Diversity

Diversity has a broad range of meaning. I always believed that diversity was people from different backgrounds and experiences in an area. I learned from the presentation last Tuesday that it is much more than that. Sylvester was the name of the speaker that introduced me to the real meaning of diversity. 

Sylvester explained different situations and phenotypes that contribute to diversity. I really enjoyed the way he presented the information. He is a very charismatic speaker. Before his presentation, I would not have ever thought of myself as being diverse, I always thought I was kind of just a standard, boring Caucasian. When  I am compared to someone else I have had different experiences in my life and I may have been raised in a different situation, which would make me diverse.  

Also, when I think of diversity I usually think of a place, like Iowa State, that has a lot of people from other countries. It never really occurred to me how much diversity is in the state of Iowa let alone a community in Iowa. A place does not have to people from other countries or states to considered diverse.

  I believe that it is very important to have diversity in one's community. Diversity helps people understand that there are other ways of life out there than there own. Learning in a community that is diverse helps one understand different cultures and helps educate the persons. People from different backgrounds and experiences bring different ideas and gifts to the table. I mean just look at how diversity affects Iowa State!