Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Discrimination and Prejudice — Diversity. It was not uncommon for my neighborhood friends to have a drug abusing parent, a single parent household, alcoholic parents, or experience domestic violence. Consequently, I began to value my multifaceted identity and came to trust in the significance of my diversity. Although kids made fun of my skin tone and practices, my father taught me to be proud to emphasize the African in being African American. Diversity essay examples, looks at four different classifications: 1 sensitivity training, 2 dissonance creation, 3 cultural awareness, and 4 legal awareness. At seven, I had been fascinated by Olympic performers who executed thrilling high jumps and dizzying spins with apparent ease, and I dreamed to diversity essay examples day do the same. He immigrated to the United States as a young adult and fell into a life of criminal activity.
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While working on your college applications, you may come across essays that focus on diversityculture, or values. The purpose of these essays is to highlight any diverse views or opinions that you may bring to campus. These essay prompts are a way for diversity essay examples to see what students can bring to their school. These culture and diversity essay examples were all written by real students, diversity essay examples. Read these examples to inspire your writing. I was thirsty. I swept them into a spare Ziploc and began to leave when a classmate snatched the bag and held it above my head. I had forgotten the Star-of-David around my neck, but quickly realized she must have seen it and connected it to diversity essay examples stacks of coins.
I am no stranger to experiencing and confronting anti-Semitism, but I had never been targeted in my school before. I grabbed my bag and sternly told her to leave. Although she sauntered diversity essay examples, the impact remained. This incident serves as an example of the adversity I have and will continue to face from those who only see me as a stereotype. Ironically, however, these experiences of discrimination have only increased my pride as a member of the Jewish Community. Continuing to wear the Star-of-David connects me to my history and my family.
I find diversity essay examples and direction from community values such as pride, education, and giving, and I am eager to transfer these values to my new community: the Duke community. Then, my family abandoned our comfortable life in Bangladesh for a chance at the American dream in Los Angeles. Within our first year, my father was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He lost his battle three weeks before my sixth birthday. Facing a new country without the steady presence of my father, diversity essay examples, we were vulnerable — prisoners of hardship in the land of the free. It diversity essay examples meant to be our refuge, but I felt more displaced than ever, diversity essay examples.
Gone were the high-rise condos of West L. Pedestrians no longer smiled and greeted me; the atmosphere was hostile, diversity essay examples, even toxic. Meanwhile, my family began integrating into the local Bangladeshi community. I struggled to understand those who shared my heritage. Bangladeshi mothers stayed home while diversity essay examples drove cabs and sold fruit by the roadside — painful societal positions. Riding on crosstown buses or walking home from school, I began to internalize these disparities.
During my fleeting encounters with affluent Upper East Siders, I saw kids my age with nannies, parents diversity essay examples wore suits to work, diversity essay examples, and luxurious apartments with spectacular views. Most took cabs to their destinations: cabs that Bangladeshis drove. I watched the mundane moments of their lives with longing, aching to plant myself in their shoes. Shame prickled down my spine. I distanced myself from my heritage, rejecting the traditional panjabis worn on Eid and refusing the torkari we ate for dinner every day. As I grappled with my relationship with the Bangladeshi community, I turned my attention to helping my Bronx community by pursuing an internship with Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda. I handled desk work and took calls, spending the bulk of my time actively listening to the hardships constituents faced — everything from a veteran stripped of his benefits to a grandmother unable to support her bedridden grandchild, diversity essay examples.
As an intern, diversity essay examples, I could only assist in what felt like the small ways — pointing out local job offerings, printing information on free ESL classes, reaching out to non-profits. But to a community facing an onslaught of intense struggles, I realized that something as small as these actions could have vast impacts. Seeing the immediate consequences of my actions inspired me. I began to stop seeing the prevalent underemployment and cramped living quarters less as sources of shame, diversity essay examples. Instead, I saw them as realities that had to be acknowledged, but could ultimately be remedied.
I also realized the benefits of the Bangladeshi culture I had been so ashamed of. My Bangla language skills were an asset to the office, and my understanding of Bangladeshi etiquette allowed for smooth communication between office staff and its constituents. As I helped my neighbors navigate city services, I saw my heritage with pride — a perspective I never expected to have, diversity essay examples. I can now diversity essay examples the value of my unique culture and background, and of living with less. This perspective offers room for progress, community integration, and a future worth fighting for. Far from being ashamed of my community, I want to someday return to local politics in the Bronx to continue helping others access the American Dream.
I hope to help my community appreciate the opportunity to make progress together. By embracing reality, I learned to live it. Along the way, I discovered one thing: life is good, but we can make it better. I took my first trip to China to visit my cousin Anna in July of Her sparkling personality and optimistic attitude always brought a smile to my face. This time, diversity essay examples, however, my heart broke when I saw the effects of her brain cancer; she had suffered from a stroke that paralyzed her left diversity essay examples. She was still herself in many ways, but I could see that the damage to her brain made things difficult for her, diversity essay examples.
Would I ever see Anna again? Could I have done more to make Anna comfortable? I wished I could stay in China longer to care for her. As I deplaned, I wondered if I could transform my grief to help other children and teenagers in the US who suffered as Anna did. The day after I got home, as jet lag dragged me awake a few minutes after midnight, I remembered hearing about the Family Reach Foundation FRF and its work with children going through treatments at the local hospital and their families. Volunteering has both made me appreciate my own health and also cherish the new relationships I build with the children and families. We play sports, make figures out of playdoh, and dress up.
When they take on the roles of firefighters or fairies, we all get caught up in the game; for that time, they forget the sanitized, stark, impersonal walls of the pediatric oncology ward. Building close relationships with them and seeing them giggle and laugh is so rewarding — I love watching them grow and get better throughout their course of treatment. To get started, I enrolled in a summer collegelevel course in Abnormal Psychology. There I worked with Catelyn, a rising college senior, on a data analysis project regarding Dissociative Identity Disorder DID, diversity essay examples. Together, we examined the neurological etiology of DID by studying four fMRI and PET cases. I fell in love with gathering data and analyzing the results and was amazed by our final product: several stunning brain images showcasing the areas of hyper and hypoactivity in brains affected by DID.
Desire quickly followed my amazement — I want to continue this project and study more brains, diversity essay examples. Their complexity, delicacy, and importance to every aspect of life fascinate me. Sadly, a few months after I returned from China, Anna passed away. Leadership was thrust upon me at a young age. From having to watch over my little sister to cooking dinner three nights a week, I never lived an ideal suburban life. Instead, I spent my childhood navigating legal hurdles, shouldering family responsibilities, and begrudgingly attending court-mandated therapy sessions. At the same time, I tried to get decent grades and maintain my Colombian roots and Spanish fluency enough to at least partially communicate with my grandparents, both of whom speak little English. Although my childhood had its bright and joyful moments, much of it was weighty and would have been exhausting for any child to bear.
I grew up fast. However, the responsibilities I took on at home prepared me to lead and to work diligently, setting me up to later use them in life. Shortly after being cast, I was elected as Freshman Vice-President, a role that put me in charge of promoting events, diversity essay examples, delegating daily office tasks, collaborating with the administration on new school initiatives, and planning trips and fundraisers. While it demanded a significant amount of responsibility, my childhood of helping my mom manage our household prepared me to be successful in the role, diversity essay examples.
When I saw the happy faces of my classmates after a big event, I felt proud to know that I had made a small difference for them. Diversity essay examples projects through to a successful outcome diversity essay examples thrilling. I enjoyed my time and responsibilities so much that I served all four years of high school, going on to become Executive Vice-President. As I found success in high school, my mother and diversity essay examples began speaking more about the life they faced prior to emigrating from Colombia. To better connect with them, I took a series of Spanish language classes to regain my fluency, diversity essay examples.
After a practice run through my presentation on Bendiceme Ultima Bless me, Ultima, diversity essay examples, by Rudolofo Anaya with my grandmother, she diversity essay examples my hand and told me the story of how my family was forced from their home in order to live free of religious persecution. I felt that much of it was erased with my loss of our native language. In elementary school, I learned English best because in class I was surrounded by it. Spanish was more difficult to grasp without a formal education, and my family urged me to become fluent in English so I could be of better help diversity essay examples them in places as disparate as government agencies and grocery stores. When I was old enough to recognize the large part of my identity still rooted in being Colombian, it was challenging to connect these two sides of who I was.
Over time I have been able to reconcile the two in the context of my aspirations. I found purpose and fulfillment through student council, and I knew that I could help other families like my own if I worked in local government. By working through city offices that address housing, education, and support for survivors of childhood abuse, I could give others the same liberties and opportunities my family has enjoyed in this country, diversity essay examples. Doing so would also help me honor my roots as a first-generation American. I have been a leader for my whole life. Both at Harvard and after graduation, diversity essay examples, I want to continue that trend.
I hope to volunteer with organizations that share my goals. I want to advise politicians on policy-making that will make children and new immigrants safer and more secure. When my family was at their worst, my community gave back, diversity essay examples. I hope to give that gift to future generations. I never understood the power of community until I left home to join seven strangers in the Ecuadorian rainforest. Although we flew in from distant corners of the U. Back home in my predominantly conservative suburb, my neighbors had brushed off environmental concerns, diversity essay examples.
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What experiences have made you the person you are today? Being honest also means not exaggerating or lying about your experiences or views. Just try to be as honest about your feelings as possible. What matters most is that your diversity essay accurately represents you and your intellectual potential. This next tip is of a more mechanical nature. So what should you do? First, separate your essay into clear, well-organized paragraphs. Next, proofread your essay several times. As you further tweak your draft, continue to proofread it.
If possible, get an adult—such as a teacher, tutor, or parent—to look it over for you as well. I was raised by a single mother, but my home was filled with family. My mother, sister, and I shared a room with two twin-size beds. My aunts, uncles, five cousins, and grandparents shared the two remaining bedrooms. In total, there were thirteen people sharing a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home. For the children, the nonstop playtime and carefree memories mitigated the obstacles that came with our socioeconomic insufficiency. For me, our tight-knit family and living situation made it much easier to overcome the absence of my father.
My father represented many of the negative stereotypes that Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants have to combat. He immigrated to the United States as a young adult and fell into a life of criminal activity. His choices had an adverse impact on not only my family but also our community at large. I was somewhat sheltered from learning too much about my father, but I knew enough to feel burdened with shame. In fact, that feeling was so strong that I became fixated on the goal of creating a life opposite to that which my father had built. Pursuing a brighter future did not come without obstacles in my neighborhood and family. Rejecting the criminal element in our community required a deliberate choice to exclude me from the majority and often made me feel left out. My family fully supported my goals, but their own education levels and unfamiliarity with the college admission process restricted the amount of guidance they were able to provide.
Counselors at my high school were overloaded by high dropout rates and unable to focus on college-bound students. These processes seem basic to some, but can be overwhelming to a first-generation student to the point where it becomes easier to put it off or quit altogether. I did not spend my entire youth in that overcrowded yet comforting home. My education and career goals have been shaped by my background, and I will continue to aim high despite the challenges that may come my way. Money for food was scarce, and my sister and I became accustomed to eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner out of vending machines on a budget of six dollars a day. Although this experience was mentally and physically damaging, it served as motivation for me to strive for a better life and made me never want to regress to that standard of living.
I was separated from my childhood friends for that year, but we reunited the next year as freshmen in high school. Things had changed in that year: the friends that I grew up with became the gang members that my parents warned me about as a child. Out of all of my childhood friends, I was the only one to go on to college, let alone finish high school. Living with the feeling of turning my back on them by cutting off communication with them during high school was an isolating experience. If teachers saw me with them, I would be categorized as a gang member, or worse, if other gang members noticed then they would try to attack me because they thought I was a rival.
I tried to explain this to my friends but they could not understand and eventually the friendships grew cold. During the end of my ninth grade year, I was still adjusting to my new life. Although I no longer physically lived in that neighborhood, I still felt like I was alone and was stuck in the same position. My closest friends, the ones I could relate to, were all on a downward spiral in life; at the same time, I could not relate to the students in my honors courses. Many were discussing vacation trips, showing off new clothes or getting a new car for their birthday when getting their driving permit.
While some of my classmates were planning on taking family vacations to Disneyland, I was planning to visit my father who had been recently arrested and was serving jail time for robbery. Instead of having memories of helping my parents wash their car in the front yard or riding a bicycle on the sidewalk as a child, I remember seeing people get shot and killed in my neighborhood or seeing a pregnant woman smoking crack. Sophomore year of high school proved to be the lowest and most humbling part of my life.
I remember vividly the moment I found out that I lost my first two friends to gang violence. There was a lot of guilt in the weeks that followed; I felt like there was more I could have done to steer them in the right direction. I began to replay my childhood and explore my life direction and I decided a change was needed. All of my experiences up until that point started to serve as an inspiration to become better than where I started and continue to build myself into a stronger person. My natural disposition allows me to see the positive things in every situation, and I realize that no matter how dire the situation seems, it could be worse. Many people say that phrase not knowing what that worse actually is.
But I know. Opportunities that have come my way are very much appreciated, and I intend to make the most of them. Knowing where I once was, I am confident in my accomplishments and hopeful for future generations as I start a new trend in my family and build a strong foundation. My childhood is not a weight that drags me down; instead it has become the strength to push through adversity when challenges arise. My life was supposed to be simple. I wanted to make my parents happy, to give us the future they desired. Winning Quran memorization competitions, fasting, and praying daily: my religious beliefs guided me throughout my childhood. After the September 11th attacks festered resentment for Muslims across the nation, I faced religiously charged backlash in my public school; as a result, I transferred to an Islamic school where I hoped to blend in better.
It was clear, though, that another difference would soon set me apart. My new classmates were quick to point out my effeminate mannerisms that unintentionally flowed from the flicks of my wrist. As my sexuality blossomed and the homophobic rhetoric harshened, I wrestled with conflicting feelings of living authentically and living without fear. I questioned whether my religious beliefs could sustain what I knew to be true about myself. As a result, comforted by its familiarity, I resigned to the security of the proverbial closet. Clothing myself with a wardrobe of feeble masculinity, I prayed my actions would become my sexuality. By denying my identity, I rejected a part of myself for the sake of my parents. In my head, I was a martyr, bravely sacrificing for the greater good of my family.
In my heart, I was a heretic, terrified to openly challenge my religious dogma and familial values. Over time, though, the need to live genuinely became too great to deny. Sitting in a mosque attending a traditional Pakistani wedding, my own future telescoped before me. As I observed the beaming couple, I realized I would one day face a similar choice. How could I look into the eyes of a woman and speak of love as if I felt it between us? Dejected, I finally understood that what some call the closet felt more like a coffin. What once felt familiar was now incompatible. Professing my queer identity to my parents swelled our home with such a rage that our relationship fragmented in an instant.
They believed homosexuality was incompatible with Islam, and reparative therapy was the only cure for my dis-orientation. They kicked me out of the house and, with no place to stay, I happened to find a Buddhist abbey with a room to rent. My struggle to reconcile religion and sexuality had left me ambivalent towards religious practice. So, initially, the abbey was only a place to sleep: a momentary reprieve from school and three jobs. While the hook does a nice job pulling us in, the detail in the body does a nice job of keeping us engaged. We get to see how the author has explored diverse perspectives, created space for others to share, and tried to build understanding by offering her own. The insights she offers are quick but effective, and she transitions well into focusing on how this experience of diversity has shaped how she wants to continue engaging and contributing in the future.
Save yourself time: The student used this essay for several prompts asking about things like diversity or community, likely saving herself hours of writing and revising. My whole family is sitting around the living room on a lazy Sunday afternoon when we suddenly hear sirens. Lots of sirens. Everyone stops. My dad peers out the window, trying to get a glimpse of the highway. My mom gets up and goes to the phone. After a few stressful rings, the person on the other line answers. Nice hook! Is Josh ok? Who is this Josh? Josh is my fourteen-year-old cousin, and he lives less than a mile from my house. Whenever we hear sirens, my mom will give their house a call or shoot my aunt a text, just in case. Josh was born with a syndrome which affected the formation of the bones of his head and face.
As a result, his hearing, vision, breathing and some of his brain structures are compromised. Here the author gives context by explaining who Josh is. Living so close to Josh, we have had the opportunity to interact daily. This game was perfect for Josh, as he could stay in a comfortable seat and still experience speed and excitement that he is usually barred from. In this paragraph, the author shows us how close he is with Josh, and the final sentence shows his sensitivity. It goes without saying that Josh has not had an easy childhood. He has had to fight for his life in the hospital when his peers were learning how to multiply and divide in school or playing capture the flag on the beach.
A large portion of his childhood has been arbitrarily taken from him. That is most obviously unfair. At our high school, I see Josh every day walking from second period to third period, and every day I say hello and have a small conversation with him. One day I was walking with a few of my friends when I stopped to talk with him. My friends were horrified, and chastised me as they saw appropriate. He is not some extremely delicate dandelion who falls apart at every breath that causes a slightly adverse situation. All Josh wants is to be treated like any other person. He is my cousin, and he is my friend, so I treat him as such. We joke, we make fun of each other, just as any other two friends do. The author chooses to treat Josh as he would treat any of his friends — like a normal human being.
Josh has proved to me that people with disabilities are exactly that—people. As if that needed proving. One of my favorite people on Earth has lived a life of disability. And he plays a mean game of Monopoly. Here, he connects the dots and provides a bit more insight: Treating people differently because of their disability can be dehumanizing. And for some reason, that Monopoly line makes me cry every time. Have some fun exploring. Click here to learn how to write essays for tons of different prompts.
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