Personal Narrative: My Experience Of Diversity

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.

Race has shaped our world greatly, as we have slowly learned that just because someone’s skin is darker does not mean they are any less of a person. For example, Rosa Parks was one of the first black people to stand up for themselves. Black people were told to sit at the back of the bus but Rosa did not follow these rules. She was asked to move but she did not give up her seat, that was closer to the front. She taught us that just because she is black does not mean she deserves less respect. Another example is, Hate Crimes.in 1989 a law was passed that added the black community to hate crimes, which means that if someone hurt them because of the colour of their skin there will be severe consequences. This was passed to show that the government

Being a minority woman in a predominantly white institution has its challenges, however, it has been a great learning experience. Throughout high school my grandmother motivated and pushed me to do my best while explaining how there was so much out there in the world for me, I just had to work for it. Now I understand.

First, I’d like to start off this question by saying when I attend Huntington University in the fall of 2016, I plan on starting and participating in a pep band for the home basketball games. As a Horizon Leader, I can offer a different perspective of any stereotypes anyone may have already made. Since I am biracial with White and African American, I am apart of extremely different cultures in my everyday life. As a Horizon Leader I can inform and influence current students on the cultures I am exposed to, that they may not be. As a minority, I feel like it is my job and responsibility to be the representation of the Black community. But not only the black community, but the multiracial community as well, because being multiracial is a culture

I am a spoiled rich kid. I live in an upper middle class town located in one of the prosperous countries in the world. I attend to a competitive school with qualified teachers who care about their students. I have seemingly endless opportunity to participate in my community or gain experience in a job. I have fair skin, living in a world where is being Caucasian is advantageous.

My first recollection of race was daycare. I remember seeing many different skin and eye colors but didn’t understand how they were so much more different than me. I recall asking my mother why I didn’t have green eyes and how my skin color was different. She explained everyone is made differently that’s what makes them unique. My first recollection of racism was in third grade. The nurse came to the classroom to check the classroom for lice. Myself and a few other classmates weren’t checked properly because she didn’t want to touch our hair. Instead of bringing us out individually she called us by a group which made me feel different. Also, I was told it’s impossible to get lice because of the hair products used.

I am a 17 year old Hispanic female who was born in Denver, Co. I now live in the northern part of Denver. I attend an Apostolic church and participate in many of their activities.

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?

My family's relocation to the Sooner State differed from all prior move carried out by us (so far) by one key characteristic. In every state I've lived in (so far), many other Southern Sudanese families lived nearby. However, Tulsa, Oklahoma on the other hand, was an exception. Aside from my family and I, not a single other Sudanese family existed. (Until as recently as 2014, one Southern Sudanese family currently lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that I know of). I felt isolated. I felt that I wasn't like the other kids. I was 14 years old when my family moved to Tulsa. The typical 14 year old of Tulsa, Oklahoma disregarded the thoughts of others, and worried over how they are perceived by peers. They all strived for individuality. Ironically, the kids my age had surprisingly striking similarities between one another.

Truth to be told: I don’t particularly pay attention to national events or issues. My family is also incapable of comprehending national issues, especially my parents who do not have any level of proficiency in English. My family lives in a world where we go with the flow, but there are issues that I contemplate whether or not I should be involved in, particularly race inequality. Considering the amount of tension between policemen and African-American around the nation, the race to equal treatment is still ongoing.

One does not suspect I was born in India, nor see the sacrifices my parents made to come the the United States. I may have done all my schooling here, but I was raised differently. Being Indian has its pros and cons, but for some it makes no difference. In my life, gender did not influence me to act differently or be someone else. I will dissect religion, education, occupation, and class as they influenced me.

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

During my last semester I took my first cultural diversity class. This class taught me a lot which is why I found the first couple of chapters very interesting. When I began reading “Gang Leader for a Day” by Sudhir Venkatesh I thought he was doing this for a good cause. In his first semester of graduate school, Venkatesh decided to study African-American poverty. He went into the Chicago projects and experienced the gang life. I felt he genuinely wanted to be diverse and see how other people, who were extremely different from him, lived. Being diverse is wanting to see a great deal of variety but what Venkatesh did was far from this in my opinion. While reading I began to feel as if he was doing this to prove that African-American’s lives’

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.

My past experiences have allowed me to relate with a vastly diverse group of individuals over the years, and for that reason I am grateful of my success and tribulations. I was raised by a single mother in a neighborhood where we were robbed multiple times, taunted with trails after robberies, and I struggled with the blatant tension at school from children who lived in different neighborhoods. I didn't understand why some of my friends hated each other simply due to the location of their house, but my cousin lived in a rivaling neighborhood from me, so I was forced to view both sides. This allowed me to see people for who they were, and I would ease tensions when I could, but some interactions were inevitable. My family is relatively large,