In the co-curriculum

During the summer I work as a part-time youth Americorps leader in Lawrence. I started painting murals with a group of volunteers three years ago. The murals are exhibited in the Lawerence Senior Center. Most seniors speak only Spanish and all of my volunteers are from the Domincan Republic or Puerto Rico. For the first time I realized what it was like to be treated as an outsider because of my lack of language skills and how I look. While most of my volunteers are bilinguals, the seniors only speak Spanish. Although this experience isn't nearly as harsh as what many minority groups endure, it allowed me some insight into their lives and their families' lives as immigrants.

Interacting with people of other cultures have also introduced me to diversity and culture. I carpooled with a Palestinian for 2 years while commuting to Lowell which led me to research more about Palestinian Israeli conflict. My roommate is also from Jordon and likes to share with me her experiences living there. My animation teacher is from Iran. As an animation major, I've developed a close relationship with him and have learned some things about his experience in Tehran. My film teacher is from Cairo Egypt. While driving me to a slow motion camera workshop in Fitchburg, he played me some Arabic music and spoke of his time traveling. Hiring a diverse staff allows students to see people of different backgrounds as mentors and leaders. Being so small, the art department has a tight knit community. I call teachers by their first name, know their immediate family, and teachers regularly feed me meals. Developing close relationships with my teachers has allowed me to feel comfortable speaking to them on a more intimate level about their homes, preferences, and experiences.

I've also reccently applied for the Japanese Exchange and Teaching program. I took Japanese for 3 years and highschool and 1 year in college. I could no longer study Japanese once I transferred to UMass because it doesn't have a course offering. My interest in Japanese has also given me the oppurtunity to house two Japanese students.

I feel that language is closely linked with culture. Language includes what words a society feels are important to define, what words they need to appropriate, and how they organize themselves. Fore example, Japanese has more formalities than the Spanish or English language. Japanese people themselves tend to be very polite, reserved, and formal in comparison to Latino cultures which are loud and expressive.