This weekend I traveled to Philadelphia on a trip with the Honors Program to visit the Museum of the American Revolution. When we arrived at the museum, we started our self-guided tour by watching the orientation video. The video gave us a great quick history of before, during and after the revolutionary war in America. This set us up for the more detailed experience waiting for us in the upstairs galleries. As we walked through the Becoming Revolutionaries exhibit, it painted a picture of the lifestyle in America and the tension that built up to the shot heard round the world. My favorite room in this part of the exhibit was the one with a liberty tree in the center of it, which was a gathering place for daughters and sons of liberty and were symbols of resistance to Great Britain. Surrounding this tree, with a piece of the first liberty tree available to touch, was an interactive screen to learn more about events during this time and a large exhibit on the stamp act. As we continued to walk through, another part I enjoyed were the scenes they had reenacted from the war with life size figures. It truly made you feel like you were walking through history. Another part I enjoyed was the part of The Darkest Hour exhibit where it discussed the battles that took place in New Jersey. There was a large map, and if you clicked on a specific battle, lights would show up and move which demonstrated the movement of each battle. There was truly so much detail put in to this very modern museum. With every new walk through I’m sure you would be able to witness something new. From the maps on the floors, to all the interactive things to open and read, it kept one captivated the entire experience. There were also many details added that didn’t necessarily directly pertain to the war, but helped us gain a good understanding of that time. For example, some I enjoyed were pieces of their money, journals from school kids at that time and the buckles they used on their shoes. There was something for all ages, from the dress up room and large boat in the War at Sea exhibit for the kids, and even videos throughout the entire journey if you needed to sit and rest for a few minutes.

As we were getting to the end of the of the exhibits I expected there to be some grand finale of the end of the American Revolution. However, just as the exhibit showed me, the end of the revolutionary war was not the end of the American Revolution. In fact, it was just the beginning. The American Revolution is still alive today, as we are constantly striving to become a stronger, better and more equal country for everyone. The exhibit ended with a bunch of mirrors and in the middle, it stated, “The Future of the American Revolution”. I think it is important to remember that while our founding fathers got us off on the right track, it is our duty as citizens to continue their work to make America the land of the free and home of the brave.

On October 19th, this past Thursday, I attended the Stockton Democrats vs. Stockton Republicans Debate. I would like to applaud the efforts of both the Democrats and the Republicans who got up and argued for their party’s ideals. I know from personal experience that debating is hard, as it requires a broad knowledge of many topics and the ability to efficiently get your point across in the time given. Both sides did a good job in eliciting their side of the argument and made some very interesting points concerning the topics at hand.  

The issues I had with this debate stemmed largely from my involvement in the debate team at my high school, where I was given a resolution a few weeks before a debate, but not a position. My position I would receive the day of the debate, so I was forced to understand both the affirmative and the negative sides of the argument, and the strengths and weaknesses they had. I understand that this was not a competitive debate, but my point is that those rules forced me to do research in a nonbiased way, without opinion clouding the big picture of the argument.

Coming to this debate, I had expected the same of both the Republicans and the Democrats, but as it progressed, I became increasingly aware that both sides had an underlying and deep-rooted I’m-right-you’re-wrong attitude that prevented them from understanding the weaknesses in their own arguments. At which point, I felt like I was watching the 2016 Presidential Debates all over again.

Towards the end, there was some campaigning for the upcoming election, which I didn’t think was the point of this debate, nor was it very appropriate. Debates are for unbiased discussion, rallies are for campaigning.

The takeaway from this debate, I think, is a tragic one. Tensions rise and tempers steam in politics all around us. It’s everywhere—in the news, on our Facebook feeds, in dialogue between our friends, and yes, in our very own Stockton debate. From what I saw, neither side displayed a bipartisan understanding of the topics and neither were fully aware of the validity of their opponent’s argument and the fallibility of their own. In their emotionality, aggression, and campaigning irrelevant to the resolution, I see a microcosm of American politics. Americans have become so adherent to their own beliefs that those in disagreement are no longer valid, and there is no longer an in-between. It is tragic that at our own Stockton University, we have come to portray this very polarization of American politics.

I was looking for a quote by a founding father to conclude this blog post and found something else instead: a quote from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. In the words of the character, Judge John Taylor, “People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for” (Lee 232). Maybe the way to reunite our divided sides is to see more than what immediately agrees with our opinion and to listen to people with opposing views through an informed and objective lens.

On Tuesday, October 17 an event known as Food For Thought was held for the first time by a group of Stockton Faculty and Students. While the meeting was open to the public few students chose to attend, which is unfortunate because the meeting itself and the topics it covered were quite interesting. The purpose of Food For Thought, an event which going forward will be held every other Tuesday in J 202, is to gather together students and faculty of Stockton with differing opinions and values to encourage intelligent debate and find solutions for the events occurring not just in our University but in our society as a whole (and, as the name implies, there is food present). While I may have been one of the only students in attendance at this first meeting, it really was a shame because those who did not attend missed out on a wonderful opportunity.

Some of the events we discussed at this meeting included how both students and staff felt about the diversity and inclusivity at Stockton University, what issues we found with the culture and structure of the university, and ways in which the university could potentially improve its flaws. Before this meeting, I felt that Stockton offered a fairly diverse cultural society, as it tends to host many events and discussions where different cultural viewpoints are introduced. However, the longer the discussion went on the more I realized that this was not, in fact, the case. In reality there is far less racial diversity in the Stockton student body and in the Stockton tenured staff than in many universities of comparable size, which came as a bit of a shock. 

Another issue that we discussed in detail is how disjointed the Stockton University campus truly is. While Stockton University campus offers a wide range of clubs and activities to participate in, a major difficulty for students with interests in a wide range of activities is that most of these clubs occur at the same time, with the majority occurring at 4:30 pm on Thursdays. Club leaders who were present explained how the university often made it extremely difficult to schedule club meetings outside this narrow window, and will generally resist when a club attempts to do so. While this makes sense in that they are trying to insure that clubs do not schedule events during class times so as to insure the opportunity of inclusivity for the entire student body, they are in many ways doing the exact opposite by forcing students to make decision between, say, an academic versus a cultural organization.

The last thing we discussed was probably the most important area to improve, and that was the poor organization and communication of information at this university. While sites such as OspreyHub and the weekly email convey some information they generally do not contain all of the events and clubs active around campus, and so prevents proper communication between organizations and clubs that would massively benefit from it. Everyone seemed to agree that a solution to a of these major issues would be to put all information on one single source where it can be easily found, and possibly the creation of a monthly meeting where various club members could gather to share information, thus creating a sense of university. Hopefully attendance rates will increase as time progresses.

For someone who knows nothing about fraternities and sororities, I was extremely overwhelmed at the Meet the Greeks event on September 14th. I should have expected a massive amount of students but for some reason, I didn’t. I swiped into the event at the event room doors and only took two steps forward before stopping again. Where was I even supposed to begin?

I looked around and saw groups of guys dressed very formally in ties and suits. I saw other guys in big varsity jackets with Greek letters on the chest and sleeves. Girls walked around in matching outfits and high heels, wearing v-neck shirts with Greek letters across the front. I recognized these people as the current fraternity and sorority members and everyone else, wearing their everyday clothing, to be the other students. I did not expect this to be such a planned event in terms of preparation. Tables lined the walls of the room with posters, big Greek letters with sparkles and paint and groups of students surrounding these tables. The fraternities and sororities that were represented at the Meet the Greek event were really trying to grab people’s attention with the flashy decorations and big Greek letters decked out in paint.

The current Greek life members tried their best to make their way around to the other students around their tables but I noticed, and experienced, that they failed at that task. The amount of students not involved in a fraternity/sorority versus the amount of current Greek life students was overwhelming and made it nearly impossible for some students to get information on the fraternities and sororities that they were interested in. Personally, I did not enter college with the mindset that I would seek out a sorority, so this event was not one I was dying to go to. I just personally do not feel that I have the time and passion for such a commitment, but I figured it would not hurt to see what Greek life was about and maybe get some information about it and find that desire to join a sorority.

I walked around with my roommate after we observed the busy room and began walking towards the back where more of the sorority tables were located. Just as I had observed, there were not enough current Greek life members to accommodate to the amount of other students. I was rather disappointed with the Meet the Greeks event but I also did not have every high expectations for this event in the first place, considering I wasn’t real interested. I would have preferred if there were more current Greek life students to accommodate for the number of new students who were interested in joining. I think that I would have found a better connection if they maybe had fraternities one night and sororities another night so there was more room to spread out the tables and more room for the students to roam. I also felt that when I was getting more information about the different sororities, I was getting information about things I did not understand. They talked about dues and philanthropies which I did had a hard time wrapping my head around.

Overall, I think that the Meet the Greeks event would have been more efficient in recruiting interested students if the room was not as packed and if the current Greek life members were better at recognizing students standing at their tables and took the initiative to talk to them. I would suggest that the fraternities met in one room and the sororities met in another room or maybe they met on different nights. There was just too big of a turnout of interested students for the current Greek life members to efficiently speak to the interested students about their organization.

I attended SET’s first open mic night that was held in the campus center’s coffee house. I can over all say I was not impressed with the way the event was run. The talent was entertaining to watch. There were singers, a group of musicians, and a “Dad Joke” comedian. It was hard to enjoy the acts when the coffee house was filled with noise. This is understandable to a degree. Students, who  were enjoying Dunkin Donuts and playing games, were not expected to be silent and pay attention to the performers on stage. What was most frustrating was when members of SET would sit in front of the stage and talk amongst themselves. How is anyone supposed to take this event seriously if students from the event’s organization were being disrespectful. Not only were they disrespectful, they were unorganized. Performers had to sign up to perform, and when it was their time to take the stage a SET member would announce them. There were times in between acts were the MC was nowhere to be found and there was just dead space.

I think I am writing this blog with bias because I got up on the stage to perform a story that I wrote and I could tell that no one was listening to what I had to say. Yes my story was not the best and needed a lot of work. I was out of my mind with nerves and performed my adequate story like a train wreck. For my first time participating in an event at Stockton it was a nightmare. The environment that was created by audience (which was made up of mostly SET members) was not one to foster various forms of creativity. The atmosphere encouraged singers to try to sing while everyone in the audience would talk over them. It felt like a glorified karaoke event. Literally one  guy would continue to get on the stage and sing a song which he was blatantly reading off of his phone. Do not get me wrong the guy was not a half bad singer, but when he got to his third performance he was no longer entertaining.

My friends and I left when the previously mentioned gentleman was taking the stage for the third time. This was about 8:30 pm. The event started at 8pm. Needless to save there were not many acts. I commend SET for giving each participant a prize after their performance. Maybe if this perk was advertised, more performers would have showed up. The lack of performers could also be due to the fact that the semester began the day before the event, and students were not comfortable with attending an open mic.

Although I did not enjoy this event, I will attend the next and spread the word so there is a higher possibility that a focused audience and a more diverse group of performers will attend. I am really hoping some poets will come out on the next open mic night so when I attempt to tell a story no one will look at me like I have three heads.

On September 19, 2017 Stockton University hosted their annual “Get Involved Fair” where many of the clubs held at the university got a table to try to recruit new students to join their club. Most of the clubs made a poster or a trifold to show what their club was all about. The fair was located in the main campus building and covered almost every wing.

As I walked through the fair, many different clubs were calling out to me and my friends. Representatives would say that we looked like we’d be interested in their club, and some clubs even said that they’d be interested in us. The atmosphere was made to help students feel like they belonged somewhere, and it definitely worked. Many students would call us over to their tables, and some club members would wait for us to approach their tables before talking to us. Each table gave a quick synopsis about what their club was about, and if we were interested we could sign up with our emails to get notifications about meetings. It was truly a great experience because even if we didn’t sign up for the specific club the members were still excited to talk to us and understood that we weren’t interested.

The fair had many clubs that were aligned with specific majors, but also ones that were not. Personally, I tried to join the clubs that interested me, and as time goes on I will determine if I joined too many or not. I wanted to experience each club at least, to make sure I make the right decision if I decide that I joined too many. I signed up to join the biochemistry club, the animal friendly club, medical research club, and S.A.V.E. club. I plan to attend the first meetings of each and see how they go. I think I’ll stay in every club though, because they all seem really cool.

I have only one complaint about the fair, and it’s not even about the fair itself, but one specific club. I don’t want to mention the club’s name because I’m sure they’re a great organization, but the girl that worked the table was not too pleasant. A friend and I were interested in the specific club at the fair, mainly because it was about raising awareness and fundraising for a disease that had impacted both of our families. In our high school we had been leaders of a club similar to this one, so we wanted to continue doing our part in helping those affected by this disease. When we approached the table, the girl was not very inviting to begin with. She was sitting on her laptop doing her homework. So my friend and I read her poster ourselves and said hi to her. We asked if there was a sign-up sheet or anything, because there was not on the table. She responded by asking us what our majors were. After answering that I was majoring in biochemistry and my friend in health sciences and physical therapy, the girl at the table responded with “oh you won’t be interested in my club then.” She shook her head, and then returned to looking down at her homework. My friend and I were appalled. This fair was supposed to help us find where we belonged, and this club that we both felt passionately about had dismissed us because of our majors. On the contrary, we found other more accepting clubs and look forward to being a part of them.

After attending this fair, I was very pleased with my decision to attend. There were so many people reaching out to others and trying to help students find their place in school. Some clubs were giving out free stuff, and most of the time they didn’t even expect anything in return. The clubs didn’t care if someone signed up or was interested in their club, they were handing things out to make others happy. There were two that stuck out to me personally. First was the faculty run table. They weren’t promoting any clubs or anything. They were handing out free pretzels and drinks, free phone accessories, pens, and lanyards. They were just letting us know about fun events coming up within the next couple of weeks and giving us free stuff. Secondly, there was the chemistry club. They were making liquid nitrogen ice cream, and were offering it to everyone walking by. Some people didn’t even stop to see what the club was about, but members of the chemistry club were okay with it. They were just trying to give people some free ice cream. It was honestly a great experience, and made me realize how great the people of Stockton really are.

Last night I decided to switch up my normal Wednesday night routine and venture out to see the women’s soccer game. Ironically enough, it was against their South Jersey rival, the Rowan Profs. Rowan just so happens to be the school nearest to my hometown and even closer to my high school, being considered “the one that everyone goes to,” so this was the perfect game to go watch.

After dinner, I met up with my friend Olivia and we headed out to get a seat. It was an added bonus that the admission to get in was free; I hadn’t known that before going to this game. We sat about midfield but soon realized that we were much farther away from the players than we had initially expected.  Looking out across the field, each girl looked like a much tinier version of herself; we did not realize before we came that the field would seem so far away. As we sat, we also admired the vast size of the field. Olivia had played high school soccer, and I have watched soccer for a better part of eight years my sister now plays in high school but this field seems surprisingly large to both of us. I remember watching high school soccer games thinking “Wow, these girls have to play on a field bigger than what football players play on,” and this field seemed even larger than that.

The game began, and it was good competition from the start. Coming from Cumberland county and going to school in Pittsgrove in Salem county, I have always heard the news about Rowan sports and how well they are faring for the season. It was interesting to watch them in action, especially against my new school’s team. I knew a few girls on the Rowan team from different parts of my life and had heard about a few of the Stockton girls, but had yet to come into contact with them. For most of the first half it was equally matched, both teams battling it out to see who would score first. Unfortunately, much to Stockton’s dismay, the game ended in a 2-0 loss for the Ospreys. They held their own and contended throughout the entire game. It was a lively and exciting experience for my first college soccer game, and I will most definitely be attending more Stockton sporting events in the future.

On this rainy, dreary Tuesday, I was able to attend the fall Get Involved Fair. Being the unaware, naive freshmen that I am, my eyes were opened to all the possibilities here at Stockton University. Walking around the fair, touring all the clubs, organizations, and volunteer opportunities that Stockton has to offer was very heartwarming to me. It really is true that if you can dream up a club, you can make it a reality.

There was buzz around each table I passed by. Students were engaged in conversation with the leaders of organizations, acquiring information about all the amenities from said club. The C-D atrium was definitely the fullest with students, given that this area had the majority of on-campus clubs who also may participate in service activities. I particularly liked the setups and giveaways that some tables offered: everything from popcorn and snacks to wheels to spin to win free prizes. Nonetheless, my favorite table that I stopped at was the Stockton Christian Fellowship table. I was very much looking forward to meeting the students who are involved in and run this club so that I could also become a part of it.

As I was looking around, I realized just how apparent “club creating” is. From the Garden Club to the Chemical Society, anything is possible if a student has the right group of people and a plan of action. Getting the word out is the next step to making the club a productive, well-liked group that students want to attend. Having a core set of people who will run events and appreciate the topic the club discusses would also be valuable to the success and longevity of its legacy.

From all the information I gathered today, I am very excited to begin my journey as an involved Stockton student. That will be fairly easy given the vast opportunities and new clubs I saw that are offered. After today, I have decided to join the Stockton Christian Fellowship, Roteract Club, and the Spanish Club, and possibly a few more down the line. The Get Involved Fair was well worth my time, even if it was a bit overwhelming having to step outside my comfort zone to find out about the clubs.

Saturday September 9^th, was the 14^th annual day of service at Stockton University. I was able to participate, and partook in four different activities during the course of the morning and afternoon, all around campus.

The first activity was helping the students understand and participate in local and country wide political conversations and topics. We voiced our opinions on six topics that are prevalent today in the large group and compared them to national surveys of different age groups. Then, the group broke, and was given the rest of the time to make buttons in support of causes personally important to us, resister for voting and discuss the coming primary vote, and make posters to voice or opinions and share with our peers. This activity was less service and more becoming politically active and allowed us to be able to be active students in our country’s affairs and educated us so we can be politically active for years to come.

The second activity was constructing and decorating the exterior of coloring books to be distributed to children in local hospitals to brighten up their stays. During the time, I was able to construct two books, and decorate another three. My group also started a conversation about ways to support people in the community who are suffering, or on long-term medical stays in hospital.

The third activity was in league with the campus Active Minds Club, and I helped to paint large rocks that are going to be decorating the campus for an awareness scavenger hunt and make buttons to distribute and raise awareness for suicide awareness month. This activity was very close to my heart, as I have family and friends that struggle with their mental health, and to be able to give back to support those on campus who may be having similar struggles, or if not, just put a smile on someone’s face meant a lot to me.

The final activity was packing the last ten thousand meals for the Rise Against Hunger Volunteers, packing Rice-Soy meals for families and individuals in developing countries. Meals were packed in teams of four, with a bag and funnel manner, and one person apiece scooping out soy, rice, and dried vegetables. Vitamin packages were also included in the bag, to provide the recipients with sufficient nutrition.  What I appreciated the most was the fact that the next person to touch the meals will be the families in developing countries who will have a meal, for perhaps the first time in a long time. Thinking of that makes me feel like I am actually connecting with the people that I am serving.

I really enjoyed this Day of Service. It gave me a sense of accomplishment, reassured me about my place in the world, and allowed me to give back to my new community. I also made new memories with new friends, and was able to be an active member of my university community in the first week of residence, an experience I will cherish, and I look forward to the next opportunity I have to give back.