Ethnic Background

When asked about my racial and ethnic background, often I find myself baffled as to how to respond accordingly. I categorize myself as a second generation American, as my mother and I were both born in the United States, yet some how if I say just that, I feel like I am withholding from the truth. My paternal grandparent emigrated from the Dominican Republic and immigrated to the United States in their adolescence years. Because they acculturated quickly, they entered the work force and learned English. Though, they knew the importance of learning the English language, they also knew they wanted to keep some of their original traditions. They spoke to their children in Spanish, as they knew their children would learn English at school. Therefore, …show more content…
The students at my local school almost all had been either immigrants themselves or had parents who were immigrants and only spoke Spanish. Because all three generations my grandmother, my mother and I all grew up the majority of our lives in this very same neighborhood I would say with regards to my community I have strong ties. As far as traditions my family celebrates, both major “American” and “Dominican” holiday and important events. For example with regards to American traditions we celebrate: New Years, Memorial Day, Christmas, Thanks Giving, Halloween and much more, and with regards to Dominican traditions we celebrate: Fathers day, Mothers day, Semana Santa (Holy week). I think because I celebrated both cultures almost evenly I think as a student I always felt connected to my peers and my teachers. I was always confident I could build rapport easily with people who identified as “American” or with those who identified as …show more content…
My mother decided she wanted to move to Stroudsburg Pennsylvania. Here, I attended Stroudsburg High school where I finished my sophomore year. I had never been apart of the minority, as in all my previous schools I was apart of the majority with regards to ethnicity. On the contrary at Stroudsburg the population of Hispanics was 15% and the population of Caucasians was 70%. This was absolutely though provoking I had never seen so many white people in all my life all in one place. Though, I had always been a good students in my previous schools, here things were different. I excelled in math, when in NYC I always felt average, and I was considered mediocre in English where in NYC I had always been considered