Author: Jackson Casey

I am currently halfway through my first semester at SUNY Geneseo and it has been filled with a balanced combination of relishes, stresses, and uncertainties that fluctuate from day to day. I am still figuring out how to manage my time between class, homework, basketball practice, cleaning the dorm, laundry, and sleep. I have found my biggest struggle so far is not getting enough sleep. Unfortunately, this is nobody’s fault but my own and is something I am working on. My roommate and I wake up at five fifty-five every morning for practice, which is something I am not accustomed to. After that, we have a team lift for an hour, which I find productive, but this also makes it hard to function throughout the day if I acquire three to four hours of sleep the night before.

Practicing has also been challenging and grueling, which has a direct effect on my body. I have begun to take recovery very seriously through heat and cold therapy, stretching, and prioritizing a healthy diet. I have also joined a yoga club on campus, to balance out the tough days of practice. I joined it with the mindset of physical recovery, but I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of priority they put on mental health and focusing on the mind. I didn’t realize the benefits of meditation and mindful breath. In fact, if you were to ask me about it before I joined the club, I would’ve said it was a myth. I can assure you it is legit and there are an abundant amount of advantages to my newly found practices. I have learned that mental health is not discussed for men as much as it should be, and it is even less acted on. I want to make it a point to make sure my mind is healthy during these chaotic next four years.

Classes are going similar to how I expected. Every professor is different in how they teach their class, how they grade their class, and what they expect from you. In some classes, I have found success, but in others, I have struggled. I recently joined a study group with classmates for my statistics class, due to the challenging material. Office hours are scheduled during another one of my classes, so the study group is my best bet. Another class that has been challenging for me is my geology class. I’ve had great success on all of the quizzes in both lecture and lab, but I struggled on the most recent test. My professor holds meetings to go over test material, so I will definitely make a point to attend those in the near future. Discipline is the name of the game when it comes to success in a college classroom and it’s something I’m working on every day.

have found a lot of success in Writing-Therapy for Vets so far. The material has been heavy and intense, but interesting at the same time. I don’t have any family members close to me that have served in the military, so it was very eye-opening to learn about what soldiers go through overseas, the effects PTSD has on an individual, and how it affects their families and loved ones. I also feel it has been helpful to have a professor who has served in the military to teach this material because they have actually seen and experienced everything we cover in class firsthand.

By the end of the semester, I want to have earned an A in every class. This goal is definitely attainable given where I am at right now. Basketball season will have also started by then and I want to carve out a spot in the roster and consistently get minutes. Besides my two main goals, I also want to maintain and create more friendships on campus. My relationship with my teammates is very genuine and I already see myself being friends with them way down the road. I want to create a healthy sleep schedule where I am able to attain seven to eight hours of sleep at night. Lastly, I want to prioritize my mental health and attack my struggles head-on without letting them stress me out.

My name is Jackson Casey and I’m from Corning, New York. I chose to attend SUNY Geneseo for a multitude of reasons, including the short distance from home, in-state tuition, and recruitment from the basketball team. Considering the immense transition from high school to college, I have adapted smoothly.

Dorm life is definitely different from home life. My roommate Justin and I stay on the third floor of Onondaga residence hall. Our floor shares a bathroom and the entire building shares the washers and dryers. This dissimilarity by far, took the most time to get used to due to the possibility of having to wait to use any of these. I learned my lesson not to do laundry on Sunday at three o’clock because everyone seemed to have the same idea. Many people in our dorm meet in the basement to do homework, watch sports, or make food. This is where I have met my closest friends so far. Being part of a team has definitely made this transition a lot easier. My senior teammates have welcomed me with open arms and have offered a great deal of advice. I have also met many other athletes on different sports teams through team activities and collaborations. We have already attended a volleyball game and a tennis match. Our team lifts three times a week and plays basketball every day which has kept me plenty busy.

I have had mixed feelings about classes so far. The professors cover material a lot quicker than in high school so paying attention and studying is essential. The material is also more challenging to learn so if you don’t get help when you need it, you will fall behind. That is why I use my free time to get help from tutors and group study. The courses are almost twice as long as those in high school, so I have definitely had to adapt. It has been challenging for me to sit and pay attention for an hour and fifteen minutes when I am used to a forty-minute class. On the other hand, the professors are knowledgeable in their subjects which has made classes interesting. There is more to learn in a college classroom than in a high school classroom.

My goal for this writing seminar is to make my sentences more efficient so they are easier to read and understand. I also think I can use more figurative language in my writing. This will make my writing more interesting and allow the reader to use their imagination. The last improvement I can make in my writing is my grammar. Here will be an easy fix, but I have a habit of not putting my commas in the correct spot. In order to correct this, I will have multiple peers read over my writings to ensure that I do not make those mistakes.

In my writing seminar Theater-Therapy for Vets, we have began to read two books. The Theater of War has surprisingly resonated with me, considering I have never served in a war. In the play Ajax, Ajax loses someone very close to him and he is unable to cope with it, ultimately leading to his demise (Doerries). This hit home because I have lost close friends and have had to learn to cope with it. I have also learned a lot from the book They Say, I Say. This book has explained how to focus on what your peer says in a conversation and not what you think or want to say back (Graff/Birkenstien 27). This has been really helpful and I feel that I take in a lot more information than before.

I have set two goals for myself in my first college semester. For one, having good grades is important to me so I am making it a priority to earn an A in every class. Basketball season also starts in four weeks. My goal is to prove to the coach that I am good enough to get on the floor in the late minutes of a close game when our team is trying to win the most.