I moved to the United States when I was 8 years old and since then I have dealt with the idea that I am different and some people aren't going to understand that. When I first moved here many of the neighborhood kids where confused as to how I spoke English, because according to them I was only going to be able to speak Spanish because I was from Mexico. What they didn't know or even consider is that I had gone to a bilingual school since preschool and that really I only had a couple years of English deficiency which I very quickly picked up from going to summer school before starting school in the fall.
Later in my life my residency status was put in question when all the commotion started to flood the media about illegal Mexican immigrants living in the U.S and specifically the Arizona immigration law.
People who I had gone to school with since elementary school would ask me stupid questions about being here illegally and "hopping the border" when I had been living here on a permanent resident card for at least 6 years. But now I realize they didn't know any better, they were just repeating what they were being fed. Living in one of the bordering states sometimes made my family and I subject racial discrimination by people who only knew what the media told them. This made me want to hide my heritage for a long time and try to fit in as well as I could. It made me self conscious of my skin color and my accent, none of which was good for a developing teenager.
It wasn't until recently that I really embraced my Mexican heritage in public. In high school I made a new group of friends that was genuinely interested in learning about my culture and diversity and this really helped me come out of my comfort zone. At this time I also noticed that many times I was the only Hispanic student in my AP classes and I felt proud to be doing well academically besides the basic stereotype that Hispanic students couldn't be as smart as Caucasian students. My senior year I won an award for my community service and great academic standing as a Hispanic student from the Mesa Association of Hispanic Citizens. It was truly life changing, it inspired me to encourage other Hispanic students to do the best that they can.
I am currently attending OSU with a diversity based scholarship through the office of Diversity and Inclusion called Morrill Scholars Program and I have met a lot of wonderful people of many backgrounds through their programs and have been connected to lots of resources around campus. In fact I wouldn't even be taking this class had it not been for them recommending it.
Embracing my heritage opens many more doors for me than being ashamed of it because of what some stupid people say, and I have really tried to become more involved in it since arriving at OSU. I am a part of LLDI (Latino Leadership Development Institute), which is helping me become a better leader and provides a community with like interests and backgrounds to call home.
It wasn't until recently that I really embraced my Mexican heritage in public. In high school I made a new group of friends that was genuinely interested in learning about my culture and diversity and this really helped me come out of my comfort zone. At this time I also noticed that many times I was the only Hispanic student in my AP classes and I felt proud to be doing well academically besides the basic stereotype that Hispanic students couldn't be as smart as Caucasian students. My senior year I won an award for my community service and great academic standing as a Hispanic student from the Mesa Association of Hispanic Citizens. It was truly life changing, it inspired me to encourage other Hispanic students to do the best that they can.
I am currently attending OSU with a diversity based scholarship through the office of Diversity and Inclusion called Morrill Scholars Program and I have met a lot of wonderful people of many backgrounds through their programs and have been connected to lots of resources around campus. In fact I wouldn't even be taking this class had it not been for them recommending it.
Embracing my heritage opens many more doors for me than being ashamed of it because of what some stupid people say, and I have really tried to become more involved in it since arriving at OSU. I am a part of LLDI (Latino Leadership Development Institute), which is helping me become a better leader and provides a community with like interests and backgrounds to call home.
"I find that the very things that I get criticized for, which is usually being different and just doing my own thing and just being original, is the very thing that's making me successful."
~Shania Twain
Thank you very much for sharing your story, Martha. You're so strong to have gone through so much, but you're still so kind and positive. I'm glad you were able to find a group of people in high school that loved you for yourself. I hope that Ohio State brings you happiness and allows you to embrace who you are even more. Again, thanks for telling your story. You're amazing!
ReplyDelete