Week 8 - Integration One


Notre Dame: My Community to Grow while Persevering

I believe that my community should be aware of their privileges and representation in our
society. Growing up, I was not taught the importance of representation or privilege in America.
My international school in Taiwan had an administration that was almost entirely white and
male. However, I didn’t realize how problematic this was until my sophomore year of high
school. I had my annual trip back to California the summer before and had gotten to the age
where I understood microaggressions. I tried so hard to be the All-American girl at summer
camps, but still got treated differently. I didn’t have an accent when I spoke English, I followed
the same trends, yet I was still different. I realized the white administrators at my school would
never understand what the majority of my Asian peers would experience. As a college prep
school, part of their goal is to shape our success in going to university in America and navigating
being a third culture kid. But, how would they know if their identity would never be second
guessed? If they would always have the upper hand because of their appearance? My belief has
led me to be aware, to research, and to be vocal about injustice.

The articles and TEDTalk we watched for Week 7’s QQC reminded me of this experience I had.
My favorite quote from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s speech was the one I picked for my QQC:
“Now, I loved those American and British books I read...They opened up new worlds for me. But
the unintended consequence was that I did not know that people like me could exist in
literature.” (“Danger of a Single Story” TEDtalk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Moreau FYE
Week 7) I too grew up reading American literature where most of my books were about people
that didn’t look like me. My AP US history class was structured in a way where we learned
mostly about the white male figures in American history. It wasn’t until I researched on my own
and took the History of Minorities in the USA course my school offered did I know there was
more than just white men. Like Adichie, it is hard to know more if the single story you are told is
so limited.

When I accepted my offer to go to Notre Dame, I understood that I was going to be in a place
where I would very much be in the minority. Although there is still a lot of work to do and I
would love to be part of that change, I would like to think that Notre Dame and the rest of
America are slowly taking steps forward to teach the next generation important issues like these.
As for myself, I definitely am not perfect at being aware of privilege or representation. I try my
best to be educated about issues like these and other current events, however, I still have goals to
be more active in reading the news and understanding more about cultures outside of my own.

I believe that I am responsible for remembering where I came from as I grow in my college
career. Going to a university where you are in the minority or have a vastly different background
from everyone else can make it difficult to find a balance between your roots and your
surroundings. It’s easy and common to want to fit in with the people around you, and when



there’s no one similar to you around, it makes sense to default to what other people are like to fit
in. When raising my siblings and I, my parents made sure we were aware of our cultural
background despite American citizenship. They made an emphasis on making sure we were able
to speak Mandarin so that we would not lose touch with our grandparents or other relatives that
did not speak English. We celebrated most Taiwanese/Chinese holidays and were taught customs
that relate to them. When I was younger, I hated learning Mandarin. I thought it was unnecessary
since I was going to an “American” school and would eventually go to the US for college.
However, as I got older, I realized the language and cultural barrier that stood between my
cousins that didn’t speak Mandarin and my grandparents. I loved my grandparents and didn’t
want something like that to happen.

In Week 6’s lesson, we discuss identifying influences and where we all came from. For the
reading (“Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon - Moreau FYE Week 6), the poet discusses
their upbringing and vividly describes where they came from. With my own poem that we wrote
for homework, I wrote a lot about my cultural background and the very different environment I
grew up in. The reason I wrote about this was because of how important it is to me to never
forget about those roots because they were so crucial to shaping the person I am today.

Notre Dame has challenged me in that I have had to remember where I came from and stay true
to myself, despite how different the people I go to school are. Although this is a challenge, I
don’t think that this challenge is a bad one. In fact, I feel like it has encouraged me to be even
more prideful of where I came from. It has made me love having conversations about where I
grew up with people who are genuinely interested. My goal as of now is to find more
opportunities for me to practice my Mandarin so that I can maintain that skill. As of now, I
haven’t found an outlet on campus for me to practice, but when I speak on the phone with my
parents, I try my hardest to carry out the conversation in Mandarin only. I also joined the TSA
(Taiwanese Student Association) at Notre Dame. Despite it being a small community, it’s nice to
see a group of people that look like you and have somewhat similar backgrounds to you from
time to time.