Essay On Diversity University Event

The Diversity University event was not what I expected it to be. In fact, I had no idea what it was about at all. I literally went around campus to see if anything exciting was going on. I was curious and I saw a promotion board outside of my residence hall. Immediately, I walked over to the Rayburn Student Center where the event was taking place. I walked into the conference hall and there was a man speaking, Monti Washington, a motivational speaker. I had no idea what was going on. For the first 10 minutes my eyes where practically shutting down until Washington invited the audience to turn to the person sitting to them and say the words “You don’t look like your story.” At first I was only hearing these words. I had no idea what I was saying

Washington’s best friend, Julia Garcia, who was also a motivational speaker mentioned how our campus very diverse so we have to be open to it. Talk to people we have never spoken to. It is one of the best ways to get out of our comfort zone. I was so engaged into what was being said and I was able to slowly analyze the way we are living our lives. However, the turning point to this event was the activity everyone had to participate in. First, index cards were passed out and we had to write all the negative things we can think of when we hear the words gender, race, financial status, religion, and education. Secondly, the cards were taken up. Then, all of the audience had to go up on stage to make 2 rows directly facing each other. Fourth, the lights were dimmed down and the cards were passed out again. Finally, Washington and Garcia went down the rows to select certain students to read their card outload. The microphone amplified words such as worthless, not good enough, stupid, not smart enough, loser, not strong enough, poor, and even profanity was used. As I heard different words being read the knot inside my throat began to get bigger, my chest got tighter, and I felt like I had this immense weight on my