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Josh Perrigo
Miss Grant
UWRT 1103
3 September 2014

Growing up, I was always in a private school and that was a big part of my original
understanding of literacy. Christianity, a southern family, and the best possible education around
surrounded my literacy and ideas of culture. These are all things that I am proud to have grown
up around because it has made me a smart and successful person in the classroom, on the football
field, and as a businessman. The Christian aspect of my childhood guided me to be a good
person in my community and to have the upmost respect for my elders and their teachings. This
principle was imperative to my growth as a young man, but also as a believer in Christ. I
consider knowing religion to be apart of my literacy because it has instilled many great values
into my life that have helped me better understand the meaning of life and what I am to do with
mine. I dont mean to get off topic with religion, but it plays a massive role in my life. My family
has also played a huge role with my literacy and thoughts on certain things such as politics, the
military, and what I want to be when I grow up. Fortunately, I was southern raised and I tend to
think that the republican ideals were instilled upon me at a young age. This has played a role in
my ability to speak or the way I speak in general. It is a deeper tone with a yall in there every
now and then. Also, things like music have matured my voice/accent into a southern sounding
individual. Country music has, and will always be my choice of music! I love the south and
everything about it and I know that it has made me a gentleman because of the way I was raised
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by my parents and their prior southern beliefs. Therefore, giving me a southern accent and that
southern charm ha-ha. My schooling growing up was always private so I earned a very
There have been many people along the way that have impacted my literacy to the point
that I am able to read and write with a certain confidence knowing that it is legible enough to
communicate. The first person that I can remember is my fourth grade teacher Mrs. Overbee. She
really opened up my eyes to the realities of life and all of the things that come with them. I
started to learn things about the history of Americas literacy and how it came about. It was
fascinating and I couldnt believe that I had never taken the time to fully understand where my
language or way of living had come about. I read all about how Columbus sailed to America,
The American Revolution, and Manifest Destiny. All of these key roles in our history are reasons
we speak English, use US customary units, and even why we use our own dollar. Just little things
like that I never really wondered about, but it is very interesting to say the least. History, when
you think about it, is why we are where we are today. Our culture, language, and the way we
think all come from History! I am blessed that I was raised in this beautiful country with the
amazing culture that comes with it. Another influential person in my life came a little later on
during my high school career. She was also a high school teacher by the name of Mrs. Licitra.
Before having her as a teacher, my writing suffered tremendously and I was always just writing
enough to get by. She is the reason I did well on my SAT because the way she taught English
really hit home to me. I could relate to her teachings in a way that made me feel like I fully
understood English and all of its confusing rules. My writing score improved by over three
hundred points on the SAT after having her class for a semester and that is because she showed
me ways to write that really tuned up my literacy of writing. That is a big reason why I am
mentioning Mrs. Licitra in my literacy vignette, but she also took me to two foreign countries.
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These were huge experiences in my life that really affected my views of literacy. I visited Greece
and Costa Rica with this teacher, and on both trips I was confronted with new cultures and
languages! It really was an eye opener going in to these countries that I had heard of but never
experienced first hand. Although most of the signs had English on them, most of the population
did not speak any English at all. This made it very difficult to get around and learn more about
the country and its people in general. So I adapted to their literacy after a couple of days, and I
learned things like hand gestures, dances, and common phrases. You see, in our every day lives
in the U.S, we dont often think about these things. For example, dancing, you might think to
yourself what? I dont dance for communication purposes! This is the exact thing that makes
other countries or cultures so interesting! They have an entire different way of living and to
never experience it is almost not living to your potential. The big thing for me was that before
my adventures to foreign countries I had never understood why certain people were different
than me. I learned to accept others for who they were as I saw where different people came from
and all of the bad things that most of the population experiences in those countries. My grandpa
has also been a huge role in the development of my literacy. Showing me old war photos and
teaching me military terminology. I used to love going over to his house and looking at pictures
for hours on end and seeing all the amazing things that he had taken part of during the post world
war two era. He taught me so much about life and what it took to achieve what I wanted. I didnt
learn anything about language from pops because he was from Boston, Massachusetts and had
that strong northern accent. I can say without a doubt that I wouldnt be the man I am today
without his presence in my life. Unfortunately, my grandpa just recently passed away and I even
took away a sense of literacy from him after he was gone. He had a military funeral and I had
never witnessed something so beautiful in my entire life. The military sure does take care of their
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fallen heroes! Someday, I hope I have such an amazing ceremony to represent my life and all the
good I have done to serve my country. Getting back to the literacy aspect of all of this, my
grandpa taught me just about everything I ever knew about the military and he was a huge part of
the reason I wanted to join to make a difference. Teaching me all of the little things about it
definitely bettered me for the position of becoming the Commanding officer of my high school
NJROTC unit. So yes my grandpa has made an unforgettable mark on my literacy skills and life.
Last but certainly not least, my dad has made my literacy skills of being a man of my word and
an entrepreneur very important in my life. Literally, all the time telling me that I should do this
or do that and never letting up at the slightest bit. Truly shaping me in to the young man that he
wanted me to be, and always reminding me about how my word is the only thing I have to show
for myself. This is a very true statement and I understand its importance in making me not only
successful, but a respectable and honest man. These are the people in my life that have really
impacted me and made a difference. I wouldnt be where I am today without them and they truly
will never be forgotten.
Now there were always times that I felt that my literacy wasnt good enough to be a great
writer or make anything useful of it. Everyone goes through those periods but what made me feel
inferior to other writers was the fact that I could never write as fast or make my words flow as
smoothly. This was a problem and I knew that I had to do something to fix it! I worked
persistently to achieve a better vocabulary, sense of writing, and a new confidence that would
help me write harder and faster! I knew that writing skills would be used in just about any
professional job that I could find in my future. My future will certainly be secure with the ability
to write and communicate my ideas to other people. I am excited to improve my writing and
sense of literacy even more in this class!