Author: Jacob L Gibson

Since Mid Terms, my classes have continued to push forward. They are all picking up the pace as we get closer to finals. More information is being presented in class, and I am expected to learn and do more on my own outside of class. The military prepared me well for this increase in workload. While in medic training, I became certified as a Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technician, or NREMT. Generally, an NREMT course takes at least six months to complete in the civilian world. We did the entire course in 8 weeks, so I am more than accustomed to a fast rate of information presentation. Professors still help as much as they did in the first part of the semester. My classes that are either labs or outside of STEM have turned to final project prep. My Biology Lab final is a group presentation on microbiology, and the Theater Therapy for Veterans final is a skit about PTSD. There is no guide for how the performance needs to connect to PTSD, so there is considerable freedom within the rubric. I have been thrilled with how classes have progressed since Mid Terms this semester.

Overall, Theater Therapy for Veterans has been going very well for me. I have made friends with most of, if not all, my classmates. I enjoy the readings, and Professor Arena makes things as fun as she can, even though we talk about some very intense topics. I can connect with the readings we did in class with many different people because I have heard other soldiers’ stories about their time in Iraq. The readings we have done have mainly dealt with soldiers and them doing things in Iraq voluntarily or something that they had to do because it was their job to do them, and that’s how they were taught to do them. I have heard many service members tell me about things they did overseas. I could tell by looking at their body language and especially their eyes that told me they either regretted doing what they did or wished they could have done it differently. I think I connected more with 9 Circles by Bill Cain. It is a play about a soldier whose actions brought to light a problem with the war. I can almost understand why he did what he did through my dialogues with other service members who deployed to Iraq and the hate they developed for their enemies. This class has enabled me to start understanding my fellow service members’ struggles and how they can help deal with their struggles with PTSD.        

I plan to push through the semester and do well on my final exams and presentations. I only have three finals that I need to worry about, which is a good thing because the less spread out my attention is, the better. That way, I can focus on the classes that I need to. Doing well in my classes is very important to my future because it will allow me to achieve my goals outside of undergrad at Geneseo. I also plan to start working in EMS before next semester. I need a way to be able to support myself. I have lived off my savings for this semester; it is dwindling. I hope that the rest of my first semester goes very well and that I can go into winter break feeling like I did the best I could in my first semester.

         So far, during my first semester at Geneseo, I have found that college life isn’t that scary. Especially for a commuter. I spend the time on campus that I must for classes. Then I do things that I must do for my fraternity and then go home. I have found many resources that I can use if I need them, the students and staff at Geneseo are always willing to help if you have a question that you can answer. If they can’t answer it, then they point you toward someone who will be able to help you. I have run into multiple situations where students helped me out.  The biggest one I can think of was I hadn’t learned how to use the printers. My calculus professor had told my class that we needed to print something out for the next class, so I asked one of my classmates if they could show me how to use the printer, and they showed me exactly how to go through all the steps.

         Classes for me so far have been relatively easy and straightforward. I never had to study in high school, and I quickly realized that I wouldn’t be able to continue that into college.  I make studying a daily activity for at least an hour or two. Chemistry 116 was very easy at the start, but I missed a few key lectures because I had a drill, so I had to do a lot of backtracking through the book to figure out what I had missed.  I am back on track now. Calculus has been a review of the pre-Calc class that I took in high school so far. Human Geography has been very interesting because it covers many of the world’s pressing issues and makes the class discuss their point of view towards them. I have enjoyed all my classes because it has given me an insight into what college life is like and what the rest of my academic career might be.

         Theater Therapy for Veterans is one of my most interesting classes because I am a soldier, just like some people whose stories about their battles with PTSD are being told.  Being in the military, I can connect with almost every reading that we have in one way or another. Reading about the struggles of past and present soldiers,and what they have gone through lets me connect with them. Reading about soldiers with mental health concerns that were treated even before 2010 makes me thrilled that the stigma of seeking mental health resources in the military is being broken down. I enjoy the discussions in class and how they connect everyone and sort of knits together a family.         By the end of the semester, I want to regain all the ground I lost at the beginning of the semester by being unable to study. I also want to build on my academic resources and abilities. The writing  we do in Theater Therapy for Veterans has helped me become a better writer in an academic setting. It has taught me how to structure my writing, so people remain engaged in my work.

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.