Elevating students’ understanding about the importance of building their own identities and establishing a community of support was the goal of the common reading program for first-year students at SUNY Old Westbury in fall 2024.
All 803 first-year students this year were required to read “I Wasn’t Supposed to Be Here,” a memoir written by Jonathan Conyers, an author who first came to national attention via the Humans of New York Instagram account where he shared the story of his debate coach helping him become an award-winning debater, enabling him to get past his troubled background.
“The Common Reader program seeks to establish a sense of community within the first-year class,” said Bonnie Eannone, director of the campus’ Office of First-Year Experience and first-year class dean. “The themes of building identity, knowing that others will be different from you, and working to support each other anyway mirror the central tenets of our University’s first-year curriculum.”
In addition to reading the book, students also participated in discussions within their FY 1000 course, the Ethics of Engagement, wrote journals and worked in groups to review the text. In addition, they completed a common reader assignment as a culminating activity. Some chose to write about their community and what that meant to them, to write a book review of the text, or to write “thank you” letters to three members of their “village.”
The culmination of the Common Reading Program was a visit to campus by Conyers himself. During his October 2024 visit, he gave students an overview of his work and took questions about the book, his life, and his aspirations for the future.
You stay strong, you stay grounded and always stick to your word. Do what you say you're going to do, and just keep trying to put yourself in positive worlds.
-- Jonathan Conyers to Old Westbury students
“I believe that every single one of you are writing your story,” said Conyers to the crowd. “You keep living, you keep going, and understand that there's going to be pain, trauma and drama throughout your chapters, because that's just how the life works.”
Today, along with being an author, he is the founder of Conyers Media and host of “The Professional Winner Podcast.” He also helps run the Brooklyn Debate League and works a respiratory therapist, specializing in neonates and pediatrics at New York University Langone Hospital.
Each chapter of “I Wasn’t Supposed to Be Here” features a different person from Conyer’s life, which began when he was born into a family crippled by addiction and homelessness, saw him in his own words “fail” kindergarten, and being told he would never succeed academically. Thanks to a life-changing friendship with his debate coach, and many, many other guides and mentors along the way, he went from struggling to read to being a breakout star on his high school debate team.
“I believe my story has the power that it has, the strength that it has, it changes lives the way it does, because of all the trial and tribulation behind it,” he said. “Nobody in the world can tell you if your story is worse off or less than another person. But you stay strong, you stay grounded and always stick to your word. Do what you say you're going to do, and just keep trying to put yourself in positive worlds.”
Photo Caption: Jonathan Conyers (standing) discusses "I Wasn't Supposed to be Here" with members of the Class of 2028 during the Fall First-Year Experience Common Reading Program Lecture.