Christina Baker Kline is a woman who wrote an incredible book called Orphan Train and came to our college in order to share her story behind the novel. On September 25, 2014, Richard Stockton College held Freshman Convocation at 4:30 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center. It is an event held once a year run by the Freshman Year Experience Team. The book was selected by a team including GT Lenard, Tom Grites, Jack Connor, and Shelly Meyers. During this event, Christina Baker Kline came to Stockton and spoke about her book and her struggles and time working on this piece of work until it became what it is today.

To start off, the author gives a brief tale as to how this idea for a book started, and why she became interested in orphan trains. It all started on a wintery day, when Baker Kline and her family were stranded at her in-law’s house for the holidays by snow. Baker Kline’s son and her mother in-law were looking at an old book of stories, and found out that her husband’s grandfather was an orphan train rider. This was news to the mother-in-law, for she never knew about this information, and neither did anyone else in the family. This puzzled Baker Kline, for how can someone keep such a big secret from family for so long, and why would they? Thus, began her curiosity on orphan trains, which would eventually lead to her best-selling novel.

This presentation was very interesting, giving an in-depth history lesson of what started and became of the orphan trains. Baker Kline clearly showed her passion for this topic and her dedication and effort she put into this book. I was writing a research paper on the topic at this time, and I was still able to obtain new information from her presentation. She spoke of Charles Loring Brace and his plan to help save these orphaned, homeless children off the New York streets from themselves and from the city. He truly believed that he was doing these children a service, taking them to the countryside for a better life that would teach them values through hard work.

The author further explains her research on the subject, and of the people she met who were orphan train riders. She had interviewed many people during the process of writing this book, and she found that while many faced some hardships under this system, most were grateful for what they endured. If they had not been on that train, they would not have the families and the lives they had now. They would probably still be living on the streets, making a living through stealing or working in gangs, with only death or jail as their outcome.

To end, I enjoyed the Freshman Convocation very much. I found this event very informative and eye-opening to see the book through the author’s eyes. I now have a new appreciation for this novel, after hearing the author express her reasoning behind the book and gaining an understanding about the novel’s history. This event aided in my achievement of being able to see what the author’s purpose was, and I actually witnessed the amount of hard work she put into her final product, and how much this actually meant to the author. I highly recommend going to future convocations at Stockton.

Not knowing what to expect, I walked into the audition room. I had my monologue in mind—something humorous about aliens and fried clams; it was perfect for a show as out-of-the-box as “Crumble (lay me down Justin Timberlake)”. I excitedly introduced myself to the near-stranger with dark curly hair and smiling eyes sitting at a small table behind a laptop. That is Kate Sparacio, president of the Stockton Theatre club. Years of auditioning for high school shows had prepared me for this much: the walking in, telling your name and what you would be reading, and the way you are supposed to fill the space with your body and your voice.

I didn’t go in with very high hopes. The cast of “Crumble” is small, five people in all, and only three of those characters are females. I thought being a freshman and a biology major would put me at an extreme disadvantage for being cast. With all this in mind, I straightened up and turned into Trudy, a bag lady who has become an assistant to aliens coming to Earth in search of signs of intelligent life. Forgetting a few of the words was no issue; Kate laughed—at the appropriate times—just the same. I finished, she told me thank you, and I left the room, giggling and full of adrenaline.

The wait for the call back list was agonizing. They promised it would be up shortly, so my friends and I waited patiently for that list of names to show up.

After twenty minutes, a hand peeked out the door and stuck the neatly typed list of names to the wall next to it. We all looked at each other, nervous and unsure, and slowly we flocked to the list. As soon as I stood up I could see my name—but of course I had to get closer to make sure; it was unreal. A part of me wanted to take a picture to savor the moment, to send to my family, to look at it later and congratulate myself when nobody else was around—when I wasn’t surrounded by people who had the title of both friend and enemy, all at once. But I didn’t. I reminded myself this was only the half of it. I made it through the first stage, but call backs are a whole other story.

Those of us who made it to the next step congratulated each other, and were handed sides from the show to read. At this point, the object is to show the director how well you can work with the other candidates for the roles, and how you play the part. The director goes into the audition with clear images in mind about each character, and she must find these characteristics in each person she sees. This is perhaps the most exciting and the most frustrating step. You get to read for any number of characters and with any number of people. Every new side is a new experience, a new mask to wear. Despite the apparent excitement in the nature of this activity, it can be a long and tedious process. The end result, however—seeing your name on that final cast list—makes it completely worthwhile.

More exciting than anything else will be actually performing in this production for my friends and family. However, the audition process is one I will not forget and one I will not hesitate to take part in again. With each audition I have, my skills as an actress improve, because of the inherent difficulty and stress that comes with such an event. Through it all, the positive and motivational people who journey with me make it an unbelievable experience.

On September 17th, 2014, Stockton held its once-a-semester event, the Get Involved Fair, that helps clubs and organizations become known, especially to new students such as myself, become more involved in their time at Stockton. Each club at the event tries to appeal to students with different approaches, whether it be candy or a spin the wheel and win a prize set-up. Many clubs appealed to myself, and being a commuter I had doubts whether or not it was something I could do. I spoke to the club that organizes students to help with the people who are now poverty stricken as many lost their jobs with the mass casino closings. The man I spoke to was informative, and he even brought along a resident of the district and it was extremely heartfelt to me as I live right outside of the city. In addition to the more community service clubs, such as Circle K, there are clubs that appeal for entertainment and sport, such as the Fencing Club, or the Gaming Club. Overall the experience was rewarding in the fact that, as a Stockton commuter, it increased my knowledge and notice in clubs that I would rather likely not hear about due to my non residency at the college, where many meetings and events are held at times I am not there. I also enjoyed the fact every club table I went to was engaging to the any student, whether they live on campus or off, and I enjoyed meeting other students that had similar hobbies as I do.

This past Wednesday (9/17/14), Stockton held the Get Involved Fair, an event held every semester that showcases the many student run clubs and organizations at Stockton. I attended this event along with several other classmates. The event is designed to help students, primarily freshmen, get involved (as the name of the fair suggests) with the school by allowing them to find organizations that interest them.

Many of the clubs at this event are geared towards academics such as the Marine Science Club or the Stockton Biology Society. Some are geared towards community service, such as Circle K, and others are simply about having fun, like the Gaming Club or Quidditch Team. In addition to setting up creative and informative stands, clubs often give away free gifts and food to further sway students to join. Some clubs may also try a more aggressive approach to recruiting. One such approach is having a person run up and tell passerby’s face to face how great their program is and how perfect it would be for them to join. When this occurs, most of the time it is followed by a plea from the recruiters that play on the students’ heart strings. Since the students don’t want to hurt the recruiters’ feelings, they feel obligated to come to the organizations’ interest meeting.

All in all, I found the Get Involved Fair to be both informative and interesting. I joined 5 clubs and will be attending meetings throughout the week. This event definitely accomplished its goal of getting students involved, and I believe that every student should at least stop by one of these fairs. Something that I did find that could be improved on is that not all the clubs listed were actually at the event or some were only around for a short time. This makes students that couldn’t find the club have to find other means to contact them or else give up on joining it all together.

I found that the Get Involved Fair got me interested in things I would have never thought about joining. In a way, it kind of brought me out of my comfort zone and made me want to try new things. Because of the Get Involved Fair, I am joining the Quidditch Team, the Gaming Club, the Marine Science Club, the Deep Sea Fishing Club and I might even try to become an Ambassador. This event is a useful and engaging way for students to get involved and meet people with common interests.

On August 26th, most freshmen were at home preparing themselves for the rapidly approaching semester. I, however, was smack dab in the middle of the forest at Camp Ockanickon, Medford, NJ, preparing for an incredible experience.

SOAR stands for Stockton Outdoor Adventure Retreat, and I must say, that’s exactly what it was. We started off the trip by splitting off into various “tribes” of different colors, and immediately began ice breakers to become acquainted with our team. Shortly thereafter, we loaded each tribe into separate school busses and headed for the retreat. I must say, I wasn’t expecting much from the bus ride…but it ended up being one of the best parts of the trip. Barely any of us knew each other at that point, so it was pretty interesting trying to learn so many people’s names and backgrounds in such a short amount of time. When we finally got to the camp itself, that’s when I knew it would be a great time. TALONS, or The Activity Leaders of New Students, immediately broke into groups and began playing wacky ice breaker games. Once people realized that nobody there was going to judge them, more and more people participated and made these games worth the while. After the first day, pretty much everyone on yellow tribe (the best tribe in the world) knew each other’s names, and we already had established unbreakable friendships.

The next few days were loaded with various bonding activities such as rope courses and rock walls, great food prepared by the amazing camp chefs, and memories that none of us will ever forget. While I’m not allowed back at SOAR as a camper since its freshmen only, you can bet your bottom dollar I will do everything possible to be a TALON and follow in their footsteps.

The Day of Service was a life-changing event that I will never forget. The fabulous day started at seven in the morning when a couple of my friends and I went to get breakfast before the event. During breakfast we talked about what project we wanted to do that day and we decided that doing a beach clean-up would be a lot of fun. We browsed the list of projects and came across, “The Shores of Wesley Manor”. The first thing that came to our minds was that this has to be a beach clean-up and that it would be fun going to the shore for the day. After signing up for this project we realized that it was not a beach clean-up but a senior center. Although what we thought of the project and what the project actually was ended up being very different, we still decided to go to the senior center because we also enjoy being around the elderly and helping others.

The Shores at Wesley Manor was a great experience. Spending the day with the elderly and keeping them company brought joy to my heart. As a volunteer there, we had to pack give away bags for the event that they were hosting the next day. This took the six volunteers about two hours to complete because of the amount of bags that we had to put together. When we completed that we were given the opportunity to spend time with the senior citizens. This was an amazing time, because we were able to bowl with them and talk to them. Watching the elderly bowl was a pleasant sight because this little task made them extremely happy, which made me smile. Seeing other people happy always brings joy to my life.

We wrapped up the day by cleaning up the outskirts of the building. We picked up all of the trash that was on their property and made sure The Shores of Wesley Manor was spotless. Although our task was so simple, it really made an impact on my life. Helping people is such a rewarding feeling even if it is a small offer and a simple task. It was nice getting to know the senior citizens and talking to them about life. I will never forget the women that I met that day.

As the Stockton Field Hockey team takes their first steps onto the field for warm up, fans cheer from the bleachers because they too know all that is at stake in the first conference game of the season. Matched up against William Patterson as their debut NJAC game, nervousness and determination was apparent among the girls. This time last year and in many past years the Ospreys had fallen to the Pioneers, but this year was going to be different.
As the girls took their places on the field, I could feel the desire to win from the sideline. This was going to be our game. With just six minuets on the clock, Riley Ruff scored off of a beautiful corner play, putting Stockton in the lead. The girls were able to gallantly hold onto this lead until a corner was called with fifteen minuets left in the first half, and with Stockton man down, the girls did everything they could to prevent a goal, but outmatched William Patterson scored their first goal tying the game. For the remaining time in the first half Stockton held possession, making many attempts to score, the half was called.
Returning to play, Stockton was able to keep offensive motion, giving up only three shots on goal until once again a defensive corner was called. With ten minuets remaining in the game William Patterson sent in a roaring hit from the top landing in the back of the cage. Stockton was now down by one goal. After Coach Michelle Anders called a time out, the girls returned to the field not with looks of defeat but of determination inspired by their coaches confidence in their abilities. You could tell they were ready to score. Leah Davis traveled down the sideline with phenomenal speed as captain Colleen Knight rushed to meet her by the cage. Once reaching the circle Davis passed to Knight supplying her with the opportunity to score. With only four minuets left, Knight nailed the ball sending it past the opposing goalie pushing Stockton into overtime.
After a long back and forth battle of one fifteen minuet overtime it was obvious both teams were exhausted but the score was still 2-2. The next fifteen minuets would result in one teams success and the other’s failure. For the final time that day both teams took their starting positions, both exhausted, both determined but, Stockton seemed to have one thing William Patterson did which was heart. The opponent was acting out of frustration and fell apart as a team allowing Stockton to come together as one. They remained positive and encouraged one another that winning was possible if dug deep enough. Two minuets ticked away and the teamwork was apparent throughout the Stockton line up. Knight headed for the goal as teammate Ruff called for the ball, working together Knight was able to set up the perfect opportunity, and Ruff had the skill and will to fulfill it. A loud bang was all that could be heard followed by the immediate cheering, Ruff had scored the game winning goal.
The whole team stormed the field together as one creating a sea of blue and black, filled with the sense of not only accomplishment but what it felt like to be a team. Coming out of that win was not only a large confidence boost but proof showing that Stockton had what it takes to be winners. The Stockton Ospreys were currently 1-0 in their conference and more then ready for what was to come next.

On September 17th I was able to take part in what was known as the “Get Involved Fair.” This event was put on the Office of Service Learning and The Office of Student Development to get more students involved in clubs and activities. The fair was mostly an all-day event where students like myself, could check out what clubs the school offered. I stopped in, by myself, on my way to class just to get a glimpse of what I might be interested in and like I had expected there were more than just a few that caught my attention.
Two clubs that really caught my attention and they were Gaming Club and Circle K. The first club is really just a club that I want to do for fun and basically just meet new people. I love to play video games so it would be really cool to hang out with people who like to do the same thing. However, Circle K really caught my attention while I was at one of the honors meetings. I don’t remember all of the details, but the events that the club members talked about blew my mind. At high school all of the volunteer work was minor and in most cases really didn’t do much. I could easily tell that this club could really help me make a difference in the community and would be fun at the same time. Also, everyone that I talked to at the tables dedicated to Circle K seemed friendly and happy to talk about anything that had to do with helping people.
Taking the time to go to this event was certainly important to me, because it helped me meet a great deal of people and feel more comfortable here at Stockton. Also, it opened my eyes to how much the school really offered even if I wasn’t interested in most of the clubs. The idea to get involved is so important at college because here, you have to make the most of every opportunity. I mainly chose clubs that I would want to be a part of and continually attending the meetings. Whether they were fun or not, I chose clubs that gave me purpose and made me happy and feel more involved at college. All in all, this event did just that and definitely got me involved.

The Stockton TALONS really know how to make you feel welcomed.  At Welcome Week, which took place from the 29^th of August until the 3^rd of September, I participated in all of the silly games and activities hosted by the TALONS group.  My roommate and I both had our eyes set on the Stockton blanket that was given as a prize for completing the entire passport.  This passport was given to each student at move-in and was stamped at each event attended.

At first, I was timid to participate in some of the activities such as the Think-Fast Game Night or the Dance Party. Each event required you to branch out and introduce yourself to others.  Every new event meant a new introduction of yourself.  However, eventually, each event began to bring more familiar faces and less strangers.  By the movie night the last night, where we watched Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier, I had made so many friends.  While walking across the lot, nearly every person I passed had once been a stranger, but now they were my new friends.

During the events, it seemed so childish to be lead around from place to place by the leaders when we had just gained the freedom of college.  I just wanted to do what I thought all college kids want to do; sleep, eat and nap. (Which I now know is completely false… we study, study and multitask at eating, sleeping and studying.) It took until now for me to realize the reason for Welcome Week.  It was not done to completely tire out the class or to provide entertainment to those observing the obnoxious tasks.  It was created to help break the ice between all of the students.  It gave every person an equal chance to meet their fellow classmates.

Even greater than the blanket I received for attending every passport event, were the friendships I formed at the TALONS hosted Stockton Welcome Week.  It is commonly said that the friends you make at college, are the friends you keep for life.  Welcome Week made this come true for me.  My new best friend was a girl who I had met in one activity and then met up later to attend the next activity with because we had found so many things in common with one another.  I owe the TALONS group a huge thank you for helping me create lasting relationships with people who I may have otherwise never met.

On September 17th, The Office of Student Development and The Office of Service Learning were sponsoring a “Get Involved Fair.” The Fair took place that day and the day before, and I went with a couple of my friends. I stopped by as many tables as I could so I can get a better idea of what Stockton had to offer. It was just like freshman year of high school all over again; I wanted to join just about every single organization and club that I saw.
Some clubs that really stood out to me were The Stockton Quidditch Club, and Gaming Club, and most importantly, The Water Watch Club. The first couple of ones I named were some things that I would like to do for fun, but Water Watch really caught my attention. I remember that name being mentions during one of the Honors meetings, and I knew I wanted to be a part of it. Ever since I was in middle school, I have always wanted to get more involved in saving our environment and doing everything I can to help. The people at the table made me feel welcome, and I am looking forward to attending their interest meeting.
Going to this event helped me meet people who have the same interests as me, and I was able to find out more about the college. I found out that some of things I was embarrassed to love were actually embraced in this school, and now I feel more at home than I ever did before. The overall idea of this event is to “get involved,” as is apparent in its name, but I felt more than involved: I felt at home with the campus. Of course I picked some clubs that would be appropriate for my major and concentration, such as the Physical Therapy Club, but mainly, I chose to check out clubs that I would continuously look forward to attending and meeting new people. This event is extremely important, especially to incoming freshmen, because it helps us to get more engaged. It helps us to feel like we belong at Stockton, and I would say this event was pretty successful in doing just that.