On the 26th of September, the freshman class got together in the Performing Arts Center to hear Mary Roach speak. What did she talk about you ask? Well, everything!
After several brief introductions and acknowledgements from the president of Stockton and GT Lenard, Roach came out on stage and began talking to us about herself and how she views life. She emphasized the importance of being curious and asking questions. To give us an idea of how important she feels being curious is, she told us stories about her life. She shared some of her awkward experiences that she had when she was writing Spook and she also shared a lot of her interesting experiences. Yes, all of these experiences were a result of her curiosity and uncanny ability to ask the most obscure questions. In the end, all of these experiences gave her answers to the many questions that she said are always present in her mind. Each experience gave her a new piece of knowledge that seems like it will forever stick with her.
She also told us that college is the time to be curious and to ask questions. Like many adults, she knows what kids do in college and she was one of the few adults who didn’t lecture us on trying new things or experimenting. She actually told us to try these new things and to continue to experiment but to be smart about it. She tied in some of her awkward and crazy stories when she was telling us to be curious in order to relay her point. That point being curiosity is actually a good thing. After her presentation, she opened the floor to questions and many people took advantage.
Most of the questions that were asked revolved around her book Spook mainly because that was the book most of the people at the convocation had read. Of course, the biggest question of all was “do you believe in ghosts?” To be honest, I think that is all anyone wanted to ask her. But her response was definitely something I didn’t expect. In response to the question, she told us a story of her one and only personal ghost encounter and honestly, it wasn’t that great. So her answer was no, she doesn’t believe in ghosts even after all of the research she did in order to write Spook. After the question session was over, she went to the lobby and signed books for everyone who wanted their books signed.
In the end, it was a pretty neat experience to be able to hear what she had to say, especially in regards to Spook. I didn’t expect the Convocation to be what it was, but I’m glad that we were required to go for class. It was something that I will never forget.