Diversity Reflection
Diversity Reflection
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the diverse experiences that I have had in my personal and professional life. Fortunately, I have had a large mix of diverse friends and experiences in my life. This paper will discuss those diversities as well as the plan to expand on my current knowledge.
Keywords: Diversity, culture, differences
Growing up I always had the opportunity to interact with diverse groups. My father is a retired master sergeant of the United States Army. He is African-American and was born and raised Baptist in Kentucky. He married my mother who is South Korean and Buddhist. I spent the first three years of my life living in South Korea where my father was stationed. We were able to interact with Americans and Koreans from all over. As a result, I spoke two different languages, learned two different customs, and best of all - I saw no racial issues amongst the people around me.
When we moved to the United States I started going to school and lived in an area that was also very diverse. There are two major military installations located in Savannah, GA as well large industries that draw people from all over the world. My classmates were from all different areas of the country as well as the world including India, South Africa, and even Kazakhstan. I believe that I was very fortunate to have a strong mix of diversity in my life growing up.
The diversity mix actually grew larger when I started working to include several religious backgrounds and people with different sexual orientations. This included people from within my organization and outside. At my last place of employment, Cameron University, I worked in Student Development. Part of the department’s responsibility was to oversee multicultural services. Each year we would have a diversity day on campus and each month we would recognize a different cultural group. Students had the opportunity to participate in the events but most
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the diverse experiences that I have had in my personal and professional life. Fortunately, I have had a large mix of diverse friends and experiences in my life. This paper will discuss those diversities as well as the plan to expand on my current knowledge.
Keywords: Diversity, culture, differences
Growing up I always had the opportunity to interact with diverse groups. My father is a retired master sergeant of the United States Army. He is African-American and was born and raised Baptist in Kentucky. He married my mother who is South Korean and Buddhist. I spent the first three years of my life living in South Korea where my father was stationed. We were able to interact with Americans and Koreans from all over. As a result, I spoke two different languages, learned two different customs, and best of all - I saw no racial issues amongst the people around me.
When we moved to the United States I started going to school and lived in an area that was also very diverse. There are two major military installations located in Savannah, GA as well large industries that draw people from all over the world. My classmates were from all different areas of the country as well as the world including India, South Africa, and even Kazakhstan. I believe that I was very fortunate to have a strong mix of diversity in my life growing up.
The diversity mix actually grew larger when I started working to include several religious backgrounds and people with different sexual orientations. This included people from within my organization and outside. At my last place of employment, Cameron University, I worked in Student Development. Part of the department’s responsibility was to oversee multicultural services. Each year we would have a diversity day on campus and each month we would recognize a different cultural group. Students had the opportunity to participate in the events but most