Our board member Aysah just got a full ride to the University of Washington! Here’s the personal statement she wrote:
I was an outsider, who longed to fit in. I had been bussed to a predominantly white middle class school in the Central District because my immigrant mother believed I would receive a better quality education than one I would receive in the Southend. I was raised in low-income government housing and my mother presumed that I would have a higher advantage if I attended a white and wealthy school. Little did she know that her decision would cause me much pain. I was heartbroken as I was forced to leave the comfort of my diverse community.
The minute I walked into school I was met with silence. My tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed peers, looked down on me in judgment. I was one of the only few Asians. For most of the year, I struggled to find friends or people like me. Due to the constant exclusion, I decided to reject who I was and tried to assimilate. My religion and ethnicity brought me embarrassment. I did not want people to reject me, but it was hard. The way I dressed screamed “MUSLIM” and “NOT WHITE.” For three years I faced resentment, shame, embarrassment, and sadness causing me to become withdrawn. The students’ lifestyles there were too wealthy- they wore clothes that would be my mom’s entire paycheck for the month. The neighborhoods they lived were places I have never heard of, Madrona, Montlake, and so on.
Seattle Public Schools assigned students to schools based on their zip code, thus I was assigned to Franklin High School where the student population was ethnically diverse, very different from middle school. I saw faces that were similar to mine, and for once I had hope that maybe I could fit in. I had the opportunity to join the All Girl Everything Ultimate Program, a program that uses ultimate frisbee and intertwines it with issues of social justice.
I embraced and accepted this program and everyone that was in it. I met people I could relate to. Through AGE UP, I learned about the negative impact of discrimination, racism, sexism, and even ableism. I discovered that the negativity I experienced previously in middle school was a result of ignorance and insensitivity to cultural diversity. Just because someone is different does not justify being treated as less than. Their differences should be appreciated, it is what makes people stand out and I was no different. I now realize that trying to deny my culture, religion, and trying to become someone else was not the route I should have took. Through AGE UP I learned to love myself and to be proud of my ethnicity and culture. Learning to love myself was not an easy task, and I realized in the process, that all people deserve dignity whether rich, poor or culturally different. Through college, I want to show how difference and uniqueness can contribute to a new normal where all people should feel comfortable and embrace their diversity as well as others.