Literacy History - Blog Assignment # 1-- DUE Sunday September 8, 2019

Greetings, my name is Randy Thomas but most call RJ for short. I am currently a senior here at NJCU. My major is Global Business and with global business I plan to one day travel the world, while also trading stock and selling real estate. Some of my hobbies include weight lifting, dancing, drawing, and playing basketball (I played for the NJCU Men’s Basketball for two years). When it comes to the earliest experience of becoming literate, I can think back to the early ages of five and six years of age. I grew up having bad hearing so I would have to watch television with the volume exceptionally loader than usual according to my parents. So, the solution was closed caption. No, I was not able to read every single word, I was able to identify words and understand what was going on, on the show. So, I can think back to moment when my parents took me shopping for a pair of sneakers that I wanted to badly. The shoes were called “GEOX”. While in the store my mother spelled the name of the shoes out to the person behind the cash register and I was able to identify what she spelled and I yelled out with joy, “Geox”. From that point my parents both would challenge me to spell the used I would use on the daily, and if I could not define a word, they would have me get a dictionary and look it up. That stuck with me till this day, to a point where I am quick to google a word if I do not know 100% what it means. My parents both have multiple college degrees. My dad is a lawyer while my mom is a college professor. They have always stressed the importance if going to school and getting and education. I currently love to read and learn more; it gives me a feeling of accomplishment knowing that I was able to obtain new useful information on my own. Thinking back, I can remember times being upset not being able to get the answers so easily. My parents instilled that into me early, they both are my role model. They both showed me how important education is and with that I decided to further my education and go to college. Literacy is very important to me, to a point where I am currently a Peer mentor for the Ascend program at NJCU as well as a teacher assistant for the OTC program. These two positions allow me to mentor incoming freshmen and with that platform I am able to inspire the youth and stress to them the importance of getting an education.