How Does Diversity Contribute To Diversity

When I was three years old I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. Throughout my childhood I was easily angered and often acted out in school. I always knew that I was different compared to the other students in class, but never thought much of it. I come from a small farm town in northwest Ohio and in my town the majority of citizens did not experience diversity. Many people came from the same families and had similar jobs; it was all relatively “normal” as some would call it. Growing up I never really understood what target groups and agent groups were, but in my mind, a target group always had a bad connotation to it. Entering first year of college, I knew that I would experience more diversity than what I grew up with. As I became more involved I started to see the diversity stand out and after reflecting about myself and my

I always thought that Ohio State was diverse, but after hearing some of the comments people make during this class really started making me second guessing my assumptions. Ohio State has about a six percent African American rate of students. As I looked around in the class, I saw African American students in about every angle I took, but I did notice a lot more white students.
During my time at Ohio State, I plan to participate in more service through Buck-I-SERV and other organizations. My biggest fear is that people will not accept me or see me as a resource because I have not experienced similar situations are those in target groups. Through my previous service experiences, I have helped many minority people and try to connect with them, but I am nervous about the day that someone will reject my help or compassion because of the color of my skin. Therefore, I have decided to advocate for racial equality because no one wants to feel unimportant just because of the way they