Perez: Diversity is Relative
As the post-Green Key crunch sets in and prospects of final papers, projects and exams loom on the horizon, my rising stress levels have been accompanied by a strange sense of nostalgia for my first year of college. It seems like yesterday that I donned my cap and gown and received my high school diploma. Before arriving in Hanover last fall, I had never lived anywhere else but my humid, mosquito-ridden home of Miami, Florida. As a native Miamian I did more than jam out to Mr. 305 and eat pastelitos. Nevertheless, these were my cultural surroundings. Spanish was my first language. Cuban coffee was my breakfast accompaniment of choice before my training wheels came off. My third-grade class sang an off-key version of the Guantanamera for my elementary school’s “Hispanic Heritage Day.” In short, saying that my first few months in the Northeast have been “different” is a vast understatement. Frequently referred to as an extension of Latin America, Miami-Dade County is 64.3 percent Hispanic/Latino according to 2012 census data. My freshman class at Dartmouth is 7 percent Latino. Many would view this as evidence to Dartmouth’s homogeneous student body. And yet, I could not disagree more. Whether or not we choose to acknowledge it, Dartmouth is diverse.