Stockton News - Feb. 9, 2024 - University Relations & Marketing

Stockton News - Feb. 9, 2024

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

Unified Sports Club Celebrates

10th Year with Special Olympics

Stockton's Unified Sports club is celebratingits 10th anniversary this year of being affiliated with the Special Olympics of New Jersey — and the basketball team has a title to defend.

The student-run club is one of 10 at a New Jersey college or university that compete in soccer in the fall and basketball in the winter as part of the Unified Cup, which the Ospreys won in basketball last year for the first time.

“One of the greatest things we do here in athletics is unified sports, and all the credit goes to our Stockton students,” said Associate Director of Athletics and Recreation Jeff Haines, who oversees the club. “The time, the dedication, the passion and the patience they have for our Special Olympic unified athletes is incredible.”

Special Olympics is dedicated to promoting social inclusion through shared sports training and competition experiences. Unified Sports joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team.

Haines said that while the club has been affiliated with Special Olympics New Jersey (SONJ) for 10 years, it was established at the school at least 15 years ago. Currently the program features about 20 athletes for soccer and about 40 for basketball, according to SONJ, while about 10 to 15 Stockton students participate in the program as aides and coaches for the athletes.

The athletes, who range in age from their 20s to their 40s, meet with the students weekly on campus for practice. The club also plays once a year in G. Larry James Stadium at halftime of a Stockton intercollegiate soccer game and once a year in the Sports Center at halftime of a basketball game. This year’s basketball game on campus will be Wednesday, Feb. 14, during the men’s basketball game vs. Kean University.

SPACES Encourages Students to Create Community

Space is defined as the freedom and scope to live, think and develop in a way that suits one.

During the Feb. 7 welcome reception for SPACES – an initiative that works to advance belonging for Stockton's increasingly global campus – Ellis Bonds, ’15, opened up about how the creation of different spaces on campus is important when it comes to the university experience for students like him and thanked Residential Life for supporting his growth on campus.

“When I was a student here, I was still coming to terms with who I was and my sexual identity, so home was not a safe place for me to go at that time, unfortunately,” said Bonds, who is interim director for Residential Education. “I was an EOF student, student senator, orientation leader, pledged for my fraternity freshman year and became the Greek Council president later on in college. But all of those things wouldn’t have been possible if I did not have somewhere to live. Residential Life was the office that provided that space for me to be able to stay on campus all four and a half years and get to the finish line, but also have a space where I could just be myself, be free and not have to worry about judgment from others.”

FRAME-WORTHY

Spring Art Gallery Focuses on What You See Outside

What’s outside inspires the two new exhibitions inside Stockton’s Art Gallery for the spring semester.
In the lower gallery, 16 artists have contributed to “We Are the River: Complex Narratives, Conservation and Committing to New Jersey’s Waterways." The exhibit takes a closer look at each of the major rivers and watersheds in the state.

“The exhibit examines how contemporary artists are inspired by, interact with, and interweave their own stories into the complex history of our New Jersey rivers,” said Exhibition Coordinator Ryann Casey, who curated “We Are the River” with Collections Specialist Allie Wilson. “The exhibition will address the past, present and future of rivers that once brought life but now threaten the very communities they help build.”

📰 In the News: Patch.com

WHAT'S TRENDING @ #STOCKTONU

whats trending - feb. 9, 2024 Facebook: POV: You are on an 11-mile run with Jaelyn 🏃🏼‍♀️

Instagram: Do you know someone who is Stockton bound for Fall 2024? 🦅

FROM THE SIDELINES

Men's Basketball Roars Past Lions

The men’s basketball team used a strong first half and downed The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) on Feb. 7. EJ Matthews-Spratley topped all players with a game-high 25 points.

Stockton exploded in the first half, shooting 56.2% (18-32) to take a 20-point lead at the break at 52-32. The run started with the score tied at 13-13 at the 15:24 mark, when the Ospreys finished off the rest of the period, outscoring TCNJ 39-19 to forge the advantage at the break. Stockton ripped off the last 15 points of the half in a span of 4:10.🏀Read full coverage of the men's game here.

The women’s team could not withstand a second half barrage and fell to TCNJ 70-49 the same evening. Grace Speer led the Ospreys with 12 points.

Stockton jumped out to a quick lead at 9-2, with Imene Fathi scoring six and Speer tallying another three before the Lions responded. The Lions closed to 12-9 after outscoring Stockton 7-3 to end the quarter. 🏀Read full coverage of the women's game here.

Ospreys Earn USTFCCCA Academic Honors

Six cross country runners and the Osprey women's team qualifiedfor academic honors from the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Stockton women's runners Jaelyn Barkley, Kayla Kass, Rachel Hayes and Guinevere Kennedy earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Athlete accolades for the second straight year.

The quartet of repeat honorees were joined by a pair of first-time qualifiers in women's teammate Olivia Harris and Osprey men's runner Erik Ackerman. In order to qualify, student-athletes must have a cumulative grade point average above 3.30 and a finish in the top 25 percent at the NCAA regional meet.

A squad must have a cumulative GPA of 3.10 or higher to qualify as a USTFCCCA All-Academic Team. The Stockton women's squad, coached by Claire Incantalupo, amassed an outstanding 3.60 GPA to finish in the top half of 235 NCAA Division III teams who qualified. The Ospreys were the highest NJAC team on the list.

If you're aiming to run your first marathon, or maybe improving your current marathon time, Christina Welsh '18, who just ran in the Olympic trials, shared her personal strategy with Runners World.

Welsh, who majored in Marine Science and runs 120-130 miles a week, focuses on high milage instead of speed.

This past weekend, she placed 60th out of 117 runners with a time of 02:39.44 while competing for a spot in the upcoming Olympic marathon in Paris.

Read the full article: https://brnw.ch/21wGJZU

🎙️Did you hear?Devin Jefferson, head women’s basketball coach, was recently interviewed on KYW Newsradio's 1-On-1 Podcast with Matt Leon. Listen here.

OSPREY NOTES

Shuttle Tracking in Real Time

Live tracking is available for the internal shuttle system through Samsara, and can be used on mobile devices or desktop computers.

This replaces the Ride Systems app for the Galloway internal shuttle system and provides new tracking information for the Atlantic City – Galloway shuttle system.

A green arrow indicates the bus is moving in the direction the arrow is pointing, a black dot means the bus is stationary with the engine turned off, and a green dot means the bus is stationary, but the engine is running.

🚌 View theAtlantic City-Galloway shuttle
🚌 View the Galloway shuttle