Massimo Cutillo

I’m turning 20 soon, and the previous year has taught me a lot more about myself than I would’ve ever guessed. And to be honest, a lot of that learning has happened through writing. I’ve always kind of known and believed that good writing comes from experience, and recently I’ve been collecting a lot of experiences very quickly.

I spent two weeks in Tokyo earlier this year, walking the streets past midnight, trying new foods, and connecting with local travelers through broken language barriers. I hiked up a volcano and rode a boat to a sacred site. Each one of those moments gave me something to say, a different experience connected to how I view the world. And writing is also how I’m able to make sense of these feelings and thoughts in those moments.

I’m a student at UGA, and I believe that English has always been my home. I think what drives me to writing is the challenge that comes with connecting different ideas to each other and doing this through utilizing research and different pieces of information that you can put together to form an argument or even a research paper.

I found that I fell in love with English through AP Language and AP Research in high school, where I learned that good writing isn’t just about putting words on a paper, but it’s actually about how you think and how you can put your thoughts into writing so people can learn from them and understand topics on a deeper level.