This afternoon when I walked into the HUB after eating lunch in my dorm room, I was assigned the task of interviewing someone of another race or culture. To some this may sound like no big deal but to me it was a daunting task. I am an awkward person when it comes to meeting others, so the idea of having to first meet someone and then immediately ask them personal questions about their race and ethnicity was very uncomfortable for me. As soon as I walked into the HUB I saw a student sitting alone. I approached him and politely asked him if he would like to be interviewed for an assignment in my Mass Media and Society class. He was very enthusiastic about being apart of it and he was extremely friendly.
This young man who was sitting in the HUB is a junior named Shawn Elston and he is from Scranton Pennsylvania. He is an International Relations major and when I asked him why he chose International Relations as a major and he told me that he has been taking Japanese for years and is interested in potentially continuing his Japanese education in the future. Additionally, his grandparents are from Jamaica and he is interested in keeping his roots where he came from in his life in the future.
When I asked Shawn about what races his friends are he told me they were mostly white. He was slow to answer because I don’t think he had ever really truly thought about what race or ethnicity his friends were. I then proceeded to ask him what it is like living on campus being a student of color and he told me that he is treated just as any other student is but he has noticed that other students of color or different ethnicities (other than white) have tended to stay together rather than reach out to others, unlike him. Shawn is an outgoing kid from what I saw when I was with him. He had his guitar with him and he told me that playing it is one of his favorite hobbies and he does it in his spare time.
One of the most interesting answers I heard was after I asked him if he had been stereotyped at all since he arrived to Penn State as a freshman. He told me that other African-American students initially expected him to hang out with him and when they didn’t he felt somewhat discouraged by them to be their friends. Also, Shawn told me that he receives emails frequently from clubs and organizations encouraging him to join clubs with other African-Americans. Although it seems very nice to some that he is being included, Shawn gave me the impression that he had no interest in joining any of these clubs, he even told me that he thinks the only reason he is on the email list is because when he filled out his application to come here in high school that when he checked the box that said “African-American” it automatically entered him into this list which was somewhat awkward for him as he had mostly white friends. I found it extremely interesting both meeting and interviewing Shawn as it gave me a different perspective on what it is like being a different race than me.
My favorite part of the interview was not a single question or concern but rather the fact of how similar Shawn and I truly are. Sure, we may come from different backgrounds and sure, we made not have the same color skin but from the second that I introduced myself to him we instantly connected as two Penn State students. We both chose to come here because of the diverse student body and the outstanding academics as well. Although we come from different backgrounds, we have a lot in common and even just going to the same college was minor but it was something that we shared in common and instantly bonded over. I come from an all white Jewish family in Massachusetts while Shawn comes from an African-American family in the middle of Pennsylvania, and we met for the first time today and none of that was apparent by the way our conversation went after I briefly introduced myself to him, which was very satisfying to me knowing that I will be on a diverse campus of accepting students for the next four years of my life.
rdn11 says
Sounds like you have a new friend.