I grew up in a relatively small town in the shadow of a larger town, Dayton. In my immediate surroundings there was never any diversity. I went to a predominately white, middle-class school in a predominately white, middle-class neighborhood. I met some people that were weird, or different, or not your average Joe, but not many people that one could think of as in a different socio-economic bracket. My closest real brush with diversity occurred when I joined the FIRST Lego league and met one of my best friends to this day. I was on various teams for two years, and then most of my friends quit, so my team dissolved, and I had to find a new one. Well, turns out that there were two people who were only described to me as "Very, very odd. Nice, but odd." Well I met the kids (there were actually two, I'm still very close with both) and yes, they were really weird. They both came from families that were definitely a few income levels down from mine, their families were the kind that take in every stray cat and dog, making their houses a menagerie, and they were both home-schooled. I had never met any home-schooled kids before, and low and behold these kids were crazy cool. The boy is my best friend to this day, and I know I can always count on him, and I see the girl whenever I see the boy, because they are engaged.
YAY for happy endings!
On to my mentee(s)
I was assigned with Alex to two mentees. One had been in America for only four months and did not speak any English, whereas the other had been here nearly six years. Most of the conversation revolved around the English speaker, simply because communication was much easier between us and them, and even when his friend translated for him he was a very quiet individual. But our English speaking friend had many interesting stories. He had been to San Fransisco and seen the zoo and the giant sequoia trees. I also love the zoo and traveling to other states, seeing amazing things. He said he enjoys playing video games, playing sports, and did not like school work. I also like my video games and could comment on his favorite games. I play sports, and my favorite to play are soccer and baseball, just like my mentee. I don't think I need to comment on the last one. Neither talked much bout their childhood, but I can assume it contained much more diversity than theirs, especially in their current school environment.
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