After waiting for six minutes, my advisor, Nate, walked into the classroom. I was in room 28, Peik Hall. It was my first official day of college and my spirits were high, wanting to learn. After introductions, he asked the class a question that I had been very curious about ever since orientation, “Do you all know why you are in TRIO?” I wasn’t only curious as to why I was in TRIO, I was also curious as to why I was put into the College of Education and Human Development when I specifically signed up for the College of Liberal Arts. A few minutes of silence passed, still no hands were raised. Nate’s laughter interrupted the silence. Just like what I was thinking, Nate wasn’t sure if people actually didn’t know the answer to his question, or
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I thought that I was an intelligent child; I thought I got accepted into the University of Minnesota by the Admission Team because they saw something in me but here I am, dumbfounded. What was I lacking that caused the admission team to decline my application? My friends got in, what about me? Was it because of the color of my skin and my social economic class? In high school, I kept my grades high, even an A- was unacceptable for me and when I did get one, I would punish myself for it by staying up until three or four in the morning just figuring out ways I can bump it back up to an A. I was a child who was active in our school. I joined many of our school clubs, I was our class president for four years straight, volunteered frequently, managed a job on the side, played sports, and was even taking College in Schools courses, which were very challenging, from the University of Minnesota. I got a 21 on my ACT and they just decide to drop me? I just didn’t get it. I was angry, I wanted to go to a different college, a college that didn’t reject my application and just toss it to someone else to see if they wanted me. But what is it that I can do now? I was already …show more content…
Yes, I went to a school where the majority of the student population is Hmong and Karen. Yes, I am considered lower class and such, but that doesn’t mean that I am less capable. And yes, I got a 21 on my ACTs, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I walked into my Introduction to TRIO class the following week with not much hope or motivation in myself. I kept reflecting on my background and came to a conclusion that it was because I was Hmong, a minority group, our standards aren’t set so high that getting a 21 on my ACT was worth praising for by many of my fellow classmates. However, for Caucasians, receiving a 21 ACT was equivalent to earning a D. Not only that, I didn’t have the money to join programs or tutors to help me reach a score that is desirable for the University of Minnesota. It was the first time, here at the U of M, that I was very aware of my social economic class differences and racial differences from many of the people here. I felt burdened by my status, but now I realized, there was nothing to be ashamed of in the first place. That following week, on our second Introduction to TRIO class, Nate pointed out a very interesting and motivational point. TRIO was a program that serves us; it gives us an opportunity to prove to people that there is more to us than just numbers on a sheet. Despite being lower class and being part of a minority group here on campus, I made it into the “all so glorious”, University of
I thought that I was an intelligent child; I thought I got accepted into the University of Minnesota by the Admission Team because they saw something in me but here I am, dumbfounded. What was I lacking that caused the admission team to decline my application? My friends got in, what about me? Was it because of the color of my skin and my social economic class? In high school, I kept my grades high, even an A- was unacceptable for me and when I did get one, I would punish myself for it by staying up until three or four in the morning just figuring out ways I can bump it back up to an A. I was a child who was active in our school. I joined many of our school clubs, I was our class president for four years straight, volunteered frequently, managed a job on the side, played sports, and was even taking College in Schools courses, which were very challenging, from the University of Minnesota. I got a 21 on my ACT and they just decide to drop me? I just didn’t get it. I was angry, I wanted to go to a different college, a college that didn’t reject my application and just toss it to someone else to see if they wanted me. But what is it that I can do now? I was already …show more content…
Yes, I went to a school where the majority of the student population is Hmong and Karen. Yes, I am considered lower class and such, but that doesn’t mean that I am less capable. And yes, I got a 21 on my ACTs, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I walked into my Introduction to TRIO class the following week with not much hope or motivation in myself. I kept reflecting on my background and came to a conclusion that it was because I was Hmong, a minority group, our standards aren’t set so high that getting a 21 on my ACT was worth praising for by many of my fellow classmates. However, for Caucasians, receiving a 21 ACT was equivalent to earning a D. Not only that, I didn’t have the money to join programs or tutors to help me reach a score that is desirable for the University of Minnesota. It was the first time, here at the U of M, that I was very aware of my social economic class differences and racial differences from many of the people here. I felt burdened by my status, but now I realized, there was nothing to be ashamed of in the first place. That following week, on our second Introduction to TRIO class, Nate pointed out a very interesting and motivational point. TRIO was a program that serves us; it gives us an opportunity to prove to people that there is more to us than just numbers on a sheet. Despite being lower class and being part of a minority group here on campus, I made it into the “all so glorious”, University of