The diversity of the United States continues to change as more people are finding refuge, as it is becoming a place for opportunity and second chances. At Greeley West, diversity is a significant characteristic of the school, and the school works to include everyone and offer a variety of learning experiences. With over 30 different ethnicities in the school, the question has to be asked: How does diversity in the schools impact our cultural perspective?

Learning in a school with many different cultures can alter the brain, making us more accepting and open to the people around us. This can limit judging colleagues and feeling comfortable learning with others. “I think everyone should accept others’ cultures; everyone grew up differently. Nobody should be judged on who they are and what they want to express in life,” said Maryan Hassan, a Greeley West student from Kenya.

At Greeley West, 1,600 kids share the halls with students from all over the world, enriching their global mindset. After a survey was done with 30 students from West, the diversity was shown to be much larger, as it showed five different cultures within 1% of the school population. With these statistics, everybody is less likely to be discriminated against, and feel safe, but that’s not always the case. 

There is a very large population of students from Somalia at West and a member of that community said, “I don’t feel safe here at West, because of violence and discrimination towards me and my family.”

So of course, not everyone is accepting of new cultures, but the best thing the school community can do is make sure those who discriminate are comfortable working with others of different ethnicities. 

Not only are students being more accepting of others but are learning more about different cultures. Samuel Cabrera a student from El Salvador said, “Living my days around students with different cultures makes me grow mentally and learn the differences between cultures, opening my mind.”

Although most learn from other cultures, some feel isolated. “I can’t enhance my cultural perspective because if I feel like no one is from my culture I can’t connect with others,” said Evelyn Carolina Gutierrez a student from El Salvador.

Some student are isolated from communities from which they originate, making them assume they are the only ones associated with that culture in the school. This is why they need to embrace every culture so they can create healthy communities.

In the real-world, diversity becomes an important aspect of life, and some schools can fail to prepare students for the everyday environment. According to the former principal of Steamboat Spring High School, David Schmid, some schools need to improve how they prepare their kids for life, “Kids would graduate and go off to college and they would often visit back and say ‘why didn’t you prepare us for the real world’ and this is  because in the real world diversity is a growing thing that often we don’t prepare our students for.”

Greeley West has created a healthy learning environment with dozens of different cultures, it not only sets students up for the real world but gives them a different perspective. According to more statistics by a recent survey, some answers were very common on the issue of cultures impacting life outside of school. The survey showed that 84% agreed with the question “does your culture impact your life outside of school?” “Even though I feel safe at Greeley West, my culture does still impact struggles outside of school. There are many people out there that don’t accept some cultures including the Somali culture, but I try and face the other way and be positive about it,” said Hassan.

These differences in cultures bring about new communities and relationships between ethnicities, making a healthy and safe learning space. With every kid soaked in the different colors of race, each kid can see through the eyes of others knowing their hardships and struggles. With this connectivity between cultures, everyone can take this with them to their years in the real world, always ready to accept new cultures. 

Throughout the observation of students, they all shared one thing in common, the right to independence and their cultural values, whether it is worshiping their God or being able to express their beautiful cultures, everyone knew independence was a part of how they live. Everyone can show pride in their religion and ideas, making the school and community one diverse yet connected society, broadening everyone’s cultural perspective.