Going into convocation, I did not really know what to expect. The whole freshman class had just completed reading Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele. The point of the book was to have people understand stereotype threat and how society could help diminish these stereotypes. A majority of the freshmen class piled into the PAC thinking they were just going to hear the same boring lecture we always have at these types of gatherings. Valerie Purdie-Vaughns walked out and immediately brought us into the conversation by having us talk. She included us into the conversation instead of just lecturing us.

She proceeded to talk about her research with Claude Steele and the experiments she had done. The conclusions that she came to were quite interesting to hear about and related much to the information that Whistling Vivaldi included. Valerie Purdie-Vaughns was very inspiring and strongly believed in what she was saying. She connected to her own life and her own college experiences to relate to us while teaching us how to reduce stereotype threat.

Convocation was a very memorable experience and I am grateful that the freshmen class was given an opportunity to have someone related to our common reading come and speak to us. Stereotype threat is a huge issue in our society and I think everyone should read Whistling Vivaldi and listen to the research by psychologists like Valerie Purdie-Vaughns.

            For as long as I can remember, my house has always been full of music. My dad has been in various bands throughout the years and the radio is always blasting classics while he works on one of his many home improvement projects. My little sister plays six instruments, and I have sung as a member of my church choir since I was twelve. Though I am not involved with any of musical organizations while at school, I jumped at the opportunity to see the Stockapella concert on campus last week with my roommate.

            The show featured Stockton’s three different a Cappella groups: Stockata, The Stocktones, and Stockapella- each with it’s own unique style and sound. The curtain rose to all three groups on stage together singing a chilling rendition of Fun’s Some Nights that truly started the show off on a high note. Following the opening performance, each of the three groups sang a selection of songs showcasing their own unique sound. First up was Stockata, our newest all-female vocal group. One of my favorite performances of the show was their rendition of Madonna’s Like A Prayer, led by soloist Gabby Marrone. Stockata was followed by the Stocktones, a co-ed vocal group that sang several more alternative song choices, but finished their set with an upbeat rendition of Bonnie Tyler’s Hero featuring soloist Sarah Baginsky.

While all three groups are composed of truly talented singers, it was evident the best was saved for last. The final set of the evening was performed by Stockton’s award-winning competitive a Cappella group Stockapella. Stockapella has won several awards, including Best Choreography and Best Vocal Percussionist at the Quarter Finals this year. After witnessing their performance at the spring concert, it was evident why the group has been so successful. From chilling solo performances of Mumford and Son’s The Cave by Andrew Treuer and Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black by Chrisina Cibotti, to a tear-jerking rendition of Phill Collin’s You’ll Be In My Heart, Stockapella was truly in a league of its own.

            The show concluded with all three groups reconvening on stage for their traditional farewell version of Happy Ending by Mika, during which a Cappella alumni are invited back on stage to sing with current students. It’s evident the a Cappella program at Stockton is truly a family environment, and enjoying their performance on Monday night reminded me of my own musical family waiting for me at home.

Stockton University hosted its annual family weekend from October 8^th to October 11^th, although many of the main events occurred on Saturday, October 10^th. Saturday morning began with a parents’ breakfast at 10am (an atrociously early time for a Saturday, as college students believe) in the Campus Center. After the breakfast, families gathered in the court outside of K-wing to prepare for the parade. Students were given “boom whackers,” which, although they were intended to celebrate the parade floats, also functioned as dueling weapons for rival siblings and friends. Directly after the parade, which showcased floats from many of Stockton’s clubs and organizations, students and families were directed to parking lot 5, which is in front of Big Blue, for the carnival. At the carnival, anyone (as long as he or she met the height and weight requirements) could participate in any of the carnival activities. These activities included bounce houses, obstacle courses, a rock wall, and tables with representatives from different organizations at Stockton. One of the popular activities was an inflatable dueling platform, where friends and foes tried to knock their opponents off of a platform using an inflatable wand. Another activity that both students and their younger siblings enjoyed was the bungee trampoline. The participant was secured into a harness that was attached to bungee cords. Once ready, the participant was able to jump on the trampoline and, if they dared, perform backflips.   For the students and families that enjoy sports, there was a men’s soccer game on the field next to Big Blue. Since the weather was beautiful, many families also took nature walks around Lake Fred before saying goodbye to their students and heading home. The last activity of the day for students was the Osprey Ball, which included food, dancing, and a photo booth. Overall, University Weekend was a success in entertaining students and families and building Stockton’s community.

So… Hello again! I have news! I did a SET cupcake war event and won 3^rd out of 8! When I went to the event room I didn’t think that I would be competing, I thought I’d just be watching and eating some free cupcakes, but I got a partner and we were assigned a table. The way the game works was that the first round you and your teammate grab one cupcake flavor and ice it with another flavor of icing then decorate the cupcake using the icing, sprinkles, and fondant that was provided. The catch here was that you had to decorate your cupcake to fit the theme. The first theme was animals and my partner and I gravitated toward an elephant. We put together the elephant ears and trunk out of blue fondant and then covered the rest of the icing with blue sugar. We were given ten minutes and when the time was up, we presented our work to the judges. The judges based their decisions of the winner of four categories: taste, creativity, theme, and how it overall looks. In the first round four out of the eight people were illuminated. My teammate and I got third and then came the second round. The second round’s theme was sports. My teammate got the idea of making a baseball diamond. I cut the cupcake to make it look more like a diamond and used the excess cupcake to make bases. We used chocolate icing and pound cake and we put green sugar on top of the icing to make it look more like grass. I had another idea at the last second to take some of the extra cupcake and place it on the back to look like a stadium where the people would sit. For a final touch I put a bat on one side of the cut cupcake and a baseball on the other. The funniest comment I received on this cupcake was “Oh the judges already ate it?” Anyway we won first place, probably just for creativity.  So we made it to the next round and the category was holidays. My teammate and I chose to do a Christmas present. We cut the cupcake into a square and I decided to cut a hole in the middle of the cupcake and put rainbow sprinkles to symbolize the gift that would have been inside the box. We chose red velvet cake so the judges would see both red and green. We decorated the plate with a festive Merry Christmas and hoped for the best. This was the best cupcake we had done together so far, but we lost by 2 points. It was a great time and I had a lot of fun and at the end of the night we got to eat the leftover cupcakes!!

The Honors Experience at Stockton University is a program for the incoming freshmen or transfer students who will be in the honors program. This year it took place from June 22^nd-June 23^rd. At this the students got to meet a few of the older students in the honors program as well as the freshmen and transfers who attended the event.

To start off the two days everyone went to a room and went over each other’s name and a fun fact. After going through every student, Irish step dancing was next on the schedule. At first everyone was hesitant and wasn’t sure why we were doing it. After a few hours of trying to learning and attempting the dance it was time for a different activity. All the students got some free time and could either play volleyball or go back to their room. Playing volleyball was fun because everyone was doing it. There were about 20 students at least on each side of the net, and it was easy to meet and bond with your fellow classmates. After a little bit of free time it was time for dinner, which was a taco bar.

After dinner the students learned about service learning, which is a main component of the honors program at Stockton. All the students got to be a part of a service projects that the older students were running. One of the projects was making dog toys for a local shelter, and another was making care packages for homeless people. After finishing each project the students were a part of a reflection session to go over what was accomplished in each project.

Later on that evening all the students went to a “Whose Line ” show preformed by the theater club. This show is an improv show and all the actors, who are students at Stockton, were extremely funny and would pick random students from the audience to be a part of the show. After the show was over it was time to go back to our rooms and get ready for orientation the next day.

The overall experience was a success in my mind. It helped to introduce important concepts of the honors program while incorporating fun activities. The honors program did a good job to keep the students entertained, and I would recommend it for other incoming freshmen in the honors program to attend.

Being that I have the amount of credits as a sophomore, I was qualified to apply for the Stockton Foundation Scholarship. This application required that you get two letters of recommendation, one of which had to be from someone a part of the Stockton faculty. You also had to attach a copy of your unofficial transcript and you had to write a 250 word statement about yourself.

That seemed easy enough for me, so I decided to give it a shot. I had no problem getting the letters and my transcript. But once I hit the 250 word statement, I got stuck. Have you ever tried to write about yourself in 250 words? Not only are you writing about yourself, you are trying to convince a panel of faculty members that you deserve whatever amount of compensation that they are willing to give to you to repay you for your hard efforts. You think to yourself, 250 words is easy to write. I can do this. Until you sit down with your computer in your lap, and you realize that you have way more than 250 words about yourself that you would like to tell this panel. This was definitely a struggle for me, considering if I listed the amount of things I’m involved in or have been involved in, I would use up the 250 in an instant. I needed to figure out how to weigh what was important and was worth elaborating on briefly. I needed to try and figure out how to get into these people’s head, to try and figure out what they would consider worthy of receiving this scholarship.

I did my absolute best with the 250 word statement and I think that it summed up who I am and what I stand for very well. I have yet to hear back from the panel of reviewers but I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Going away for college and leaving home can be a scary part in someone’s life. For incoming freshmen at Stockton, the experience doesn’t have to be as intimidating. Stockton Outdoor Adventure Retreat (SOAR) is a two-night, three-day program for incoming freshmen that sign up early enough. This summer, the program ran from August 25^th to August 28th at the YMCA Camp Ockanickon.

After moving into the dorms and saying goodbye to family and friends, the students went to an auditorium to get shirts, a bandana with our tribe color, a backpack with our tribe color, and various other things that would help throughout the trip. Every person was assigned a tribe and a color that they should stay with for the whole trip. The tribes were comprised of people with the same major or similar majors and 4 Talons, or leaders of the tribe. After going through a few icebreakers and mind games, we were ready for the buses to take the tribes to the destination. After 45 minutes the groups arrived on the buses and everyone gathered their belongings and went to set up the cabin.

The next three days were jammed pack with events for everyone to do. Team building was a huge component to the retreat. Every day there would be at least 2 team-building exercises. These activities could range from climbing onto high obstacles in the sky to making a simple tribe chant. On the retreat there were also a lot of activities based on how to make friends. These activities ranged from games to meet new people and be silly to simple icebreakers to remember everyone’s name.

Overall the retreat was a good experience and taught the freshmen that attended how to open up, make new friends and how to be apart of a team. I’m happy that I was able to go to SOAR and learn valuable skills that will help me throughout college. My favorite part of the experience was conquering my fears and jumping off one of the high obstacles. It made me feel so much more confident in myself. I think that the Office of Event Services, the group who helped make this possible, did a great job and hopefully they continue this retreat so more freshmen can enjoy it.

The Honors scavenger hunt was the second big event for this semester in the honors program. First I arrived ready with a group to go off and find the things assigned to us. Unfortunately my group was too big and so I opted to join a new group. This new group turned out to be a blast to work with! We first ran around the campus center searching for Argo stands, the offices, and then it was off to the main campus building. We had to get creative when it came to the schools. We had to find all of the schools on campus so instead of running through the main campus building going up and down the stairs, I decided to go out to the flags and take a picture of each flag with the school’s name on it. One adventure we had while running around was trying to go out to the entrances and take pictures with the signs. We hopped in the car, sped away and pulled over as close to the sign as we could get. We bolted out of the car ran over to the sign took the picture and ran back into the car. It was like we were robbers afraid of getting caught by the police running for the get-away car. We drove all around campus searching for everything from a police officer to the laundry rooms, to the plum and the rose (which I still cannot find). We only had an hour to try and get as many things pictured as we could and to get back to Dunkin Donuts so they could tally the scores. When we finally made it back the scores were tallied and we ended up in third place. We still got a nice candy prize while first place got a giftcard to the bookstore. Although we did not win, it was a lot of fun to go running around campus trying to get points. Hey, at least I got my exercise for the day! I hope that next year we can do this event again (and I think we will since I am the co-director of events).

I attended the “Stockton Outdoor Adventure Retreat” this summer from August 25^th to August 27^th. This program (which is most commonly referred to as S.O.A.R.) is designed to help incoming freshmen adapt more easily to college life, and I found that it did just that. I had the opportunity to meet other incoming freshmen and talk one-on-one with professors and T.A.L.O.N.S. (student volunteers that helped run the trip), who were very insightful as to how to get involved and get as much as possible out of my time here at Stockton.

S.O.A.R. was filled with ice breakers and many other opportunities to get to know everyone. Before S.O.A.R. began, I was moving into my dorm with my mom and my stomach was in knots. I was really nervous about making new friends, but as soon as I got to Camp Ockanickon, everyone in my tribe bonded through different activities. We swam in the lake, climbed on the ropes course, collaborated in team building exercises, slept in tiny cabins together, and did a ton of ice breakers. These experiences brought us closer together and I made some great friends. I felt a great sense of community between all of the students by the end of the trip, and I could tell that everyone was relieved to feel so comfortable so quickly.

Looking back at S.O.A.R., I am very happy that I was able to go on this trip and I would recommend it to every freshman. Just the experience at Camp Ockanickan alone was amazing, but the ability to bond with other freshmen and receive advice from the upper classmen volunteers made it even better. I always receive a friendly wave when I see someone that I met at S.O.A.R, and I have taken advice from the upper classmen by getting involved on campus. I couldn’t be happier about my decision to attend S.O.A.R.

This past week I participated in Building Battles. It was so much fun to go through with the people in my building and participate in the games. I however, got to see some of the background preparation for Building Battles considering that I am in RHA. During the preparation for the event we unfortunately had to reschedule twice. The original date was set for the fall so the freshman could get out and meet the other residents of their buildings. Unfortunately, this year the date had to be changed because the effects of Hurricane Sandy so the date was rescheduled for the spring so it would be warmer. Then again we had weather problems when it snowed the day before and the ground was too wet to put the inflatables on, so the date was finally changed to the last preceptor day. This finally worked out. The day began at 10 am with set up. We unloaded multitudes of bandanas, burgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers, chips, drinks, and then helped set up the games. First the inflatables came with attendants, were rolled out, and blown up. We had ordered an inflatable jousting ring and an obstacle course. After we set out the areas for the other games, we got to “test out” the inflatables which was so much fun and then the day began. It began when building “A” dressed all in red came down from their rooms and began to stretch. Pretty soon people started coming out and the games began. Each building had a specific station to go to so they could battle it out in a game. My station was called Butterfingers and 12345. Butterfingers is a relay race game where one person goes and grabs an item then runs back and gives it to their partner. Their partner then goes and picks up a second item. Eventually one person would end up carrying everything from a hula hoop to a pillow to an orange. This was such a fun game to play with the teams and anytime I was not running the game, I was participating with my building. The other games we played were musical pie in the face, pie eating, egg toss, flag tag, Stockton trivia, and volleyball. The day lasted from 12-4 and in the end my building won! It was such a fun day and it was a great way to meet and connect with the other people living in your building.