Moments from a meeting with members of the Seeking Refuge Podcast.
I like to think of my life as a collage board. On the surface, I’m a daughter, a sister, a friend, and a student. Those pieces of my life can be ‘pinned up’ quite easily. However, there are some other attributes about myself that were a lot harder for me to define prior to starting school at USC. One of these ‘pieces’ was my status as a first-generation immigrant in the United States. My family and I moved to the United States when I had just turned three. Even though I have few crystal-clear memories from that time, I have a mirage of images that clutter my mind when I think of my first few years in the United States. I remember witnessing my first snowfall, celebrating my first Thanksgiving, and even my very first Fourth of July. On a day-to-day basis, I felt very much like your average American. It wasn’t until I was in the sixth grade that I realized that my mother, father, and I were not naturalized American citizens and that there was an entire process in order to gain that said citizenship.
I didn’t know very many people who were in the same situation prior to attending USC. It was a confusing label. I knew the national anthem, I could recite the state capitals in my sleep, and I had gotten a near-perfect score on my AP United States History Exam…what more did I have to do to be considered ‘American’. Once I joined USC, I became interested in learning more about the various ways new Americans travel to the United States. I started this journey as a way to grapple with my own citizenship status, but I found myself interested in a whole different group of new Americans upon learning about the Seeking Refuge Podcast. The Seeking Refuge Podcast helped to share the stories of refugees and those who helped them. While it did not focus on broader immigrant stories per se, the podcast team along with the looming refugee crisis I had heard about drew me in to join. Upon joining the podcast, I started hosting episodes and speaking with various individuals fighting to highlight and help the refugee crisis.
Through these conversations, I began to open up about myself. I started to see that America truly was a melting pot. Our country was a collection of people and stories that did not have to be identical or similar at all. The American identity was not one definite but fluid and all-encompassing. Further, joining the podcast led me to take an interest in immigrant and refugee health care and research, a topic that I aim to highlight in episodes that I am a part of. In my junior year of college, I was able to celebrate my naturalization as a United States citizen with my friends and podcast teammates. It felt like a full circle moment, the podcast had been so instrumental in me celebrating my nonlinear ‘Americanness’, it had given me a new cause to fight for, and now, I was celebrating myself because of it.
Another part of my ‘personal collage’ that I have often found hard to articulate is my scientific background. As a biochemistry major and student on the pre-health track, I have constantly been taking science courses throughout my time at USC. Semester after semester I have juggled Organic Chemistry courses with Physical Biochemistry courses and everything in between. While I have appreciated the challenge that these courses have given me, I have more than often come to the uncomfortable realization that out of an entire class of thirty or forty students, I am often amongst a handful of women and an even smaller handful of women of color.
Celebrating my love for science fell at odds with celebrating my diversity. Most of my classes, rightfully so, were aimed at teaching me the fundamental basics of scientific inquiry and lacked the complex discussions of identity that I wanted to be addressed. It was not until I took my Immunology class in my junior year that I truly got to inquire about the extent that diverse perspectives fit into the field of science. I was tasked with completing a ‘Diversity in Immunology project’ in class. This project asked students to describe a leader in the scientific community who represented a minority group and highlight their contribution as well as their personal background in the form of a podcast, video, or essay. The task was a bit daunting at first, but after completing it in the form of a podcast and listening to everyone else’s projects, I started to realize that there wasn’t just room for diversity in STEM fields, it was already present. After that project, I took more initiative to speak on celebrating diverse perspectives in STEM fields. I was able to use the motivation I had gained from the project to talk about the impact my research mentor, a woman of color, had had on my scientific journey in an interview with the college of arts and sciences. Further, my newfound optimism allowed me to help students find their places in research groups as a senior ambassador with the office of undergraduate research.
My life may be a collage, but that doesn’t mean that every single part of it has to be opaque and definite. Learning more about my citizenship status as well as my role as a minority in the science field has motivated me to become an advocate for others. I’m forever thankful I was able to come to terms with and celebrate my diversity while I was a USC student. Attached below are my artifacts; a link to an episode of the Seeking Refuge Podcast I narrated as well as a script for my Diversity and immunology project podcast. These insights have helped me look at all aspects of myself as worthy of inclusion within my scientific work.
Artifacts
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