To many people, Roosevelt High School might seem like just another high school. But it isn’t. Roosevelt High school is one of the most diverse schools in the Minneapolis Public school system. Students come from many different cultural backgrounds. According to one teacher, the student body is made up of students from all over the world including places such as Somalia, Ecuador, Togo, Cambodia and many more. The majority of the population at Roosevelt is made up of many of the minorities in the rest of the community. So how do the students and staff feel about this mix of cultures?
First off, I think it’s important to mention that I am a white student at Roosevelt. As a senior, I have had the chance to see this diversity for 4 years. I feel that at Roosevelt we see diversity as something to be proud of. We celebrate the various cultures in many different ways, from clubs, such as the Hmong club, to the performances at both the Coffee House (our version of a talent show) and the mosaic festival.
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From what I have seen, the staff and students at Roosevelt feel that the levels of diversity are a good thing. “We become more tolerant of differences when we see that basically people are more the same than different”. Gordon Olsen, a teacher at Roosevelt (also the before mentioned teacher), was quoted as saying in an interview.
And the students feel much the same. In a recent interview, Grace Klucas, another senior at Roosevelt, said that diversity is good “because it gives you the opportunity to work with other races so you will know how to work with other races in the real world”.
Now I am not saying that everyone from every race gets along with everyone else. That is not always the case. “Some students just don’t want to understand and accept other groups”. Said Olsen. Many people think that with people like this, we can’t access the total potential from our large amount of diversity if students won’t work with each other or respect each other. But these students who dislike others are in small numbers. I think many people here see others as what they truly are, people. And that is how we should be.
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