Hi! My name is Jacob Gibson, and this is my first semester at SUNY Geneseo. I am a Biochemistry major and have credits from GCC, so I am also a transfer student. I grew up in Nunda, a small town about half an hour south of Geneseo, where I graduated salutatorian of my class. Because it was such a small town, everybody knew everybody else’s business whether you liked it or not. That made it very hard to keep the things I wanted to keep private from becoming common knowledge.
After high school, I enlisted as a medic in the New York Army National Guard. Healthcare has always been important to me, so I ultimately want to attend medical school. Being in the Army has taught me many things. It has taught me discipline, self-sufficiency, the ability to make a lot out of nothing, to look on the bright side of things, the value of hard work, and many other things I hold dear. Along with learning about mental health, I’ve learned to care for my fellow soldiers in and out of combat. I learned these things with the help of our Drill Sergeants, being in the thick of it with others just like me, and just being in the atmosphere of the military. The Army has opened many doors in my life. It altered my perception of how people are supposed to be from a civilian mindset to a military one, and transitioning back to being around civilians has been challenging.
I worked as a recruiter’s assistant until classes started, and I commute to Geneseo from home, so I missed out on the orientation. I couldn’t start finding my people until classes started, which can be challenging, especially when you don’t know where anything is outside your classes. Luckily, I ran into the VP of recruiting for PhiDE, a pre-medical fraternity, while I was looking for the bookstore on campus. I rushed for that fraternity, and I’m in the application process. I loved the energy of the Rush events, everyone was awesome, and I learned about the medical school application process from them.
College classes have been easier than I anticipated. Teachers in high school make college seem like this massive, daunting monster you will have to fight alone with no one to aid you. The reality is that. I have had no problem in the admissions process or any classes that were too difficult, and there have been people to answer questions.
When I saw that I was in Theater: Therapy for Veterans, I thought that it would be a course to be in because I might be able to apply what I learn in this class to help other soldiers work through any Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, otherwise known as PTSD, issues that they could develop from deployment overseas, mobilization, or being put on a mission. In this class, I have learned that there is a lot to writing in academia that I was not prepared for in high school. Whether it be how and when to use I or we or how to frame a piece of writing, this class will hopefully develop my writing skills so that I feel more confident in my ability later in my college career.