Minorities in a pwi

 There are many challenges faced when moving from a place where someone is
surrounded by people who look like them, to a place where there are significantly less people who resemble them. Even if a minority grew up in a predominantly white institution (PWI), many challenges can still be faced. “I think it’s depending on the point of view, because like some people that like aren’t able to fit in as easily will have a more hard time
since like there’s not a lot of people who look like us, you know,” Rabia Ferron ‘25 said, “so I feel like it can be a struggle, but also on the bright side, if you can fit in, it’s not really that much of a problem.” Coming from a PWI, Rabia is very knowledgeable about growing up not seeing many people who look like her. Although she may not have grown up in the NCS PWI, she still has plenty of experience with the subject. “At my old school I was in first grade and my brother was in preschool,” Ferron said, “and me and him were the only black kids in the
whole school.” There are a few minorities who grew up in the PWI we call home. Although they grew up through this circuit it still has to be difficult. “It was not easy growing up [at NCS] especially through my third through eighth grade years,” Maggie Bibby said, “I was the only black kid in my class, so it felt very isolated up until I got into the high school and saw the different walks of life because I really didn’t experience that through most of my elementary and middle school years.” As the only Brazilian student and one of two Brazilian people on campus, Pietra Adelino Fischer definitely has the title and space to say minority.
“My other school like it was way bigger, like a big big school. It was like more than 1,200 students, like in the whole school and a lot of people are like the same thing, and do the same thing.” Fischer said. “So here I’m like the only Brazilian I can show my friends what we do in Brazil, like parties, the customs, and what we do.” Fischer said, “It was a change for me to have to speak in a different language and to learn new things in that different language.”
As someone who grew up surrounded by a large amount of just about every culture, it was very different to make that change to NCS. While NCS does have a wide variety of cultures, it is still a PWI. Some argue since there are many different countries involved in the
community, it can’t be a PWI. This is a misconception because there can be many cultures but if there is still a dominant culture, then there are still minorities. Many people who are the majority in the PWI don’t realize an issue, and may be blind to the inequality they have unknowingly witnessed everyday. “Despite being in the same school, our experiences aren’t really the same. It’s easier to get along in school when you feel like you share a lot of common ground with people,” Bibby said, “It can be hard when you feel like you don’t match with any of your classmates.”