What is diversity? Diversity is when a group of different races and cultures come together in one setting. I think diversity is something everyone should be introduced to at some point in their lives. Diversity is a concept that has played a very important role in my life, especially growing up in a community that was not very diverse and moving to a community where the school system fully embraced diversity. By introducing diversity into my life throughout my high school years, I was able to expect change as a good thing and realize that race is a physical trait and does not make you who you are, develop a new thought process and new points of view and I was able to comfortably interact with people different from me and make new friends. When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time with my family and the local kids who grew up on my street and I grew up in a small town that was populated primarily by African Americans or black people; there were virtually no whites or other races. So, in a way, you could say that's all I knew growing up. Even though we grew up doing many different activities like dance and music classes, I was always surrounded by family and children who were the same as me. When I was younger, I remember seeing other kids who were different from me, but I never talked to them and, in a sense, kept my distance from them. From the time I started school until middle school, I went to school with the people I knew even though there were other races (mainly white), we never really mixed the two groups . There was a separation between the two and I never thought it was a problem. When I entered high school, my mother had decided to move to a new city. The first day I ...... middle of paper ...... and I feel more comfortable with her. By the time the journal was finished, Jen and I had become very good friends, even best friends. And just by writing this article and taking the time to get to know someone different from me, I was able to meet friends. After all that was over, I became a more open person and started joining different clubs like the International Student Alliance. I wanted to learn more about other people's cultural backgrounds and where they came from. I also had the chance to join another student on a mission trip to another country and experience a different culture. It all started with a simple article about a fellow student that helped me open up to others who were different from me. Through these experiences, I gained a new thought process and a new view of others unlike myself. Finally, I gained many new friends that I will always have.