'interact with people from different walks of life' - Terps bring differences to a community; essay

Prompt: Terps are diverse. They bring intellectual, social and cultural differences to our community. Describe the different parts of you which will contribute to our diverse campus community

It's always nice knowing who one is and where one comes from. For as long as I can remember, I was one-hundred percent Haitian, but that all changed three years ago. One day my mother decided that she wanted to find out more about where she came from. After many dead-ends, my mother finally got in contact with some of the elders of her family. What they told her about where she came from shocked her. And it even shocked me also because I always thought that I was Marlina the Haitian, not Marlina the Haitian, Puerto Rican, and French.

Later that day, I found out that my great-grandfather, Edgar Serran, was a caucasian Martiniquan and my great grandmother, Eugenia Castro, was Puerto Rican. As a young woman who comes from different backgrounds, I now comprehend the importance and value of diversity. According to Dictionary, diversity is "the inclusion of individuals representing more than one national origin."

My experience as the Technological Officer of a school club by the name of "Bridges" has taught me how to interact with people from different walks of life.We work on issues such as human trafficking, orphanages, learning and physical disabilities, homeless shelters, and self harm, Therefore, I have the pleasure of meeting people who are different from me. My experiences in Bridges and my cultural backgrounds have taught me how multifarious the world is. By attending University of Maryland, I will be able to contribute what I now contribute to Bridges by being active and open minded when it comes to what Testudo's value, diversity.

I would really love to add at least two more paragraphs. I need at least 500 words, but I only have 271. I'm also not sure how to make the first paragraph more "coloful" and how should I transition my first diversity experience to my second one? Thank you so much in advance for your help.

Martina, one of the paragraphs that I think you can add to the beginning of this essay will be an example of how you interacted with your immediate community as a diverse individual. As a Haitian, you are immediately part of a diverse community. So think about how you were treated by your friends and neighbors as they represent the other parts of a melting pot group of people. How did you view and treat them as well? Then you can transition that ending with a sentence similar to,

"It was easy for me to treat them that way, after all, I was confident of who I was in terms of my heritage. Little did I know that what I knew and was so confident of about myself at that point was about to change all because my mother felt a need to get to know more about our family history."

That will then immediately be followed by your current opening statement. Please note the following highly important transition sentence in that paragraph:

I always thought that I was Marlina the Haitian, not Marlina the Haitian, Puerto Rican, and French.

This is what you should concentrate on in your third paragraph. Don't bother telling the reviewer who belonged to what heritage in your family. That is of no interest to him. Instead, you should reveal how learning about your mixed heritage changed your outlook in life. Don't define diversity based upon the textbook / dictionary definition. Give him the meaning of diversity as you have come to understand it yourself through the discovery of your family background. From being confident that you were 100 % Haitian, was that confidence shaken when you learned you had other blood mixes running through your veins? Would you consider the discovery something that affected you positively or negatively? Such a discussion will create a more fluid transition to your interest and work in Bridges which is the next paragraph of your essay.

You can then close the essay by choosing a particular organization at the university where you can help other people discover what makes them diverse and help them embrace that diversity. Maybe explain that if such a club does not exist, you would be happy to start one up since you already have experience with looking into a person's family tree. Or something along those lines. It should be a separate stand alone paragraph. That way you get to write the 2 additional paragraphs that you are looking to add to the response.