept of social mobility can relate to everyone, regardless of socioeconomic class. She hopes to inspire students to continue their efforts in pursuing their own dreams, and to not give up in the face of adversity. Nicole believes that it is important to be aware of this issue, as is can ultimately affect the economy on a grander scale.  Getting to know Nicole and working as member the Innovations staff has opened my eyes to the impact any of us could make in this world.

On Tuesday October 6, the American Sign Language Club hosted a weekly meeting in classroom F111. The gathering began with sign in, and the announcement of upcoming events and trips that the club will be attending, such as “Signing and Singing”, where members will sign along at a Stockton a Capella performance, and “Paint a Pot”, where students will travel to a pottery store owned by a deaf woman to witness sign language as a part of everyday life.

Next, the agenda for the meeting and the vocabulary from the previous week was reviewed with the group. Students reviewed practiced the signs for greetings, colors, numbers, questions, and the alphabet. Then, to further study and memorize the signs, students played an activity. The members divided themselves into four smaller groups where they practiced signing various statements and questions in order to get to know the other members of the club, and to perfect the hand motions. Members practiced asking each other about their clothing, what their name is, where they live, and what they like.

To reflect upon the activity, students then returned to their seats and members took turns to inform the club, through sign language, about something new that they learned about other members of the group. At the close of the gathering, members viewed a video of two girls signing along to the song “Free Falling” by John Mayer. This video demonstrated the versatility of American Sign Language and its power to convey emotion. The video also served as a preview for students interested in taking part in the club’s upcoming “Singing and Signing” event.

Sometimes I think it’s a shame we’re not away at school in the summer and home during the gloomy months of winter. For the majority of the school year, the residential areas on campus are reminiscent of an old-fashioned ghost town. While the temperatures hover in the teens and snowfall frequents the forecast, students stay huddled within the warmth of their rooms or apartments, only venturing outside when they have to attend class or their hunger simply becomes unbearable. In recent weeks, there have been a few spring-like days that have brought life to campus again. When the thermometer reached over 80 degrees, students lay sprawled out on the quad soaking up the rays while volleyballs and Frisbees flew overhead.

Some of my favorite aspects of Stockton in the springtime are the various barbecues hosted for the students by different organizations. Not only is this a huge relief for those who are running out of meal swipes at this point in the semester, but these gatherings offer students a chance to socialize with neighbors they never even knew they had, and enjoy the natural beauty of our campus at the same time. Neighborhood Watch hosted a barbecue in the freshman quad on one of the warm-weather days and received an overwhelming response from the student body. My friends and I had such a pleasant experience, we decided to attend the SET barbecue at Oasis the following week!

Though the weather wasn’t quite as enjoyable, SET put on a great event including food, live music, a surfboard simulator and a tie-dye tee shirt station! As a freshman, I found these events to be a great way to experience other members of the Stockton community and come together to socialize in a pleasant atmosphere- and the free food was definitely a key factor! I have my fingers crossed the weather decides to cooperate again before the end of the semester so that we might be able to get out and enjoy each other’s company once again.  When the weather is nice, Stockton in the springtime is a wonderful place to be.

On Sunday, October 11, I attended Fred Fest at the Lakeside Oasis with my family. This was a one-time event that was a part of University Weekend, hosted by the Office of Student Development. The event ran from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

It was sunny, warm, and overall a great day to spend at the lake. The DJ was playing fun and upbeat music that put everyone in a good mood. Soft pretzel sticks were served in abundance and ice-cold beverages were provided as a delicious snack. There were many volunteers around to help out or answer questions.

The highlight of the event for me was renting a canoe with my little sister. The rental was free of charge, so I did not hesitate to take advantage of it. The canoe allowed my sister and me to see the lake from a completely different perspective. The views are even more amazing from the middle of the lake than from the shorelines. I was also able to get a feel for how deep the lake really is, which, is not very deep at all. Although I could have spent a good part of the day out on the lake, my time was limited to just thirty minutes.

Overall, Fred Fest was a great success. Besides the free drinks and food, I was able to take away the valuable experience of canoeing across Lake Fred with my sister. The event allowed me to escape the college mindset for a moment and refresh my thinking. I would like to see similar events in the future. Stockton has access to the beautiful Lake Fred and should really find more ways to incorporate the lake into fun events for students.

Hurricane Sandy devastated much of the New Jersey coastline, destroying countless homes and leaving millions without power for days on end. Monmouth County, where I live, was hit particularly hard by the storm. The boardwalk that I stood on exactly one week earlier no longer existed, and the beach towns I frequented were in shambles. I returned to school after days of sitting in the dark with my family, feeling guilty that I could enjoy electricity while they were still without power. It was that very night that I came up with the idea to design a tee shirt that could be sold to benefit the recovery effort.

I wanted to get started as quickly as possible, so in a matter of a few hours, I came up with a design reading “Revive, Rebuild, Recover” and threw together a Facebook page to determine if people would actually be interested in purchasing the shirts. Overnight, my Facebook page received over two hundred “likes”, and countless supporters expressed interest in my idea. The following morning, I contacted a local printer in Mays Landing, who offered to print the shirts for simply the cost of materials. We decided to sell the shirts for fifteen dollars each, and donate all of the proceeds to the Red Cross’s disaster recovery effort.

            I enlisted the help of my roommate in order to accomplish this project, who eagerly took on the role of secretary, creating spreadsheets and charts to keep track of our finances. Within one week, we had sold 46 tee shirts. After placing and delivering our first order, we figured we had reached the end of our fundraiser. We had successfully raised five hundred dollars for the Red Cross, and we were extremely satisfied with our efforts. We didn’t realize just how wrong we were. In the following week, our sales doubled, as we sold almost a hundred more shirts and raised another thousand dollars. As it turns out, our first week was only the beginning of even greater things to come.

            To date, our shirt sale has brought in well over $2,000. I am truly shocked at how an idea that I came up with on a whim has grown into a truly successful fundraiser for those who could really use a helping hand. While sales have finally died down, our efforts have not gone unnoticed. We have received much praise and encouragement from the Office of Service Learning, who even suggested we form a club to continue selling shirts and generating new ways of aiding the disaster recovery effort! Even though it has been months since the hurricane, there is still a lot of work to be done and many people who can use our assistance. We aren’t sure what the future has in store for our fundraising efforts, but we won’t give up until our boardwalks are back, business is booming, and everyone can return to their homes along the shore.

On the rainy evening of October 2, 2015 a professional group of five actors and actresses put on a performance of three acts of the tales of the infamous Sherlock Holmes, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in Stockton’s PAC (Performing Arts Center). The performers presented their own variation of the stories of “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches,” “The Adventure of the Yellow Face,” and “A Scandal in Bohemia”.   Despite the weather, the weary viewers still came to see the show, taking their seats they waited with anticipation for the lights to dim and the show to begin.

The room went dark, with the growing light of the spotlight encompassing a sole figure on the stage, the hum of the violin they were playing growing louder. It was Sherlock Holmes. Then with the knock of a door, Dr. John Watson had entered and the show had begun. The production deviated from the original stories in the manner of adding short bits of comedic outbursts, actors/actresses playing characters of the opposite gender, and, most noticeably, the portrayal of Sherlock Holmes as a woman. The production stayed true to the stories for the most part, sometimes with direct quotes form the story, but the changes made no difference in the retelling of the stories, other than making them more captivating and interesting.

Overall the production was well worth the walk in the rain. The concluding scene of shock and suspense as to who this Moriarty was left the crowd on the edge, disappointed at the fact that the show was over, as the lights came on.

            In high school, one of my proudest accomplishments came from being a member of the Relay for Life committee, which consumed a great amount of my time actively planning and executing one of the most successful charity events in the country. Relay for Life is an overnight walk and community event that celebrates the lives of those who have survived cancer, remembers those who lost their battle, and pledges to fight back against this terrible disease. I joined the committee in my high school four years ago for Howell’s first-ever relay, and was overwhelmed with pride when I realized how much the event grew over the four years that I helped run the event. During my senior year, we put on our most successful Relay to date and raised over $60,000 for the American Cancer Society.

            When I found out the American Cancer Society was now bringing Relay for Life to the Stockton community, I knew I wanted to be involved. I organized a team with the newly formed Health Science Club, and we attended the event unsure of what to expect. Typically, Relay for Life events take place outdoors on a track, where participants walk laps throughout the night to signify that cancer never sleeps. Our Relay took place inside of Big Blue gym due to inclement weather, but the event was successful despite the location change. The event raised over $20,000 for cancer research and ACS patient and family services- not bad for our first year!

            Next year, I would really like to join the planning committee here at Stockton so that I can contribute to the growth of our event in the same way that I was able to in high school. I know that Stockton is capable of expanding our participation in the event, and I have made it my personal goal for our school to raise $60,000 by the time I graduate as well. If a group of high school students can do it, Stockton certainly can as well! In the upcoming years, it would be wonderful to see every club and Greek organization participating in Relay for Life.

            Cancer knows no bounds. Everyone has either been touched by the horrible disease in their own personal lives, or knows someone else who has had to deal with the struggle associated with cancer. I lost my grandfather to cancer, and one of my friends from home is currently fighting for his life as well. I want to know that I am doing everything possible to rid the world of this awful disease, and work towards creating a world with more birthdays.