There was an Asian, an Indian, a Canadian, a ton of Caucasians, a student with Irish blood, and then there was me. I was the only freshmen Mexican student sitting in the classroom. The RISE (Restructured Independent Student Education) room of responsible honor students was overwhelmingly diverse. But, it wasn’t just my ethnicity that made me diverse within that group. I had distinctive life experiences that none of those students could have compared to. For one, I went through very struggling stages while growing up. I matured faster than most of them did because of the various trials that God and life put me through. Yet, I also had different traditions, beliefs, and religious customs.
For example, my idea of Christmas was very different. I wouldn’t wake up early morning on December 25 to open presents, instead my family opened presents after going to mass at night on Christmas Eve (or Noche Buena). After mass was over we would go home and play loteria or sometimes we would crack up playing a type of charades that mocked certain members of our family which in some cases included dressing up as them. We would take the camera out and record everyone while we anxiously waited to place Baby Jesus on the manger at exactly midnight, then we would spin the bottle to see who would open their presents first. This tradition, I believe, is very important to my family and to other Latin cultures with similar traditions. It shows our unity with each other and with that of God.
We cherish and hold very close to our hearts our beliefs and religious customs. Being raised as a Catholic, there were many things that growing up in a small, highly populated conservative Christian town, made me feel different at times. But, moving to Mesa made me experience a whole new side of the Christian-Catholic religion.
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