On Friday, October 2^nd, 2015, I attended the play The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in the Performing Arts Center. The performers were members of the Aquila Theatre Company. The play consisted of three acts, each one being a different mystery story that Sherlock Holmes had to solve.

The first mystery was that of a young governess, who came to Holmes seeking advice on whether or not she should accept a generous job offer. After deciding to accept it, she realized some odd quirks about the family, like how they made her cut her hair short and wear a specific blue dress. Even more suspicious was that they sat her in front of a window, but would never let her turn around and look out it. There was also a room that she was to never ever go into. Holmes and his partner Watson arrived to solve the mystery, and he found that the daughter of the family had been locked up in the room that the governess was never to go in.

In the second act, a young man came to Holmes and Watson seeking advice. His wife had been acting very suspicious. First, she had asked him for a large sum of money, without offering him a reason why. Secondly, he had caught her sneaking out in the middle of the night and going to a house down the street. Holmes suspected cheating. Through investigations, they discovered that the man’s wife had been sneaking out and going to the cottage down the road because her daughter from a previous marriage was there. The wife feared that her husband would not be accepting of her child because she was black. The husband accepts the wife and child for who they are, and the mystery is solved.

The final mystery is that of the Bohemian King. He and his royal family were threatened because a woman the king used to know, Irene Adler, had a photo of them that she could use to blackmail him. The king was about to be married, and this photo could ruin the marriage if she were to see it. In an attempt to avoid a scandal, the king went to Holmes for help. The mystery ends with a letter written to Holmes by Irene Adler, explaining that she has the photograph but would never do anything to harm the king with it.

All of these characters were portrayed by just five performers. The mysteries were intriguing and there was some humor thrown in that made the performance even more enjoyable.

As a student in the School of Health Sciences, new doors are continually being opened for me into varying fields of healthcare that I never considered before. All students in the Intro to Health Science II course are required to participate in a semester-long Service Learning project within the realm of the healthcare spectrum. Originally, my group planned to volunteer with a hospice service visiting with patients in the final phase of a terminal illness. However, halfway through the semester (after completing an extensive application process, interview and background check), we were informed that there simply would not be enough time remaining in the semester to properly train our group members and still have time to volunteer with patients. At first, our group was devastated and unsure of how to handle the situation. We soon learned though, that a new door was about to open for us.

            A friend of one of my group members suggested that we contact the ARC of Atlantic County, and the volunteer coordinator graciously accepted us into the volunteer program. The ARC of Atlantic County is part of a national organization that provides services for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities and their families. Our first experience with members of the ARC came during their Friday Night Teen program. That night, we spent a few hours with a handful of teens with disabilities that come to the ARC simply to hang out on their Friday nights. Between countless games of Jenga, Apples to Apples, and Uno, the hours actually flew by. For me personally, the most exciting part of the night came when I had the opportunity to assist some of the teens in cooking grilled cheese sandwiches and muffins.

         I have known for a while now that I want to be an occupational therapist, but my experience at the ARC only confirmed that belief. Occupational therapists help people of varying ages and ability levels participate in the daily activities, or occupations, that they would like to learn how to accomplish.  While some of the patients I will be working with in future could be recovering from an accident and simply need to re-learn how to complete certain tasks, many of my patients will be people with cognitive disabilities who need to learn for the first time. There was something so rewarding about being able to show the teens at the ARC how to butter the bread for grilled cheese or measure out the right amount of sugar for the muffins because I did not just complete the task for them. I taught them how to do it for themselves, which is so much more valuable in the long run.  There is an old proverb that says, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Friday, I was able to give individuals the tools that could bring them one step closer to independence.

This is my third blog from the fall semester. I had been having difficulty with WordPress at the time, so it was never posted:

There are various forms of artistry in this world, from a painting hanging on display for all to see, to the graffiti on the underside of a bridge around the corner from the museum. Regardless of the medium, both beauty and genius can be found in a variety of settings with the assistance of an open mind and an appreciation for the cultural differences that make each style unique. Recently, I had the opportunity to experience a whole new art form- story telling through ballet.

            A few weeks ago, my roommate and I went to see the Atlantic City Ballet’s production of Dracula in Stockton’s Performing Arts Center.  Though we both took dance lessons when we were younger, neither of us had ever been to a formal ballet before. Upon entering the theater that evening, we were both excited for the experience and prepared to be captivated by the show. The dancers in the production came from countries as far as Australia and cities as near as Philadelphia, while their resumes ranged from seasoned veterans to novices in the touring circuit.  We were immediately mesmerized by the grace of the performers, as we ourselves lacked the poise to even attempt what they had managed to accomplish throughout the years. To simply witness such a production was inspiring in itself.

Though the show was beautiful to watch, understanding the piece was far more difficult than we had previously expected. For two people with no prior knowledge of the play and little experience in ballet, the task of interpreting the plot was much more challenging than anticipated. We constantly found ourselves turning to each other in attempts to clarify what exactly we were watching transpire, and we sincerely wished for subtitles to magically appear in front of our eyes. Eventually, we gave up on the effort to decipher the plot and simply let ourselves enjoy the show. Once we managed to sit back and watch the piece transpire in front of us, we found the production even more enjoyable. Through we did not know every detail, we slowly began to catch on to subtle nuances and piece the storyline together for ourselves.  By acting as if we were looking through the lenses of more experienced audience members, we were able to enjoy the ballet as an art form, and remember the experience as a truly enchanting evening.

From Sunday, September 27^th to Friday, October 2^nd, Stockton’s Live Action Gamers held their biannual Humans Versus Zombies (HvZ) game.  Over 100 players registered for the game online, most of which were designated “human.”  Three of the players became the OZs: the Original Zombies, tasked with infecting the rest of the players by week’s end.

On the first night of the game, with the picturesque blood moon hanging overhead, three human teams set out: blue, white, and purple, of which I was a member.  It began as a basic game of “Capture the Flag…”, however, as the players wandered out into the woods, the OZs slowly began revealing themselves.  Hidden among the ranks of the human players, they jumped out and tagged their unsuspecting teammates, decimating over half of blue team and a large chunk of purple team by the night’s end.

The gameplay mechanics for HvZ were simple.  Each player wore a yellow band – on the upper arm if the player was human, and as a headband if they were a zombie.  Throughout the course of the week, gameplay would continue, with the only safe havens being buildings, classes, and sports practices.  Zombies tried to tag humans; humans stunned them with NERF guns for 10 minutes before making their escape.  Each night there were different missions: collecting supplies, discovering new locations, and so on.

Unfortunately, by Friday there were only a handful of humans remaining…in no time the zombies had won.

I thoroughly enjoyed HvZ: I played as a human for two days, and returned once to play as a zombie after I’d been “turned.”  As a human, I was constantly on edge – there could be zombies anywhere!  On the way to dinner, or heading to class, or while going to meet the rest of my team for a mission, I could be targeted.  After becoming a zombie, though, things became a bit less…entertaining.  Humans I knew I had tagged insisted they hadn’t been; someone hit me in the face; we hid in the bushes for over half an hour waiting for an ambush.  While the idea behind HvZ was a good one, the execution could have been a bit better.  Perhaps next time they could find a way to make the zombie experience more exciting.  All flaws aside, I am certain of one thing: that come next semester, I’ll be out there doing it all over again.

I am a member of Stockton’s field hockey team. Being that I am a part of the team, I was required to run an indoor tournament that was held in Big Blue on Sunday February 24^th. The tournament was all day long and we were in charge of setting up, running the tournament, and cleaning up. The tournament was broken down into two sessions, the morning and the afternoon. The team was then split into each session so that no one had to be there for the duration of the day, unless they wanted to. Some of us were “ball girls”, timers, score keepers, DJ’s, and some ran the snack stand.

What was unanimous amongst all of us players was that we all wanted to put our sneakers on, grab our stick and get on that court. Because we were in charge of running the tournament, we were watching our season opponents play and were dying to get in the game. Considering our season ended in the end of October and most of us haven’t played since, we were itching to get our hands on a stick again. Unfortunately, we were unable to. Maybe next year, we can play in the session that we are not running! For example, if I worked the morning session, I would play in the afternoon, or vice versa. I guess we will wait and see!

On Thursday, October 8^th, the Stockton Honors Program celebrated its 10^th anniversary.  The celebration, which was attended by students, staff, alumni, and current and former administrators was divided into two parts: a reflection session for students, and a gathering in the Campus Center with light refreshments.  In addition, the director of West Florida University’s Honors Program, Dr. Gregory Lanier, was invited to Stockton to write a program review and interview students about their opinions of the Honors Program.

The first part of the night was the reflection session, which began at 4:30.  About 25 honors students gathered to have a discussion with Dr. Lanier about their opinions of the Honors Program.  Most students agreed that they love the community the Stockton Honors Program has created, and that they hope to do more volunteer work and service learning in the future.

The second part of the anniversary celebration was held in the Campus Center event room, with refreshments such as fruit and mini quiches provided by Chartwell’s.  The gathering recognized many of the Honors Program’s leaders, including Dr. Rosner.  Stockton University President Dr. Harvey Kesselman also attended, and gave a short speech about how much the Honors Program has grown since its creation in 2005.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Honors Program 10^th Anniversary Celebration.  It really inspired me, as well as the other attendees, to put our all into bettering the Honors Program here at Stockton.  I also was able to meet and speak with President Kesselman, which was an honor.  Hopefully by the time the Honors Program turns twenty it will be even better, thanks to the hard work of my peers and myself.

Every so often, being that I am a residential student living in a dorm room, there are mandatory floor meetings that every person that is living on the floor must attend. They are run by that floor’s residential assistant, or RA, and generally have some kind of exciting draw that hopefully makes the students want to attend.

We got word of our floor program for February by means of posters hung on our dorm room doors. This meeting was called “Perks of Being a Cupcake” and we were going to eat cupcakes and watch the movie “Perks of Being a Wallflower”. I, along with many of the girls on my floor, was thrilled! I love cupcakes and I have been dying to see that movie.

 I went, and the first thing my RA told us was to dig in to the cupcakes. We decorated them with icing and sprinkles and devoured the cupcakes. As we are biting into the cupcakes, my RA is explaining what the organization “To Write Love on Her Arms” is. She is explaining how a decent amount of people are struggling with depression at a young age and don’t show it on the outside, nor do they tell people. They keep it inside. As she is explaining this, one of the girls on my floor bites into her delicious looking cupcake to find a blob of toothpaste in the middle. My RA was trying to discuss about how people can be significantly different on the inside than one may assume, as she demonstrated with the cupcakes.

After the cupcake with toothpaste incident, I realized how brilliant and accurate that analogy was. No one was expecting to bite into a toothpaste-filled cupcake. No one expects that certain people struggle immensely with depression either. This floor meeting was definitely one of my favorites because of the exceptional meaning that was behind it, and because we got cupcakes and watched a movie!