Diversity Interview: Growing Up In Their Family

The person I interviewed for the Diversity Interview is named Lexi. She is a twenty-year old, Caucasian female. She is a junior environmental science major at Lewis University. She is the oldest child of two who lives at home with her biological mother and father. Lexi is a second generation Polish immigrant who is deeply connected with her culture. Her family is of middle-class socioeconomic status.
1. What was it like growing up in their family and community?
Lexi explained that growing up in her family and community had the normality of any American family despite the fact that her Polish culture was practiced. She went to public school and participated in all activities any child would. Her family was from a middle socioeconomic status

so they lived in what she described as a “nice house and nice neighborhood and never really struggled”. The exception to this was the practice of her culture. The household Lexi grew up in was primarily Polish speaking. Everyone around her spoke Polish one-hundred percent of the time. The first time she actually started to learn English was when she started public school in kindergarten. She explained that it was a struggle to learn English at first after only speaking Polish for the first five to six years of her life. Lexi also explained that the community she grew up in was primarily people from the Polish culture. Her neighborhood was primarily Polish she that is what she grew up knowing. Her social circle of friends were Polish and spoke the language. It wasn’t until Lexi went to school that she became friends with others who were not from the Polish culture. Also, the church she went to, which was Catholic, was also presented in Polish. Basically, Lexi grew up in a family and community that was almost like living in a smaller version of Poland. This is what is was like growing up in her family and community.
2. What are their personal values and goals?
Lexi has many personal values and goals. One of her person values is the practice of her culture. As a second generation immigrant, Lexi believes that it is very important to continue the practices of her culture in America to pass onto her children. Her main passion concerning this value was to pass down the Polish language to her children. This is something that she emphasized numerous times throughout almost all of the questions. Another value, which is similar to her first value, is to marry someone who is also from the Polish culture. She believes this will make it a lot easier to teach her children Polish and to keep the culture alive. She did explain though that if she was to not marry someone who was Polish that her family would not think differently of her like is done in other cultures. Lexi also values religion. She practices a Catholic faith and actively attends church. When she was younger, she would attend Polish mass, but now she attends English mass because it works better with her busy college schedule. Lexi also has several goals. One of her goals is to get married and have a family. She understands that it is hard sometimes to juggle a family and a career, but she really wants to get married and raise a family. She plans to continue her Polish culture with her husband and children. Another goal Lexi has it complete her bachelor’s degree in environmental science. She plans to use her degree to work in the field of sustainable energy. This is a goal because her parents did not attend college so she will be a first generation college graduate. These are Lexi’s personal values and goals.
3. How do they perceive their social status?
Lexi perceives her social status as one that is shared by most Americans. She explained that she grew up in an average neighborhood, when to an average public school, and generally had everything she needed. Her family is from a middle class socioeconomic background. Socially, Lexi also believes that she has an average status. She has two main groups of friends, her Polish friends and her Non-Polish friends. Lexi explained that these groups very rarely intermingle due to the language barrier and simply just likes and dislikes. She does not have anything against these two groups intermingling, but typically this does not happen. Her Polish friends are the people that live in her neighborhood, go to the same church, and participate in the same cultural-related activities. Her other group of friends are usually friends from school who are of all different cultural and religious backgrounds. This is how Lexi perceives her social status.
4. Have they ever had experiences where they felt marginalized? Give examples.
Lexi has had several experiences where she felt marginalized due to her Polish culture. She did say that these experiences were not traumatizing or very memorable, but they do affect her in a negative way. The typical experiences where she feels marginalized occurs when primarily when she is speaking Polish to her family members or others. Many times, she will be speaking in Polish to family members who are first generation immigrants that have not fully learned the English language. An example of this, would be when Lexi was out shopping with her grandmother who speaks fluent Polish and very little English. She was explaining something to her grandmother, when a person confronted them saying that they need to speak English because this is America. Lexi explained that she speaks fluent English, but her grandmother does not because she is an immigrant who is still learning English. The two exchanged a few more comments, but eventually the man walked away disgusted and shaking his head at the incident. She explained to me that this is something that commonly happens when she is with family or other Polish speaking people outside of their community. These are the experiences where Lexi felt marginalized.
5. What do they see as a privilege related to their age, race, gender or religion?
Lexi sees her age, race, and religion to be privileges in her life. She does not see her gender as a privilege because females are looked down upon as the weaker sex. While she personal believes that this is not true, it is how society views her. Lexi’s age of twenty years is something that she considers to be a privilege. At this age, she believes that there are many opportunities available to her and she has the opportunity to plan her whole life out from this point. Lexi explained that this point in her life she has almost every government granted right which is also why her age is a privilege. Her race she also sees as a privilege. It is a privilege because physically she is white which is seen as the predominant skin color in our society. By having this skin color she is able to get away with certain activities or have more advantages than someone who is of a darker colored skin. Lexi also believes that her religion is a privilege she holds. She explained that since birth she has practiced Catholicism. In her opinion, Catholicism is the most widely practiced religion in the world, which is true. This puts her at an advantage because she is able to practice her religion more freely than say someone of Muslim religion. In addition to that, a large population of people are Catholic so it is simple to find someone who understands your practices and can sympathize with your morals and values. These are the privileges Lexi sees associated with her age, race, gender, and religion.
6. How do you think this person’s life experience has shaped who they are now? What are their strengths? Give examples.
I believe that the life experiences Lexi has had has immensely shaped who she is now. Due to her culture, she is more aware of other’s differences compared to someone who was a native born American. She is more caring and helpful when it comes to helping those who may need just that extra bit of help or do not understand at all. Lexi and I both agreed that this is definitely one of her strengths. By growing up the way she has, her personality is one that has become caring and nurturing. She understands what it is like to be different from a group of people and what it is like to try to assimilate with that group of people. This is something I know she will carry with her for the rest of her life. Another life experience she had that has shaped who she is today would be her Polish culture. This has given her a sense of pride and the push to continue practicing all that she has learned from her family and friends. This is a strength because in America most people almost feel ashamed to show their true selves whether it be their sexual orientation, likes and dislikes, or in Lexi’s case, race. This is a strength that she explained she will instill in her children and future generations. This is how Lexi’s life experiences have shaped who she is today and also what her strengths are.
Lexi and I share many similarities, but also have a few differences.

We both share the traits of being Caucasian females in our early twenties. Lexi and I are also both students at Lewis University, but she is a junior environmental science major and I am a senior social work major. These are slight difference, but personally I don’t think they make us very different from each other. We were also both brought up in nurturing, middle class households. Lexi and I never had the experience of seeing our parents struggle financial or emotionally with one another. We were also both brought up in Catholic practicing households. While this is something I no longer practice, I still share the similarity in understanding the beliefs and practices of Catholicism. I also believe that Lexi and I share the same value and passion for getting married and raising a family. This is something I have known I have wanted to do for the longest time. While I plan to have a career, like Lexi, I also plan to accomplish one of my biggest goals of being a wife and mother. A major difference between myself and Lexi is her culture. I have never traced my ancestry to even know when my ancestors came to America or where they even came from. As far as I know, I have ancestors who were Norwegian and Irish, but that is about it. Lexi can actively speak to her parents who are first generation immigrants from Poland. She knows exactly what culture she belongs to because her parents did emigrate from Poland. Lexi also speaks fluent Polish, which is something I do not. The only language I can fluently speak is English. Lexi also explained that with her culture there comes a lot of customs and practices that are performed at different times throughout the year. While this is similar to me it is also different because I do not practice any culture specific practices or customs. While I do celebrate holidays, such as Christmas or Halloween, I do not practice any Norwegian or Irish

customs. These were the similarities and differences that Lexi and I shared.
I learned a lot from this assignment. Lexi is a co-worker and someone I see on a daily basis, but I would have never known how both similar and different our lives could be. I know that Lexi was Polish, but I did not know the extent to which she was. It was a huge learning experience for to learn about someone so different than myself. Her culture is something that is very different from my everyday lifestyle. In general, from this assignment I learned to look at people not just as a person, but as a treasure chest full of differences. Anyone that I meet on a daily basis could have an incredible story about their race or sexual orientation that I personally will never experience. This assignment definitely helped me learn a lot about someone else and also myself.