A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
I was born and raised in New York City. I lived there for eight years until 2003 when my Moroccan parents decided it was time to go back to their home, so that my brother and I could get to know the Moroccan side of ourselves. After the 9/11 attacks, New York City became a different place, at least that was what my parents told me. A different place for Muslims was what they really meant. Thousands of people were killed in the 9/11 attacks that shook America. Things just weren't the same anymore. I remember hearing stories of friends of my mother who wore the hijab being harassed on the street. "Go home!", they would scream. What home? America is the home of people from all over the world. A melting pot. But things had changed and politicians were preparing for a war against terrorism. My parents decided it was time to pack up and leave. For two years my parents talked it over, argued about it, and finally came to a conclusion. June 2003 was the deadline. Off we go.
June 2003 was not the first time I would see Morocco. We went every summer. But this time, I had to go to a new school and live there. The idea of living in North Africa was new to me but I had no choice. My dad kept telling me about George Washington Academy. How it was an amazing school, even better than the public school I went to in New York. I was excited to start fourth grade in a new place but I was sad about leaving my old friends behind. Old friends they became. Fourth grade was an interesting year for me. I met new friends, made many enemies, and learned to adjust to something totally new. I learned to read and write Classical Arabic and French. My teachers liked me but I remember having problems with my classmates. However, growing up in GWA and getting used to my peers has changed that. I learned to like Morocco.
Even though I had gotten used to Morocco after my first year. I began to harbor bitter feelings. I longed for home and home still was not Casablanca or Morocco at all. It was New York. I missed my friends. I missed my teachers. I missed my life back there. Realization just hit me later than it should have. I began to sink in these bitter thoughts and throughout Middle School I did not feel like myself anymore. My grades dropped my self-esteem even lower and I was falling into destruction. Ninth grade registration day came along and I was a different person. I pushed myself to motivation. I pushed myself to strive for the best. I realized that I am in high school now and slacking off was not the way to success. I pushed myself to my highest potential. That year I worked hard and got good grades, made new friends, and saw life in a different light. I thought that in four years it would be graduation time and I would be starting a totally new life with new people. And here I am as a senior, my final year of high school. The excitement is running through my blood and I cannot wait.
Through my experiences, I have learned that falling down and scraping your knees is a part of life. Things cannot always be perfect. We all make mistakes, we all fall down at some point, several points, in our lives. However, there are wrong and right ways to look at your failures. When I fell, I looked at my failures the wrong way. Instead making the best of the situation, I made the worse of it but later, I learned from my mistakes and realized the huge flaw in the way I was thinking. I was not getting anywhere by focusing on my issues and not trying to fix them. I learned that the way to fix my problems was to look at them objectively and positively while trying to find a solution. We are all diverse through our experiences but in the end we are all human and failure, as well as success, is something we all deal with and share.
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