The following is the script and recording from 6.2 Fellow Peter Fiorentino’s speech at his Gong Ceremony, a Pursuit tradition when graduated Fellows celebrate landing a full-time tech job with their families, friends, colleagues, and our community cheering them on. Watch Peter deliver his speech and ring the gong in the video below. This is his transformation story, in his words.
There are so many people who are responsible for this achievement that deserve my thanks! I want to start with my instructor, Alejo. Your patience and dedication for me and my success is something I will never forget. I could list all the ways that you took time out of your schedule to improve my understanding of the material, but instead I will just say that my life has drastically changed for the better in the past two years and I cannot think of anyone more responsible for that than you! I will always be grateful for having met you.
To Mike and Corey, I want to thank you for bringing me back into the classroom and offering me the opportunity to be an IA for 7.2. Mike, you have made my time as a Pursuit staff member revolve around how you can best prepare me for my upcoming role at Audible. You have always started our meetings by asking me, “what can I do to help you get where you want to be?” That managing style is something I will remember as I move forward in my career and is one of many reasons I see you as a mentor.
Corey, I never imagined that when I came on as an IA that I would end up with such a great friend out of the experience. You were the first person who made me feel like my input was valued in a workplace. Even though I am the assistant, you always made a point to tell me that it was our classroom and that we should make the decisions for the class as a group. You invited me to be a collaborator on an app you created which helped me feel validated as an engineer and give me the confidence to jump into this new position at Audible. Thank you and BEEG FOX.
To my parents, my brother, my sister, my friends, and Samantha, who all sacrificed seeing me for an entire year because I was staying late in Long Island City to study, or missing birthdays and countless other occasions because I just needed to figure out a way to reverse a Linked List, thank you for being so patient with me and supporting me on this journey. I hope I’ve made you all proud.
I know I will end up forgetting someone, so apologies in advance, but thank you to Jukay, Dave, JR, Wynter, Dessa, Ben Sussman, Jess, Tali, Caroline O., Caroline Kang, Alexis, My co-IA, Sam, My capstone mentor, Lin, My mentor, Fred, Jeremy Bradshaw - who pushed to get me on the Audible team, my 6.2 classmates, my 7.2 students, and anyone else who helped mold my experience at Pursuit. The staff here is special - and I’m not just saying that because I am now on it. I always struggled with the idea of finding my place in the world. I tried to find it as a fiction writer, a musician, an English teacher, a piano teacher, and a few odd jobs in between. It was through Pursuit that I gained the confidence to realize that while what I do as a profession is important, who I am is really what matters. I am a person who loves technology and helping others, two things I’m not sure I would have figured out without Pursuit.
I extend a special thank you to Andrew Daly who introduced me to Pursuit and helped me take the first steps into turning my life around. I don’t think either of us expected the program to have such a large impact on me, but I’m so glad it did.
Thank you everyone at Pursuit for helping me feel ready to start my career at Audible.
