A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
"What language are you folks speaking?" is a common question asked whenever my family leaves Chicago. As a first generation Polish family, we find it best to communicate in our native language wherever we go. I sometimes feel uneasy fearing that some anti-immigrant belligerent will scold us for not talking in English. Many times, people have actually shared their parents' or grandparents' experiences involved with the struggles of assimilation. At ____ High School, where even though we have many immigrants representing various countries, I often hear xenophobic slurs spoken by children who have obviously lost touch with their roots.
I joined "PULSE",a cultural club, my sophomore year of high school as a form of escapism . There, I met several students who took pride in not only learning about other cultures but were willing to share their own experiences. In my first meeting, one student presented a challenge to all other students to fast for one day for Ramadan. While I didn't complete the challenge, I came back to attend a trip to attend an international festival which I hoped would quench my thirst for knowledge about other cultures.
We were all handed passports which could be stamped by the representatives behind each booth. Rushing past the seemingly homogeneous booths with my group to collect these stamps was not what I had in mind when I joined PULSE. I was disappointed that one of my favorite things about a culture, the food, was actually very bland and was akin to the food found in generic ethnic restaurants across America. Yet, I was still content to return to various booths and strike up a conversation with the people there. When I went up to the Polish booth, I was expecting to learn more about my own culture but the two ladies behind the booth surprisingly wanted to interview me. I admire how they cling to their roots despite being far removed from their Polish relatives and further encouraged me to do the same.
Spending more than 10 years in America and only 5 in Poland, I've already assimilated into American culture. Despite this, I'm trying my best to still keep in touch with my Polish identity albeit I'm losing my grip on the language and history. Attending college next year, I hope to join more cultural-based organizations to indulge in the study of other cultures and to erase from people's minds the common euphemisms of Archie Bunker. (I probably need to add more here)
I feel as though this is way too generic and there may be some reverse-xenophobia on my end. Should I scrap it?
"What language are you folks speaking?" is a common question asked whenever my family leaves Chicago. As a first generation Polish family, we find it best to communicate in our native language wherever we go. I sometimes feel uneasy fearing that some anti-immigrant belligerent will scold us for not talking in English. Many times, people have actually shared their parents' or grandparents' experiences involved with the struggles of assimilation. At ____ High School, where even though we have many immigrants representing various countries, I often hear xenophobic slurs spoken by children who have obviously lost touch with their roots.
I joined "PULSE",a cultural club, my sophomore year of high school as a form of escapism . There, I met several students who took pride in not only learning about other cultures but were willing to share their own experiences. In my first meeting, one student presented a challenge to all other students to fast for one day for Ramadan. While I didn't complete the challenge, I came back to attend a trip to attend an international festival which I hoped would quench my thirst for knowledge about other cultures.
We were all handed passports which could be stamped by the representatives behind each booth. Rushing past the seemingly homogeneous booths with my group to collect these stamps was not what I had in mind when I joined PULSE. I was disappointed that one of my favorite things about a culture, the food, was actually very bland and was akin to the food found in generic ethnic restaurants across America. Yet, I was still content to return to various booths and strike up a conversation with the people there. When I went up to the Polish booth, I was expecting to learn more about my own culture but the two ladies behind the booth surprisingly wanted to interview me. I admire how they cling to their roots despite being far removed from their Polish relatives and further encouraged me to do the same.
Spending more than 10 years in America and only 5 in Poland, I've already assimilated into American culture. Despite this, I'm trying my best to still keep in touch with my Polish identity albeit I'm losing my grip on the language and history. Attending college next year, I hope to join more cultural-based organizations to indulge in the study of other cultures and to erase from people's minds the common euphemisms of Archie Bunker. (I probably need to add more here)
I feel as though this is way too generic and there may be some reverse-xenophobia on my end. Should I scrap it?
