Growing Up In Dallas Neighborhood

I grew up in University Park, Texas, which is an interior Dallas suburb that is usually grouped together with the neighboring community of Highland Park. My family has lived in the neighborhood for many generations and this was one of my favorite parts of growing up there. All of my extended family lives in the neighborhood and around twenty of us have dinner all together at my grandmother’s house every Sunday night. There is a strong sense of community in the neighborhood as many families have lived there for a long time and have deep roots in the schools, churches and other organizations. There is only one high school in the district so there is a strong sense of school spirit and a lot of the community is involved in the athletics, arts and academics at the school. Because of the

This community feeling carries over to events like the annual Fourth of July Parade and Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Being centrally located in such a big city also allowed me to experience the many features that Dallas has to offer such as the incredible art district, other museums and the many restaurants and stores. However, there were also things about growing up in University Park that I did not like as much. The neighborhood has the reputation of being rich, snobby, and a “bubble.” While this reputation definitely isn’t entirely deserved, there is a grain of truth in it. My school was very homogenous in race and socioeconomic status and at times can be competitive in an unhealthy way. While the competition caused all of us to strive to be excellent, the stress and weight of comparison caused issues for some students. Additionally, while the involvement of parents and the entire community in beneficial to students, parents can sometimes be overzealous and create drama surrounding banning books and other