I wasn’t completely sure what to expect for my first Day of Service. My friends and I line up in our respective lines to get signed in and go down to the campus food court to have breakfast. We sit gathered around the table, focused on what exciting work we will be doing. Immediately, my eyes lock in on Dune Replenishment. Being a marine biology major, I love doing anything I can that will help the shore. Being able to plant dune grasses to replenish dune damage done after Sandy made it almost a done deal! Once my name was put on the list and the welcoming remarks were said, the dune replenishment bus was on its way.
Once in Atlantic City, we were given a briefing of what we will exactly be doing. Using bamboo sticks, we were to dig holes deep enough for the roots of the dune grasses. Easy enough, right? Well, considering we are not just digging in sand, those bamboo sticks could take a very tough toll. In some places, the bamboo was the perfect tool. However, in most places, a pickaxe would have done better.
Little by little, progress was made. The 2,000 plants we were handed in the morning were slowly becoming part of a sand dune. The blue van that was placed as our goal line became nearer and nearer. After a quiet lunch break by the shoreline, we finally reached out goal. The last grass was planted and the team felt accomplished. We gathered for a picture and waited by the shoreline until the bus came. Walking along the shore and the ruins of a boardwalk really made me think. The project made me think about the magnitude of damage that a storm like Sandy can do. Not only were we working by what used to be a boardwalk and is now just stone structures with no boards attached, the dunes we were restoring were half in the street. Also, while planting grass seems like a minor contribution, the project made me think about how a simple thing like planting grass can help with not only erosion, but also a new habitat for animals, who have been left without a home due to Sandy.
The Day of Service was a wonderful event. I was extremely grateful to be able to contribute any service that was needed to Atlantic City. Dunes? Replenished. Amazing day? Most definitely!

Once the academic day is finished, many college students are on the prowl for one of two things: food, and/or something fun to do. While I agree that fun activities are needed to relieve the stresses that are produced by the everyday academic struggle, I also believe that we as college students have the duty to, on occasion, ponder some of the more difficult issues that will one day be passed off to our generation. The trouble is getting college students interested in these difficult subjects. One solution that seemed to have a great impact was presenting a difficult subject in the form of live theater.

The second show that was produced by the Stockton College Performing Arts Center was one named Hello Herman. I had the great honor of being casted in the show as three different supporting roles. I must say that being involved in this show was definitely one of the greatest experiences of my first semester here at Stockton. I made so many friends and had honestly the best time working to perform a show that truly is difficult in its subject matter. The whole premise of the show is to show the issue of violence amongst the youth of America, and to show the possible motives that would drive a teenager to use violence to express their anger. The plot follows Herman Howards, a sixteen year old from fictional Broom, Iowa, as he carries out a Columbine-style shooting of his high school. The one major difference is the magnitude of the shooting. Howards shot 43 students, 2 teachers, and 1 police officer, making this shooting the worst mass school shooting in American history. The play then goes into an interview style as Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, Lax Morales, attempts to unravel the teens incredibly twisted mind. Through the use of flashbacks, the audience learns of Herman’s past, as well as Lax’s back story which eerily parallel that of Herman. There are also various subplots, such as the romantic plot between Lax, and news reporter Sheila Duval. While all these elements are unfolding, the audience still has to think about an element introduced fairly early in the show of if Herman will be executed, in addition to if the execution will be televised.

Through the course of the play, the audience learns that Herman’s father cheated on his mother, and left when he was eight. It is also revealed that Herman’s younger sister, Julia, was hit by a car, and died three days later in the hospital. The cause of Julia’s death could also be attributed to the fact that their mother, Gail Howards, was working and too busy to rush home right away and care for her daughter. Herman was the only one home at the time, and could not deal with the situation correctly, which seemed to be haunting him in his later years. Herman’s inability to correctly mourn the loss of sister may have also contributed to his insanity and facilitated his decision to do what he did.

In the end, Herman is executed on television, and the audience is left with this awful pit in their stomachs. When asked if they enjoyed the show, many of the audience members replied with that while they did not enjoy the subject matter, they did thoroughly enjoy the acting, which pleases me greatly. Despite being proud of a great production, I am also thrilled that the show was able to bring a very real issue in our society to the forefront of our students’ minds. If anything it got people talking, which is a great start, to hopefully what will be a definite solution to this enormous issue.

My one regret in high school was my lack of involvement during the first three years on my high school career. After my mother used her superior powers of persuasion, in my senior year I joined our schools Drama Club. This would turn out to be the best decision I would make in my high school years. Without rambling on into a short dissertation about how the Drama Club changed my life, it can simply be stated that this club became my life, and its members, my family. Upon my arrival at Stockton, I sought out the theatre program here in an attempt to continue to experience all the wonder a theatre family creates. In short, I have been heavily involved with Stockton Theatre Club, and I am honestly having the time of my life participating in all our events.

The first show of the semester that Stockton’s Performing Arts Center put on was The Profession. The show was student directed by Dan Cerullo, a senior who is scheduled to graduate this December. The cast of the show was what you could consider to be a fairly small cast, featuring only three characters. The stage crew was only slightly larger, with a crew size of four people to assist in the transitions from scene to scene. While the cast was set way back in the begging of September, the crew, however, was only solidified when I offered to join as the fourth and final crew member a mere week before opening day.

The Profession is an absurdest, dark comedy, which physically engages the audience in an interactive manner. The absurdest aspect of the show allows for the audience to draw their own conclusions as to what it is the Profession itself really is, in addition to the intended ambiguity of the ending which always leaves the audience with more questions than they arrived with. For some, not having a clear-cut ending becomes a troublesome matter, yet in my opinion the fact that the play allows for great variation in translation, is one of the highlights to the genius of the playwright, Walter Wykes.
The plot follows Eugene, played by Jeremy Rotolo, as he tried to make sense of his world which seems to be crumbling down upon itself. Eugene has just joined the profession, yet he can tell that something is amiss when it comes to classmate Rosetta, played by Taylor Cawley, and instructor Schafer, played by Ryan Gorman. Eugene begins to question the Profession, and as he does, the fabricated world that the Profession creates begins to reveal itself to him. Through it all, Eugene’s wife Ibid, also played by Taylor Cawley, is there to ease his heart and steady his mind. The final act of the play features Eugene’s desertion of the Profession, which culminates in a mad scrambling of characters, unveiling of lies, plot twists in every direction, which undoubtedly render the audience bewildered and wanting more.

I must say that the show was wonderfully directed by Dan Cerullo and his cast really did a stand-up job on every night’s performance. I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of this phenomenal production and experience what it is like to be a part of a college level performance.

On September 7th, Stockton College participated in the Annual Day of Service. It is said that the Day of Service has always taken place on campus in the years past, but this year was the first year that Stockton has gone completely off campus for the project. The theme this year was Do AC, which included a multitude of different projects dispersed throughout the city to benefit the overall community. Having participated in a wide variety of service projects in high school I had a pretty good image for what I was about to undertake, yet in reality the day took a turn that I would never had expected in my wildest dreams.

Upon my arrival to the campus center event room, all the participants were split into different groups which would carry out a different service project. Due to my incredibly indecisive nature I milled about for some time and, as only the ever present irony of life would have it, I returned to the project at which I went to first, but of course the project was full. The project I ended up with was voter registration, which at first I had the notion that the opportunity to sit at a table and fill out some papers would be a somewhat enjoyable one. If anything, I had foolishly believed the task would be easy, and my lazy nature would be able to commandeer the forefront of my mind. I could not have been more wrong.

The reality of the task assigned to me was the grueling process of trudging up and down the boardwalk, in addition to the sullen feeling of blunt rejection and lewd comments that seemed to be, in simple terms, unnecessary. The occasional smile and polite response would be an uplifting gust of wind that would undoubtedly recede, allowing my spirits to sink yet again. After a couple of hours of this same process repeating over and over again, I found my mind begin to stray from the task at hand, and eventually I found myself contemplating the current issues and universal truths of life. Returning to our base camp I discovered that my comrades had the same minuscule amount of success.

After the Day of Service was complete, I had definitely learned a thing or two. First, I learned that people on vacation would have nothing to do with the confusing world of politics, or any other task they deem unworthy of their time. I also learned that there are many jobs throughout the world that have a minimal amount of positive response, and feel as if their work is fruitless, yet it is these people and these jobs that actually carry a great amount of significance in the terms of actual change in our society. If anything I will most definitely have a greater amount of respect for those individuals who are in any sort of service position.

On November 19, Stockton’s Alton Auditorium had an inspiring event for a few dozen students and staff members. One of the students who is a womens rights activist organized a showing of the film “Girl Rising”. Due to time restraints we were only able to watch the first half of the movie.

This movie was about different girls around the world who had common themes in their lives. The main theme throughout the film was the need for girls education, and other themes were young girls getting married, and sexual assault. The girl’s struggles varied from bonded labor, violent assaults, to severe poverty.

The most moving story was of a young girl named Suma who lived in Nepal. Her parents were too poor to take care of her so they made her live in a home with a couple who forced her into bonded labor. She had been with a few different families throughout her childhood who treated her like a slave. She endured the pain of the hard labor she was doing and coped by writing music. She is now freed and is working towards making sure this bonded labor of children will come to a stop.

Seeing this film was moving and made me realize how much I take for granted. Here in the United States most girls go to school and complain that they have to go. It truly makes me grateful that I not only got to have an elementary education, but now a continued higher education here at Stockton.

This film was able to move many people at Stockton and also, I’m sure, in other parts of the world. I am happy that I go to a school that exposes these global issues with dialog sessions. Hopefully the word about the injustices done to these girls will get out on a larger scale and something can be done about it.

If you are bored on a Wednesday night, gaming club is the best place to be. There are so many different games to choose from. From board games to video games to card games, this club has it all. Well… it almost has it all.
The only thing that disappointed me was that they did not have the game pictionary! It is my favorite game of all time. When I realized that they did not posses pictionary, I quickly found the guy in charge and expressed my concern. His name is Mark and he is the president of gaming club. He let me know that there is a suggestion list of games for the club to buy, and they are really open to any types of games that people would like the club to have. All I needed to do was add it to the list, so I did.
The first game I played was cards against humanity. There was about twenty people playing in total. The group of us were having a great time and I think our laughter was drawing in more and more people. There was so many of us, but not enough chairs or table room. We eventually had to split into two different groups because more people showed up and they were forced to stand.
Another game that I played there was elefun, which is a game that is typically played by children three and up. College students fall into that category right? Gaming club does not discriminate against any type of game. Whether it’s games for children or games for the elderly, they would accept it. They take all suggestions and they will even buy games from people. It is a great place to make friends and to take current friendships to the next level.

The other day, my friend Julie and I were walking back from our N-wing lunch extravaganza and something caught our eye. We noticed that some fellow stockton students were setting up some sort of table. As we got closer we could make out some t-shirts on the table along with some other items. We asked one of the girls how we could get a shirt and she said the first fifty people could get one. After finding out that information we decided to find out what this little shindig was all about. Apparently the Unified Black Student Society was throwing a Welcome Barbeque in the freshman quad.
Originally we were just going to go for the free shirts and then bail but we decided to stick around for a while so we felt like we actually earned the shirts. One of the stands that was set up was a build-a-bear type worksop where you could stuff your own bear. You even got to give it a birth certificate and name it and everything. After we made sure our bears had proportional amounts of stuffing in each limb and the belly, we tied up the string in their bellies to keep them forever.
After that we got to the actual barbeque and ate hot dogs and hamburgers which were
delicious. We ventured over to the popcorn stand afterwards. Next to the popcorn machine was a photo booth that Julie and my friend Heather and I squeezed into. Everyone loves a good photo booth!
As we were about to leave, we saw a guy starting to set up an art easel. He was right in the middle of all the commotion. This could only mean one thing… caricatures! After he set up, Julie and I watched him draw a few caricatures and this guy was amazing! The amount of talent he had was unbelievable. We weren’t sure if we wanted to get one or not. It was a weird thing to have people watch you as you got your face drawn. Finally, we decided to get one because it was free so why not? It turned out beautifully!
Once again, we decided to leave because we didn’t think there was anything left to do but we were proven wrong once again! There was a bean bag toss where you could win prizes. At first they were giving out gift cards but they were going fast. When we played, the prize was t-shirts! We were very excited for more free t-shirts so we played for about a half hour trying to get our bean bag in the hole. Eventually they just gave us the free t-shirt because we just were not getting it.
Over all the barbeque was very fun. You can’t go wrong with free food and prizes! The music was great, and the atmosphere was even better. The Unified Black Student Society definitely made my day.

On Saturday, November 2nd, the Freshmen Honors Program went on a trip to the Eastern State Penitentiary. We took a day tour of the prison and learned about the history of the prisoners, the architecture and the means of security.

Eastern State was the first of its kind in terms of the purpose of housing prisoners. Eastern State was first developed to rehabilitate lesser criminals. Each prisoner had his own room and only had human contact for an hour each day. This arrangement allowed the prisoners plenty of time to reflect on themselves and their crimes.  Another aspect of Eastern State that made it different from other prisons was the setup of the prison. The main watchtower was located in the center with rows of cells diverging off of that. The guard in the center watchtower was able to see down all of the rows and easily spot someone trying to escape. The penitentiary had very high walls to keep the prisoners from escaping. Also, the prison was designed to resemble a castle. Many of the prisoners were immigrants from Europe and were taught to recognize castles as a symbol of royalty and power, therefore, feeling submissive in their presence. On the tour we also learned about some of the interesting prisoners who were held there, one of them being Al Capone. We were able to see Al Capone’s cell which is still intact. It was far from an ordinary cell and had a lamp, comfortable chairs, and a desk. The tour was highly informative and thoroughly entertaining.

After the tour we went to Bookhaven. It was a small bookstore that was filled to the ceiling with used books. The store was three stories and filled with a wide variety of books. Bookhaven had non-fiction, collections of Sherlock Holmes stories, and the full works of Hemingway. The second I stepped into the store the sound of classical music and the smell of books created an ambiance that is unparalleled by any other book store.

Overall, the trip to Eastern State Penitentiary was informative, entertaining, and truly delightful.

Since I am from North Jersey, Philadelphia is not a common place to go.  When I received the form to go to Eastern State, I was really excited because not only would it be an interesting place, but I was finally going to see Philadelphia since everyone here seems to talk about it.

Eastern State had looming walls that seemed to stand thousands of feet above my head with large gargoyles looking down at every patron that were out specifically for Halloween.  Walking through the gate we were ushered into a larger area that had a negative, gloomy feel.  The tour guide quickly pointed out that a few of the storage sheds weren’t meant for our tour, but for the Halloween tour, and I had instantly wished that I went to see it earlier that week.  Even though I wish I went, I’m not sure that I would’ve been able to make it through the creepy wings of the penitentiary without sheading a few tears.

I think that the most interesting thing about Eastern State was the fact that it was supposed to be a place of reform, yet the overall feel of the place was one of despair.  If I had to spend time in a place as miserable, I’d probably end up going crazy.  The inmates were originally expected to spend their punishment in complete solitude in concrete cells.  In the early formation days, prisoners never fully went outside, they just went to a small cell without a ceiling.  It also bothered me how small the cells were; I think that everyone would be destined for failure and become mentally unstable because they really are tiny.  What I don’t understand, however, is how they didn’t record people’s success.  If this is a place for reform, how can a reputation be built without tracking the success of the criminals?  Convicts would be released after their sentence and could leave the area and commit the same crime, yet people would think they were first time convicts.  I think that hearing about how the place changed, such as letting prisoners go outside and teaching them trades, was really interesting though.  I really enjoyed the fact that people were able to escape by making a ladder in a class trying to teach them trades so they would be successful after their sentence.   I also thought that Al Capone’s cell was really cool to see.  I’ve always been interested in the twenties, so seeing the notorious mobster’s cell was something that made my interests more than a story from a history book; it became real.

After the tour, we were allowed to explore the neighboring blocks, which was awesome.  There was a used bookstore, called Book Haven, which was absolutely unbelievable.  There were books piled all over the store, and there were multiple floors.  This was a store for anyone who wanted to find a new favorite book, or even books that have fallen into the black hole that is the literary world.  It was a cozy store that one could easily spend a decent amount of money or time in.  I definitely think that it’s a store that I should go back to once the stress from the semester is done limiting my free time.

Overall, I think that this was a great trip, and really enjoyed my first time really going to Philly.  I hope that there’s more interesting places to visit during my time at Stockton, because I’d love to see other things too!