Understanding and Embracing Cultural Diversity

Diversity is a concept that I believe most people do not have the correct knowledge of nor do they understand what it truly means. Being able to help educate others about diversity would mean the world to me, therefore it’s important for me to understand diversity. In order to understand diversity it’s especially crucial to have an open mind so that one can truly understand. I have traveled to Ecuador, worked with Me to We, taken diversity focused classes, participated in the 2015 Global Youth Summit, as well as created an awareness presentation with fellow students to further my understanding and knowledge of diversity.

During my service learning trip to Ecuador I was lucky enough to be able to learn about a completely different culture. Without an open mind, I would have never noticed all of the different and intriguing aspects of Ecuador’s culture. There was one portion of the trip that really stood out to me. On the first day we were able to visit the Yunguilla Community in the Cloudy Forest. This was only the start of learning about a culture utterly different from our own. In this community, an average of 50 families work together to preserve this area of the Cloudy Forest. Cheeses, jams, and handicrafts are all made on the land that the community owns. It was captivating to see these

families working together for one goal; however, it can make one realize that in the United States everyone is so focused on only themselves. I sincerely took this idea of ‘community’ to heart when I decided that Saint Norbert College was right for me.
During the service portion of the trip, our group was able to work with Me to We to assist in building a school for underprivileged children in the Amazon Rain Forest. During this portion of the trip we learned that a ‘minga’ is when every member of a community works together toward a shared goal. It was unbelievable to a part of this ‘minga’ that is able to aid in breaking down the barriers to education that these children face in the Amazon Rain Forest.
Throughout high school, I’ve taken an Introduction to Diversity class and a Sociology class that have helped me to understand diversity. In my diversity class
The 2015 Global Youth Summit was held at the University of Wisconsin Madison campus, and I was blessed to be able to attend. After participating, I feel that I had a better grasp on what the term ‘global’ means, which can tie into what diversity means. In diverse groups, we discussed what it means to be a global citizen and how ourselves and our communities can become more global. Consequently, I believe that in order to do so, one needs to grasp what it is like to come into ‘a new world’. One needs to look at a new perspective to truly see what it is like to move from an entirely different place, into our intimidating country. This is precisely what I believe we need to do to understand diversity as well. After the summit, the other students and myself held a meeting with our Spanish club to speak about what we could do to become more global. We generated a list that included: being open to new and unknown cultures, learning about other cultures, and respecting all cultures. With this information our Spanish club decided to go out on our own to make it heard. Some students created posters, while others spoke about it in class, and others wrote about it in English papers. For us, it didn’t matter how the word was spread, the only thing that mattered was that it did.
After my service learning trip to Ecuador, my friends and I felt as though we needed to lend a few hands to make a change.

We decided to create an awareness presentation about the experiences we had in Ecuador. In this presentation we included a video showing the highlights of our trip: the nearly completed school, the exquisite nature, and the amazing children that we were able to help. Being able to assist the children to receive an education was a main topic in the presentation. It’s my hope that anyone who sees this presentation will take their education more seriously and be willing to learn about and respect new cultures, such as the one we encountered in

Ecuador.