I’ll just say it, I initially did not want to attend Salisbury University.
My roommate and I actually bonded over our mutual desire to transfer to other schools after our freshman year. She followed through with the decision; I did not.
Here’s why: I recognized the importance of stepping out of my norms.
I grew up in Montgomery County, located in the D.C., Maryland, Virginia area (DMV), or what many Eastern Shore residents like to call ‘across the bridge.’
Cultural diversity was a fundamental part of my childhood. I am the child of immigrants and most of my peers were too. I was rarely ever the only person of color in the room. I always felt included, like my voice mattered.
I loved the diversity and I didn’t want to let it go.
I applied to Salisbury simply because it was a school in my home state of Maryland. I’d never thought of attending. Frankly, I had never been to the Eastern Shore before.
When I went on a tour of Salisbury, I couldn’t believe I was still in Maryland. My family were the only people of color in our tour group. Much of the surrounding population were white.
I immediately felt like I didn’t belong there, like there wasn’t a place for me.
I wanted to attend a school that either emulated the cultural diversity of my hometown or went above and beyond it.
I genuinely believed that having a college experience in a place just like my hometown would help me, and that’s insanity.
I planned to do the same things I’d done my whole life and expect change. But that’s not the purpose of me paying thousands of dollars to attend university.
I was meant to get out of my comfort zone.
I needed to be around people who didn’t think like me. I had to speak my opinion and stand by it, even when most people around me disagreed.
I needed to realize that I was not nearly as open-minded as I liked to believe. If I had attended a school close to home, I wouldn’t have experienced any true intellectual growth.
I have a better sense-of-self because my norms were challenged.
I felt like I didn’t belong, but now I know I need to be here. There aren’t many people of color in the room, so I help more enter.
For any person of color at a PWI: Know that you deserve to be in the room. Know that you have a place there. Know that you have such immense value.
You are exactly where you’re supposed to be.