Personal Narrative: An Example Of Extreme Diversity

I was born and raised in the small but growing city of Perris, CA. This isn’t the best city out there but it tends to grow on you, and you begin to truly love it for what it is. The people, however, not so much. The community can vary from which part of the city you’re in. That’s because there’s diversity here in Perris. I’m a product of this diversity, being half Mexican and half African American. My parents fell in love after high school and later on began a family. I am the youngest of five. I have two older brothers, an older sister, and an older cousin who lives with us. The order is boy, girl, boy, boy, girl with my cousin being included in there too. We all live in the same house with my parents and are quite close with each other. They all seem to have raised me growing up due to the fact that my parents were busy trying to provide for us. This was a challenge by itself, resulting in lots of house moving and my father being unemployed for six years after losing his job. I never complained about moving because I knew that my parents were doing their absolute best and were working with all that they had and then some. This unquestionably made me adaptable to new environments and gave me a

This past year, I have been apart of Naperville Central’s brand new Special Spaces club. When my friend approached me and asked me to join, I agreed even though I had no clue what I was involving myself in. In retrospective, I can honestly say that becoming a part of Special Spaces has been one of the most meaningful, fun, and fulfilling experiences I have had in high school.

Over my years of school, one big influence on me has always been sports. Ever since a young age, I have always enjoyed playing and watching sports. In my four years in high school, I have fell in love with the sport of lacrosse.

I woke up and took one bite out of my pop tart but that one bite was all I could eat. My legs were shaking, and my heart was pounding. My dad told me, “It is a true honor to even make it this far so go out there and have some fun.” Once I heard this statement, I knew I was ready to go. I arrived at school and boarded the bus. The car ride was an hour and fifteen minutes of hearing the squeaking of the wheel on the bus. My teammates were getting their heads ready for the big game.

17 years. I have been on this Earth for 17 years now. Looking back on the years I’ve already spent make me wonder, not who I’ve been nor who I am now, but who I will be. I choose to live in the now, for the later. I often think about what I may be or do later in life. But everything I do and every choice I make in the present is what will lead me to my future. Now, all I know is that to get somewhere you have to be someone. So who am I? And what makes me who I am today?

The world is over 196 million square miles that is home to over 7 billion people all with unique qualities and backgrounds. Me being a caucasian living in Lakewood Colorado I lived though the generic lifestyle of a christian. Church every Sunday and quiet family meals were normal for us but what I didn’t realise was that there was a whole world of ethnically and culturally different people just an ocean away.

Her father’s words echoed through her head as one might hear a reverberation throughout the Taj Mahal. Continuous. Chilling. Having no control to distill the wavelengths until they mellowed out on their own accord. She tried to anatomize the depth of his phrase, more than dutifully needed but Davina needed to know why. Why did she need to keep an open mind and more importantly, who the hell was about to come bursting through that door. But then again, did it really matter in the first place. When she thought about it, the brunette could have laughed at the idea. That an unattributed, faceless figure had her panties in a bunch. Surely Dominic wouldn’t think to waste her time with venial diversions,

Of course the norm for me is that of any citizen living in zone three.

My definition of diversity is acceptances of people with different culture, ethnicity, gender, economic status and background. Diversity means that my ideas will be represented to achieve a common goal. At 9 years old, I left my malaria- infested country to come to the United States. My first day of school was overwhelming I have never seen so many different shades of skin color. All I have been accustomed to was shades of brown in my country. I was now the odd ball in a room of strangers. I immediately played the role of mute. There were other kids that had my skin color in the classroom, but I was the only African. My identity was obvious, tallest in my class with long skinny limbs and an unhealthy looking weight that led one to believe

I was born in Japan and spent my life there until seventh grade. Even though my environment was very fulfilling, my community had little diversity. Everyone was from the same area, we all have same culture, and same race. Individual could had variety of thought but our basic mind was very similar since we all grow up in the same environment. I can say that I had little more diversity in my life than other people around me since my mother was Korean, I had some Korean people around me. Korea is a country located right next to Japan, but they do have different culture, language, and people. It gave me a little push to become diverse person. However, there was a big change when I moved to America as an international student in seventh grade. For the first time in my life, I was surrounded by people who were not "my people". When I walked into the class, everyone had different race, culture,

Throughout my high school year, majority of my time was spent competing on the track team. I was immersed in diversity when I went to practices and meets. Just the sport itself is a metaphor of diversity. Ranging from the high jump, javelin, and one mile run, there is an event for everyone. I was able to distinguish myself in the sport, choosing my own events and becoming the best I can be.

I grew up in a community where I rarely see people who look like me. What I mean by look like me, I mean Asians around my community. I live in Brighton Park, the southwest side of Chicago, where I am surrounded by Hispanics and no one else. I have gotten to learn about the Hispanic culture and their lifestyles since my entire life has been surrounded by their spirits. Even though I am not Hispanic, the community welcomes me and my family into their home like we are family. As much as I love my community, it is not very diverse, making me more ignorant since I do not interact with any other races.

The first time I remember fighting with my parents as a child was when the Korean study books came out. I could not have been more than four when my parents locked me in my room every day after school to finish writing my Korean letters. I felt frustration and thought “Why would I need to learn a language none of my friends have even heard of?”. The harder they pushed me, the harder I pushed back. While they eventually gave up on the textbooks, this tug of war lingered on for a decade in many other aspects. The more they played old Korean trot music in the car, the more I gravitated towards manufactured radio bops. As they made me kimchi (a spicy, fermented, Korean stable), the more I craved pizza, turkey sandwiches, and that thermos of soup at lunch. I realize now that there are bigger problems to worry about in the world, but what a person has for school lunch is a crucial part in growing up. At age 8 I decided to throw away my entire packed

We live in a diverse society. People have unique qualities that distinguish them from others. Similarly, I differentiate in my way. Since I was a little girl, I loved constructing things and have a kind of ingenuity mind. Whenever I walked into the toy store I see a miscellaneous collection of toys from stuffed toys to electronics. The store had variety of toys to choose from, but none of the toys enthralled me except for the innovative toys and those that required some sort of building. It seemed like these toys had a magnetic wave that was pulling me towards them. When I arrived, I saw a bunch of puzzles, metal construction toys and I always picked up the unique and complicated one that would require working diligently to turn the toy into a magnificent masterpiece. These little things greatly affected my life. My interest defines me. In a way, my interest helped me figure out

Reflecting back to my undergraduate days was my first real experience of diversity. There were several different ladies in the dorm with me from very many different cultures. I learned so much from talking to the ladies that spoke English. I was so amazed with the different experiences I had. Life was becoming very vast just like my parents said it would be. I happily embraced everyone differences regardless of religion, political, social class, or ethnicity. I was always taught to treat the janitor of a building the same way you would a CEO, with respect. Never look down on anyone unless you are kneeling down to pray.