At 9:30pm on Thursday, April 14^th, the honors RAs held a dialogue/reflection/service project called “Express Empowerment.”  The dialogue emphasized the importance of freedom of speech and how lucky and privileged we are as Americans to be able to speak our minds.  We also heard some true stories about activists in other countries who were imprisoned or beaten for encouraging political discussion in their communities.  Amnesty International, an organization that stands up for the right to freedom of speech across the globe, was also discussed.

After the dialogue (which included interactive answers via texting) and a brief reflection, all the students who attended were given a piece of poster board, a paintbrush, and some paint to create a protest sign about a cause that means a lot to them.  My sign said “We need sySTEMic change,” as I truly believe schools need to place more emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math.  Other students’ signs discussed drone regulations, mental health, gay rights, capitalism, and more.

I really enjoyed this event.  I feel like many people take freedom of speech for granted.  They use it in their everyday lives, but never realize the good they can do if they use it productively.  I myself often take it for granted.  Having been to this event, I hope to use it to make positive change both in my community and abroad.

From March 28^th to April 1^st, Stockton hosted a group of Tibetan Monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery.  Over the course of the week, they worked on a large, hand-made mandala as part of their Sacred Art Tour, and gave demonstrations on Tibetan music, culture, and food.  They also sold clothing, jewelry, and more in the C/D Atrium, and took donations to support their monastery.

I was incredibly surprised to find out about the monks.  I was sitting outside Au Bon Pain when I heard a thunder of drums – I wasn’t sure what to think.  Of course, I went to go see what was happening and was amazed to see that there were about ten monks chanting in ceremonial dress.  It was incredible to watch, as was the creation of the mandala.  I really wanted to attend many of the demonstrations, such as the cooking class, but wasn’t able to due to classes.

The small shop the monks set up had some really incredible things.  Besides clothes and jewelry there were also hand-made notebooks, prayer flags, bells, scarves, and more.  I bought a few things as gifts, and a prayer flag with a Dalai Lama quote to hang in my dorm room.  I also enjoyed looking at the binder on the donation table.  Inside were pictures of all the young boys training to be monks, as well as fun little facts about them.   I really loved the whole experience, and it was nice to go about my day and randomly run into the monks – heading towards the bathroom, eating at n wing, and so on.  It made my week, and I hope that I get to witness more Tibetan culture in the future.

On April 12^th, Cassidy Troy and I hosted our first ever dialogue session, entitled “Poverty Porn.”  The dialogue focused on misconceptions about poverty in developing countries and how best to help these countries through service projects and volunteer work.

The dialogue began after the monthly Honors meeting.  Everyone who attended was given two sticky notes and asked to write the first word that came to mind when they heard the words “poverty” and “service.”  After the dialogue, these words were used as a jumping-off point for a brief reflection session.  After placing the sticky notes on the board, we addressed common myths about developing countries and poverty, such as lack of resources, food shortages, foreign aid, and more.

A lot of people came out for the dialogue.  Cassidy and I put a lot of work into creating it, and were really glad that there was a nice turnout.  We tried to take a very serious subject and make it a bit more lighthearted, while still making clear the consequences of believing “poverty porn.”  We learned a lot while planning the dialogue, and hopefully we passed some of that knowledge on to the others honors students.  I really hope to do more dialogues and reflections in the future, and inspire others to reevaluate their service projects so that they help, and don’t hurt, the people they are trying to aid.

On March 28^th, the Honors Program hosted its annual Honors Scholars Day.  This event matches an incoming honors student with a current honors student to see what everyday life is like for students in the Honors Program at Stockton.  At 8am, mentees began filing into Meeting Room 5.  They were given a name tag, offered breakfast, and then whisked away by their mentors to class.

Mentees were matched up with mentors that had the same major as them for the most part, though there were a few mentees who had to be matched up with someone else.  On the whole, it was a great way for prospective Stockton Honors students to see first-hand what attending Stockton could be like.

My mentee was a geology major.  Luckily we had many requirements in common, and he seemed to enjoy the classes I brought him to.  It was a really great experience, and I had a lot of fun!  I attended Honors Scholars Day as a mentee last year, and it was really cool to see what college life would be like.  I loved taking part as a mentor this year – it was like my whole freshman honors experience had come full circle.  I can’t wait to do it again next year!

March 2^nd marked the Career Center’s annual Professional Etiquette Dinner.  For just five dollars, students were treated to a multi-course meal and instructed along the way on proper dining etiquette in business settings.

I learned a lot at the etiquette dinner, and realized I’d been doing a lot of stuff wrong!  I didn’t lay my napkin on my lap correctly; I should scoop soup away from me, not towards me; and I should put my knife down and eat with my dominant hand, instead of having knife and fork constantly at the ready.  Besides being taught all these things, the other students and I were also given the chance to ask our instructor questions.  I didn’t ask any, but the students who did were given really good answers.

Besides being taught etiquette, the other incredible thing about the dinner was the food.  I was amazed by how incredible it was!  There was a white bean escarole appetizer, followed by salad, soup, bread, a lemon sorbet, the entrée (fish, chicken, or a vegetarian option), and desert.  Everything was cooked to perfection, and I was stuffed by the end of the night!  If only I could have food like that every day…

The Professional Etiquette Dinner was a great experience.  I’ll definitely be attending next year to see how much I retained!

On Friday, February 19^th, Alpha Lambda Delta inducted its new members.  This National Honor Society for First Year Students also welcomed two honorary members, including Stockton President Dr. Harvey Kesselman.  Inducted students said ALD’s pledge, received their certificates of membership, and were treated to an Italian dinner, courtesy of Chartwells.

ALD, founded in 1924, admits students who have a GPA of at least 3.5 and are in the top 20% of their class.  In addition to academic excellence, ALD stresses volunteer work and offers $200,000 in scholarships a year to their members.  Though there is a small membership fee, it’s worth it, given the many opportunities the organization provides.

I really enjoyed the induction.  It was nice to see many of my fellow Honors students there and to get recognized for all my hard work.  The first semester of college can be really difficult, between adjusting to living alone, new classes, extracurriculars, and volunteer work, so the Alpha Lambda Delta induction really made me feel like it was all worth the hard work!  Though I can’t always make it to meetings because I have lab, I still try to get involved when I can.  Hopefully next semester I’ll be able to make it to all the meetings and get to take part in ALD’s many service projects.

On Wednesday, March 30^th in the Townsend Residential Life Center, three RAs held a “Safezone” training session.  Safeezone is a program aiming to inform students about the issues facing the LGBTQ+ community, as well as create a safe place for LGBT youth.  Each Stockton student who attended was given a Safezone sign to hang on their door knob, letting other students know that, if they needed it, help was available.  Each will also receive a certificate stating that they are Safezone certified in the future.

The program was extremely informative.  From 8pm to 10pm, about ten other students and I took part in many activities, including watching videos and matching LGBT terminology with definitions.  We also were read anti-LGBT or offensive statements and asked to group ourselves based on how confident we were that we could provide a calm, informative answer.  The training stressed this point in particular, making sure we knew that, in order to make real change, LGBT advocates must be calm, level-headed, and informed.

As a future high-school teacher, I thought becoming Safezone certified was incredibly important.  High school is a crucial time for LGBT youth, who are often just coming to terms with their sexuality and gender.  Teenagers can be cruel sometimes, and it’s important that LGBT teens know they are loved and appreciated, and that they have a safe place to go to if they need help.  I really enjoyed being Safezone trained, and I hope Education Majors at Stockton take the time to get certified, too!

Stockton Edition of The Voice
On Wednesday the 12th of November, my friends and I had decided to watch singers perform in Stockton’s Edition of The Voice. The event was planned by SET and we were interested in seeing how everything would come together. It was an overall good show to watch and all of the singers were very talented. However, they should have explained the rules to the audience beforehand.
The way that SET ran the show was very different from the actual show on NBC. On Wednesday night, during the show the contestants came out on the stage and got ready to sing. The judges had their backs to the audience and the performer. As the performer would sing, judges would turn around in their seat if they were interested. Then they would automatically be assigned to coach that singer and the other judges would turn their seats around. At first it was unclear as to which judge would be coaching the singer because nobody had explained the rules in the beginning. My friends and I were left to figure the rules out on or own.
There was an intermission after all ten contestants had performed. During the intermission the contestants were coached by the judge that chose them. Everyone else in the audience was able to enjoy root beer floats and soft pretzels. After the intermission, the final four was revealed. I agreed with some of the singers chosen for the top four, but I had some other performers in mind.
While the judges deliberated for the final rankings, most of the singers who had performed gathered back on stage and sang an impromptu mixture of beats and songs. I enjoyed seeing them all harmonizes together. I did not agree with the final results that the judges chose, but each performer did a great job.

Homecoming Spirit Night
A great way of kicking off Stockton’s Heroic Homecoming Weekend was with Spirit Night on the 11th of October.
One of the first things to happen was the crowning our Stockton’s Homecoming King and Queen. I can tell that the competition was tough this year because everyone did a great job campaigning, and I liked the creative videos that they came up with. In the end, Matt and Laura were crowned as the king and queen.
A lot of Stockton’s clubs were able to let the audience know of upcoming events and fundraisers. One club in particular that did something different was Stockton’s Sign Language Club. They signed the Taylor Swift Song “Shake It Off”. It was cool to see them all get really into the song and show everyone how fun learning sign language can be. Stockton’s dance team and cheerleading team both had performances. It was clear that all of their hard work paid off.
The sport teams were able to give themselves a little introduction of how their season was going. I was surprised at how well some of our teams’ records were. For example, our basketball team’s record for the past season was 25-5. Our baseball team also had a pretty strong record. Other teams such as the soccer and field hockey teams were trying to finish off their seasons strong, and they had exciting matches coming up against Ramapo and Rowan.
After the program was over everyone was able to get t-shirts for our Homecoming Weekend and have some pizza. Spirit Night was followed by an event hosted by the SET club. There was a comedy show featuring Nicole Byer and Kevin Barnett. It attracted a larger audience. I was familiar with the comedians because they are on the MTV show Girl Code and Guy Code. They are just as funny in person as they are on MTV. A lot of their jokes were about finding humor in themselves and their flaws. It’s good for everyone to be able to laugh at themselves and any situations that may come their way.
Overall Spirit Night was a fun and exciting way to get everyone ready for the Osprey Ball that followed the next day.

Whose Line
On September 24th one of my favorite events took place which is Whose Line. This was my third time seeing this comedy, but what made it more exciting and special this time was having some of my great friends featured in the show. It was exciting to know that the show would feature a lot of freshmen
The show started with the improve game where all of the actors create a scene but they all enter at different times and change the plot. Then as they exit the scene the plot reverts to the previous one. It was entertaining to see how quickly everyone could shift from the different scenes.
Some of the games required participation from the audience, which was great to see. For one of the games, three people were selected from the audience and they had to keep the scene going by only asking questions. I could tell how difficult this was for some of the actors because when one is caught up in the moment and put on the spot it is hard to follow the rules all of the time.
One of my favorite games that they did was called “Why Were You Late,” and one of the actors had to actor out three reasons why the other actor was late and she had to explain them to her boss, who was a volunteer from the audience.
Overall it was a great show considering it was many of the actors’ first times being on stage at Stockton.