My Impact on and from Appalachian

The first thing that comes to mind when I reflect on my time here at ASU is how I viewed others. When I met new people I immediately judged them based on how they talked and how they acted. Either they were "authentically Appalachian" or not. Why did I do this? I am still not sure, maybe just in my nature.

As time has gone by though, I have realized that it really isn't important because we are all here for different reasons. I am here at this university simply because it was closest to my hometown and I didn't want to move far away. For the first two years here, I lived in an apartment on King Street with other roommates that were from my hometown too. We spent many hours commenting on how weird everyone here was; it was just so different from our hometown, which is only in the neighboring county of Avery! Therefore, Appalachia is a part of who I am. But I have begun to understand that it is because many students, outside Appalachia, come to Appalachian State for different reasons.

Being here has educated me on the fact that our nation is very diverse; even though I watch the national news and TV programs that feature actors from all over the nation, it was still different seeing different people and interacting with them in person. Sometimes they would comment on how different I was, and it would baffle me because "duh" I am from closer to this university than they were! Maybe they are being educated too on the same matter.

So I have learned that my impact here may be that other people will debunk stereotypes of Appalachian people's being ignorant or toothless or "hillbilly" or whatever they had in mind, just as they will debunk my stereotypes of them, whether they be Northern, Western, or foreign.. They see that there indeed are "mountain people" coming to college to get an education, and are perfectly capable of doing so. Before I learned Spanish, I view Hispanic people as "oh they can't speak English, they are strange" and would not respect them or their opinions. Today I know they are fellow human beings with valid thoughts. We are all human beings. I hope that in the future, our interactions and hard work of increasing our knowledge and technology will be able to destroy all the stereotypes we have of each other.