The Geisel School of Medicine values social justice and diversity in all its forms. Reflect on a situation where you were the “other” 250 words

Even in attending a Midwestern college, agriculture, manual labor, and rural poverty seemed like a distant story to the people I met. I recall explaining to my college friends that my family had bought several goats. My friends were baffled as to why my parents decided to buy such an animal. I told them that it’s because they are cheap and keep the grass trimmed. In response, my friends bent over in laughter like I had told them an amazing joke.

In those moments I saw that my story was a rare one, and that people’s fascination was not just derision, but sometimes honest awe. I realized the distance between my world and my country’s understanding of it is so large because so few people from my place ever end up in college to tell their stories. What started off as ridicule became an opportunity for me to become more sensitive to other backgrounds. As I reflect on many such experiences, I have come to understand how much I do not know about other people’s experiences. Coming to this understanding has aided in the development of my cultural humility, which allows me to be humble about what I do not know as I strive to increase my ability to work with diverse people through curiosity and openness.