Aurora is one of
the most diverse cities that I know of. In each neighborhood there are at least
four different ethnic backgrounds present. As I walk through the halls at East
Aurora High School, I am amazed each day at how many different types of people
there are at my school. All different ethnic backgrounds are moving and mixing
together. There is no black; there is no white. They are only my classmates, my
friends, and my fellow tomcat. These are people you grew up with the people you
will graduate with. Being a very diverse school, I have learned a lot about
myself, and I have learned to not believe everything I hear.
My neighborhood is
full of different ethnicities. Until I was about thirteen years of age, I grew
up with gang members around my neighborhood. When I was young I did not really
realize what was going on in my neighborhood. When I was young I did not really
realize what was going on in my neighborhood. After awhile my parents and my
neighbors were tired of all the problems and decided to work together to get
the problem solved. They formed a group that would report to the police any suspicious
activities. They not only lessened to the crime rate but also help cross a
racial barrier that might have developed between out neighbors.
I was home-schooled
through my freshman year, so my sophomore year was the first time I had ever
been in a public school. East High has the reputation of being a bad school,
and I was scared to death to go to East because of the reputation. I now know
that it is completely false. Since I had grown up in a pretty bad neighborhood,
I went to school expecting to get beat up or have someone try to sell drugs to
me, because that is what I had heard would happen; boy, was I surprised!
The first day, I
was a nervous wreck, and I had dropped my school I.D. without even knowing it.
A black girl picked it up and stopped me to give it to me. I was surprised not
because she was black but because I was not expecting people to be nice to me.
I realized that I was discriminating against people I did not even know because
of something I had heard. Everyone is a bit discriminatory towards people they
do not know and for the wrong reasons.
The immeasurable
diverseness of Aurora is what I love most about it. It has helped me really
understand and appreciate the phrase, "Don't judge a book by its
cover." It has taught me to always look at the person not the reputation,
and I hope that others can learn that too.