As a Latina being raised in the United States, it is very common to be told that my life will be so much more challenging than others, that I have money constantly being thrown at me (whether it be through scholarships based on my ethnicity, financial aid, etc.), or that I will never be able to achieve what my peers will. This mentality that was constantly being said to me at school caused me to go through an identity crisis. I began to question my sense of self and what being Latina meant to me. While the Student Diversity Leadership Conference was inspiring and pushed me to create a more inclusive environment within my school, it further emphasized that because I look different, my life will most likely be very unpleasant. As someone who does not believe that one’s ethnicity is their only form of identity, I struggled to feel completely comfortable within this conference.
That being said, having affinity groups in which I was able to discuss various topics within the Latin community allowed me to gain a better understanding of those representing different countries and cultures and what we had to offer. We presented objects in our house that hold a cultural significance to our families, shared the recipes of different cultural foods, danced along to our favorite Latin artists, and held critical conversations about topics such as “Being raised by Latin Parents in the U.S.''. It truly was an incredible experience being able to share a part of me that many in my school will never understand. To hear the stories and the passion that people held for their cultures and ethnicities pushed me to a deeper level of connecting with this one part of my identity.
One topic that stood out was how to promote and celebrate diversity within our schools. Many of us agreed that while recruitment is an important goal to have in the long run, it is equally as important to focus and celebrate the diverse community schools already have. A few years ago, Fountain Valley decided to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and chose to only represent Mexico. That in and of itself is insulting to the entire Latin community since Fountain Valley has students that represent multiple spanish speaking countries, those of which include Spain, Costa Rica, Peru, Venezuela, and I am sure many others. How are we as a community supposed to recruit students and create a more diverse environment if we don’t even understand how to celebrate that diversity in the first place? Taking into consideration this issue that many of our schools were facing, we all understood that it was necessary to create a space where students could hold these critical conversations and not feel as though they would be judged or attacked. This conference pushed me to see the imperfections and voice the need for inclusivity and acceptance.