Diversity Statement HELPPP Forum

[Anonymous User]

“Assimilation is a curse; Assimilation is the eradication of your identity, of who you are”. These are the words of Puerto Rican musician Tato Torres. Being raised in a Puerto Rican family you quickly learn that the most important lessons in life come from hard work, perseverance and staying true to your heritage. The first two were easily identifiable for me as a young teen but I couldn’t quite grasp the concept of staying true to your heritage. While attending school in Queens I was an outcast because I spoke properly, dressed a certain way and did not fit the mold of a typical Puerto Rican. In their terms I was simply “not Puerto Rican enough”. However quite the opposite occurred when my family and I moved out to Long Island. All of a sudden I was now too Puerto Rican. In the eyes of my new fellow classmates I was an individual with a strong city accent who wore baggy clothes. During this transition I came to the realization that there is no such thing of being too much or too little of one’s heritage.
I ignored the stereotypes set by society and of my people and carved out my own identity. To the dismay of my father and family members I gave up the sport of baseball for lacrosse. This move sent what seemed like shockwaves to my family back in Puerto Rico. Of course I was still loved by them but they were disappointed because they felt as if I was selling out or assimilating into a culture that was not my own. However I felt I was doing quite the opposite. Instead I was exploring a new frontier of sports that my people have not generally explored. It was because of my decision to shy away from the norm that I was able to open up opportunities that I would have never been afforded. I was able to go on and become one of the six pioneers to begin the XXXXX Lacrosse program. Lacrosse has provided me with one my life’s greatest accomplishment up to date.
Being different has never stopped me from pursuing my dreams and life goals. I have learned to embrace my differences and transform them into strengths. Assimilation is a curse but can be avoided by never compromising what you feel to be your true identity.



I have not proofread my work so there is definitely grammatical errors. Unsure on how I should go about writing my diversity statement but this is what I came up with. Criticism needed!!!