User talk:Dsloct2691

Prompt:A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you. When I joined my local chapter of the Young Democrats, I had only one thing on my mind: environmental protection. That was my only motivation. Previously, my school had an ecology club. Unfortunately, our club sponsor moved away and no other teacher would sponsor the organization. My club members and I were at a complete loss when it came to finding a new sponsor. To keep ourselves organized, we decided to join the Young Democrats. We knew that the Democratic Party was a friend of environmental protection and conservation. It was the only organization in the school that would help us do local projects and gain support for our cause.

I must be honest; at first I was hesitant to join the organization. Our chapter was predominately black, religious, and conservative. Environmental protection appeared to be something that they would not be interested in fighting for. Most of the organization’s efforts went towards minority rights and community action. I felt that we would be left out.

We found out, though, that it was only this way because the caucus membership defined the chapter’s efforts. When joining the organization, each member had to choose a caucus. Most of the organization was African-American; a minority-rights oriented chapter made sense. To have our say in the issues, the former members of the ecology club chose the environmental caucus. For the first time, the Young Democrats had a split of caucuses. We began to have passionate debates and discussions during meetings, and we learned to balance our causes. Achieving compromise was a key to our success. Many of our discussions opened our eyes to new ideas and made us think differently about many issues.

The older members of the chapter, ones that had never thought about the environment, began to recycle and become more conscience of their actions. I, myself, gained new perspectives. I attended a LGBT youth conference in Richmond and helped set up a local NAACP meeting. I would never have had such opportunities if I was in an organization where everyone thought the same. At the state convention, we caucused for these various beliefs. Despite all of our differences of opinion, we got along. It was the first time in my life that I could sit down with a multitude of different people and express myself without be judged. After much discussion, we’d reach consensus and agree to a decision. It was at that point that I understood the true importance of diversity. I realized that when people from different backgrounds and with different perspectives come together, great things can be achieved.

Everything that we would have done in the ecology club was accomplished through the Young Democrats. There was little to no interference with the groups usually activities, either. The diversity of opinion combined with the groups overall size made our experiences all the greater in the end. We were able to do what we wanted from the beginning while making new experiences. The doubts we had previously were completely unjustified.

All of us there were fighting for things we passionately believed in: minority rights, gay rights, labor rights, veteran’s rights, and environmental protection. The beauty of the chapter and the convention didn’t lie in what we were fighting for, but how all of us could come together and work as a whole despite our vast differences. If the differences foster greater understanding among people and generate new perspectives, then perhaps they aren’t so bad after all.