Hello, my name is Robert Pericolosi and I am a first-year SUNY Geneseo student.. I was born and raised on Long Island in a typical town called Rockville Centre. Here, I grew up with all my family and friends, which are the only meaningful people in my life. I’ve spent countless hours with them at the beach, fishing, surfing, skimboarding, playing spikeball and other fun activities. My family eats Sunday dinner every week and we’ve all known each other since birth and are incredibly close. My friend group was established in Middle School and everything has been the same since. Nobody has left or joined because of how close we’ve been and how nicely we all get along.
Throughout my life, I have interacted with my friends and family everyday, which in my eyes, was the perfect life. However, this ideal way of living came to a temporary halt when I officially moved into SUNY Geneseo. I was filled with mixed emotions as I was saying goodbye to those closest to me but excited to finally see what SUNY Geneseo had to offer. The first week was filled with fun orientation events, which made adjusting to the new environment a whole lot easier. Assimilating into SUNY Geneseo culture was fairly easy because all the professors, upper-level-students, and staff were extremely welcoming and they all helped people like myself. The teachers being so supportive and welcoming have made the courses feel more easier. Even though there is a lot of reading and writing to do, less stress is on my shoulders because I know all the professors have good intentions and want to see me succeed.
Specifically in my writing class I know that my professor wants to see me succeed. Knowing this, I don’t expect an extremely stressful amount of work but enough to challenge me and make me a better writer. Doing the work and participating in class should improve my writing. I expect this class to improve my vocabulary and help me learn a variety of transitioning words. My vocabulary isn’t at the college level or even at the High School level. I also could improve at connecting my thesis with my body paragraphs. My teachers in High School would always give me feedback, saying that I’m going off track or rambling and not connecting the thesis to a bigger picture. I’m hoping that this writing course improves my writing skills.
Another part of my writing that I feel is weak is my specificity. My writing is somewhat vague which could also be a reason why I cannot stay on track because I am not specific enough to do so or lack the knowledge and understanding of a particular topic. All this in mind, I expect to see improvement in my overall writing abilities and want improvement in my writing weak points, which could improve upon in this class.
Already in the first week of this class, there has been minor improvement in my writing and the readings have also made me reflect on my communication abilities. While reading the book They Say, I Say, _by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, I noticed that it brings up a lot of valid points on how to write effective arguments. In _They Say, I Say it says, “To launch an effective argument you need to put the arguments of others as well”. (43) I have thought about this quote in class discussions when an argument arose. I tried my best to listen to the counterargument but realized how difficult it is to do so.
Throughout my life I always shut down the counterargument and have been very closed minded. Speaking loudly and only giving points to enhance my opinion was the best way to win an argument but in reality it actually worsens my argument. From this reflection, I already learned and grown and I’m excited about what this class and SUNY Geneseo will offer me in the future. I hope that the rest of the semester will teach me how to improve my writing and grow and develop as a person learning new perspectives and arguments.
