To the editor:
As your new semester begins, I want to share with you positive and good news about Geneseo. Geneseo has many reasons to be proud and volunteerism is one of them.
I have just returned from Biloxi, Miss. with 19 students from SUNY Geneseo. We were all volunteers with Livingston Cares. We were there for one week, working in the recovery effort from Hurricane Katrina. The students on this trip gave Geneseo a million reasons to be proud. It might have been their positive attitude, their tremendous work ethic, their general good will, or that they gave a week of their lives to people who needed and appreciated it.
This was an amazing experience for me on many levels, but watching and working with the students of Geneseo was an absolute pleasure. As I told many of them, I would hire them in a moment if I could.
I could go on and on about the positive energy that I saw in Mississippi, but I would tell all of you to please be proud of the volunteers and consider going on one of these trips - you'll never regret it.
To all of the volunteers, I say, "Thank you for a great experience and letting me be a college student for a week!"
Have a great semester!
-Phil Natoli
Geneseo Alumnus
Adjunct Lecturer