Alex Montanile

Peer Interview with Melissa Vicente

As an exercise in our course “Writing for the Social Sciences”, we were instructed to conduct a peer interview with one of our classmates. My peer interview was with a classmate named Melissa Vicente. An interview that went in many different directions. The questions, on both sides being mostly open ended, allowed us to hear and decipher answers that would go with the pre meditation of the writing and annotation of this paper. The pulse of the interview and answers given, lead to some sort of conclusion for both parties, in which they had enough information for an analysis(big or small). Melissa is from the Bronx,NY. Her parents however are originally from the Dominican Republic, and immigrated to the United States. She is a freshman at CCNY, and so far is enjoying what her overall short experience has had to offer so far. Intending to possibly become a lawyer, she is studying political sciences, and seeks interest in criminal justice law, feeling a need for change within the system. This class could be useful towards those goals, as it teaches how to better understand societal issues, by understanding the people within that society. This information lays the groundwork for the ultimate point that will be made in this interview analysis. It allows me, the person asking the questions, to get some sort of grasp on the basics of who she is, but not anything deeper. The deeper points came in a different set of answers, and will be the focal piece of information, written about in the next paragraph. She was very matter of fact about her answers, and was confident and open in sharing information to accurately answer the question. These attributes also gave me more intel on assessing her values, and later the main point of the paper.

Melissa is not typical among our generation that often sees the short term, and instead approaches life with long term goals in mind. Throughout the interview, her core values became more evident. She cares deeply about the people she loves. My very first question to her was where did she always picture herself in life. Now, many people would have said to be rich,or to succeed in music,sports,designing, and the list goes on. However, Melissa responded with,”I always saw myself repaying my family, for everything they’ve done for, for raising me”. A direct way of saying she is eternally grateful for her family, and prepares to make their hard work and effort even more worth their while. This goal is a massive one, as it is something most people attempt and few succeed in. It is difficult to repay people who have been funding every breath you have taken since the day you were born, yet it was the first thing that came to her mind, instantaneously. This shows that she is a grateful person, who sees people’s efforts, and takes other people into account. She values her family over all, and wants to do right by them in any way possible, as her parents are very important to her and have in her eyes been essential to her success. I also had asked her where she feels most at home. Despite being born here, she stated “The DR was where I always felt most at home, it’s my parents birthplace, and I have family there”. Yet another example of valuing her family at the top of the list, as this is where her parents immigrated from, and still visit often. She values family so much, she is willing to become a lawyer to pay them back, and to fix issues within the criminal justice system(once again taking others into account). This is a goal that takes determination, and persistence. Something she has already achieved by being her schools main valedictorian. When asked what else I should know about her, she said she is fair with people, and gives second chances. This would be the last example within the interview of caring about others, as many are not fair with people, and are quick to judge.

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