Personal Narrative: My Contribution To Diversity

My identity can be defined by moments in my life. Moving to Canada, learning English and going to high school are three major moments in my life. Going through these experiences have changed the person in me and made me more confident, stronger, better in everything.

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

I believe you can achieve anything you want in life with hard work, dedication, and passion. There are many experiences I have gone through that have helped shaped who I am today. I may not have control over certain situations, but I have a choice on how it affects me.

My diversity project desribes me in many ways, some ways you already know about me some you don't. The outside of the folder repersents things that you may already know about me, the first image is of my name everyone knows my name becuase that is how you have conversation with me and get my attention. The second image is of a musician becuase I love music, it's a vey important part of my life , it makes me feel better when im upset and helps me clear my head. The third image shows a person running, this image repesents me because i'm a very active person, and i do my best to stay healthy and keep in shape. The fourth image is of the number 21, which represents my age. And the final photo is of the color black is represents my favortie color.

They called me an apple. Since I was supposedly red on the outside, but white on the inside, I was automatically a walking bullseye. Being one of the many oppressed Aboriginals, I understand their need to hurt someone else in an effort to release some of their internal pain. I understand why so many give up or turn into raging alcoholics in an effort to numb their pain. Coming from a reservation, my greatest challenge was proving to everyone that all the stereotypes about my people were fallacious. However, the need for a government and an education system that won’t keep on failing us repeatedly is imperative. The only way that I can make my voice heard is to break these stereotypes and to reach a higher education; hence my application for

I am a woman of color. I grew up in a city with 90% hispanics yet my community still has ideas that the entire world believes, white people are better. Although that was the collective thought of the city, my parents did not allow that thought to resonate in their parenting style. My parents came from El Salvador and became American citizen just before I was born. I grew up with them showing me how the world was viewed, full of race, but explaining that the concept was something my generation could push through. They believed in me and allowed me to express myself in any way. My parents understood that having multi languages and playing sports were ways of surpassing the boundary that white people have put on colored communities; so even in

I would greatly profit from and contribute to the diverse campus at NC State. Inspiration and great ideas are fostered by the sharing of different viewpoints and experiences. Each individual is born into this world with a unique set of characteristics. Throughout life we allow begin to form our own set of values and experiences. When faced with a problem each of us will solve it differently as we approach from a different angle. Some people will find a solution that is completely hidden from others. Only together do we form a complete picture of the issue.

I believe that I will contribute to the diversity of the University of Maryland because I am a hardworking, social, and integrated Hispanic-American. Both of my parents immigrated to the United States spending all of their life’s savings. Though they came from different parts of the world -my father from Spain and my mother from El Salvador- they met through work and had three kids including me.

I was six, I knew that we couldn’t stay one place forever. That concept was foreign. Every few years my family and I were stationed to a new place, this time 45 minutes away. Of course, being the stubborn and impatient six year old I was, that seemed a light year away. I have never had friends that lasted over 3 years. Either they left, or I moved. This time, I left first. My friends were my world. I was happy. They were devastated to get the news of my departure. Tears were mixed with the “goodbyes”, and the occasional “I’ll never forget you”.

Growing up I did not have many experiences with diversity because I was a sheltered child. In elementary school, I use to think that people with disabilities were different because they were not in the classroom. I would see them at lunch at school and be nervous to go near them, or I would turn my head. As I got older, and went off to college I had the chance to experience being around individuals with disabilities through an exceptional children’s class that I took at York Technical College. While taking this class, I had the opportunity to go to a classroom to observe and interact with the children. I learned from this that they are not any different from me, and some are even doing better than people who do not have a disability. I loved

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.

One aspect of my identity that has shaped my life experience and the way I see the world is my race. I am an African- American who has Nigerian descent from both parents. Growing up African American is hard for many of us, but we always come together to help each other out. We get judged for our skin color, religion, sexuality, and economic status. When I was younger, I always thought about what other people would say about me and how I looked. Even though it was hard seeing how other races portrayed my race, I have learned to embrace my skin color and not let anybody judge me. The society believes that African Americans are lazy, uneducated, and violent. Things people say about me and my race only make me want to prove myself to them that I am proud of my race and would never change myself for anybody.

In retrospect, my high school career could have been described as culturally enriching, and diverse. My four years of high school enabled me to develop a fair amount of close relationships with many students of diverse ethnicities, and backgrounds. My group of friends, many of whom were foreign exchange students at my school, were natives of Spain, Chile, Germany, China, Liberia, South Korea, Turkey, Switzerland, and France. Befriending people from other cultures was an engaging experience that subsequently alters one's outlook on life. In many instances, I was able to assist my new found friends in helping them adapt to life at a tiny American high school. Occasions would arise where many of them would be in need of a study partner or a translator and ultimately studying became more of a relational and cultural “question and answer” exchange among our group of friends.

My life is an example of extreme diversity - female, Asian, born in South Korea, baptized, adopted, American citizen, and Jewish. My family moved to America when I was about two years old; however, I still maintain ties to my Korean heritage. Even after moving to the United States, my mother and I found opportunities to maintain a Korean lifestyle by attending a Korean Christian Presbyterian Church, where my mom volunteered and enrolled me in classes pertaining to Korean culture and religion. However, not all my surroundings were Korean-based. Since we lived in America, it was necessary to expand our knowledge of the American culture and its traditions.

During the beginning of my sophomore year I would constantly hear students around school converse about wanting to help out the community but didn't know where to start, where to go, or who to talk too about it. I was explaining to my friend about a school club idea that I had, which was to open a club that would help students find ways to assist the community and also receive community service hours for doing so.Therefore, starting junior year my friend and I submitted paperwork to start our own school club, we named it the CAS Hour Club. Our club was composed of many students, from all grade levels, both girls and boys eager to help out the community. We had many club meetings where we brainstormed about many interesting ideas and projects that we could possibly bring to life. We used ideas from our club members to organize many events such as community and beach clean-ups.