Paulina Hernandez Larumbe 04/25/14 Elizabeth Hinnant English 1102 Diversity at Community Colleges While four year universities

allow space for students to be away from home and many times requires them to meet new people and make new friends, this is something students who attend community college dont have the luxury of. Due to the fact that these students at community colleges cannot stay on campus because they all commute from home I wanted to see how being put in a place surrounded with people of a different sex, ethnicity and age effects the way they socialize with one another. Being in an environment with many different people may result in some people breaking out of their shell and others to constrain themselves. Hostager and De Meuse state that, diversity has been associated with undesirable and interpersonal outcomes (128): with one of the negative effects being social divisiveness (128). Throughout the research that was done for this project, it came to my attention that people at community colleges do very little communicating and socializing with one another. The lack of socialization could be a negative result from the large amount of diversity. Interactions in the Classroom Upon my arrival in Cynthia Britts English 111 classroom there was only one student, beside myself. She introduced herself as Lizeth Garcia; she was Mexican and mentioned this being her second semester at Central Piedmont Community College. During the time of our conversation 3 more students walked in, 1 male and 2 females, all African American. They would all quietly sit in their seats with little, if any, acknowledgement of one another. A Hispanic male walked in a couple minutes after them and sat next to Lizeth, his name was Kevin, he was Colombian, and they knew each other from mutual friends they had in high school. As the class continued to grow in size

Paulina Hernandez Larumbe 04/25/14 Elizabeth Hinnant English 1102 it was almost difficult to not notice that many of the students sat with people whom looked similar to them. Although they didnt do much talking with each other, they chose their seats near the type of people they seemed to feel the most comfortable to. Its not like they talked to each other, so what difference did it really make? Maybe this gave them a sense of security so they could feel slightly more relaxed even though they werent communicating with one another. By the time all of the students in the class arrived, the class was not completely silent, but there definitely was not a whole lot of talking going on. Some of the older men were having a small conversation about the Winter Olympics when the instructor walked in. When she arrived, the little noise that was going on in the classroom quieted down and she began to take roll. She took roll in complete silence and then began to give instructions on what the students would do that day: work in your groups and discuss the readings from last class. Judging by the looks of it, these students either chose these groups at the beginning of the semester or they were chosen for them. However the case may be, most of them seemed surprisingly comfortable and familiar with one another. With the exception of two groups, the class seemed to be very engaged in their groups, while the others were hesitant to talk to one another. The groups that seemed comfortable with each other followed directions by talking about their homework but their conversations would slowly begin fading into different topics. One group was complaining about how boring the class was. Kevin and Lizeths group was talking about how hungry they all were and how they couldnt wait to eat. During this conversation, Kevin mentioned he had to endure a two-hour gap before his next class at 12:45 and he was going to get something to eat. As the instructor noticed the change in topics, she

Paulina Hernandez Larumbe 04/25/14 Elizabeth Hinnant English 1102 brought the attention back on herself, gave instructions for the homework and dismissed the class. Socializing Outside of Class Because I heard Kevin say he had a two-hour gap before his next class and it intrigued me, I caught up with him and decided to join him during that time. As we made our way to Bojangles, which was in the building next to us, I asked what he usually did during a two hour-gap. Nothing, I either go to my car and try to sleep or I come here and get something to eat by myself. Although this wasnt shocking, it was slightly challenging to imagine that someone would spend that much time alone when there were so many people around him to associate with him. From my view, most of the people sitting at Bojangles were sitting by themselves either eating, on their phones/laptop, or doing homework. There were some small groups of African American males whom were slightly loud. A few people were in pairs and as I observed, I noticed very little communication between these people. Even though they were not alone, they did not seem comfortable or relaxed with one another. It almost seemed like they were hanging around each other in order to mutually avoid solitude. Upon mentioning my topic to Kevin, I asked: How does diversity affect the way students at community college interact with one another? To which his response was: They dont. People come to class and go home, not sit around and try to make friends with each other. They dont have time for that. One study found that students who live with their parents during their first year of college are less likely to have a high sense of belonging and in turn spend less time socializing during their second year of college (Locks). Lack of sense of belonging could be a grand reason the people in Bojangles seem distant to

Paulina Hernandez Larumbe 04/25/14 Elizabeth Hinnant English 1102 one another even though theyre together. Kevin certainly was not comfortable around anyone else besides Lizeth thus causing him to distance himself from others instead of associating with others around him. On the other side of the room was a redhead female, a blonde female and tall Caucasian male who seemed to be the complete opposite of the people who were uncomfortably sitting in pairs. The redhead was being pretty loud while the blonde girl laughed at whatever the male had previously said. This made me rethink something else Kevin had mentioned: these people arent friends with each other. While he proved to be correct in ever other situation, in this case it did not look to be true. As it turned out, these students had gone to high school together. The redhead, Jackie, and the blonde, Jenna, knew each other since the first grade. They met John, or Big John in their freshman year of high school. Kevins idea of people in this school seemed to prove itself more and more true as time passed by. Jackie, Jenna, and John were already friends and were thus extremely familiar with each other while the rest of the students werent so lucky. Age Before leaving the campus, I stopped at one last location, which was the library. The library was the way a library should be which is quiet and peaceful. There were many people who were studying by themselves, and there were some groups of two or three people working together. While there were all types of different groups and people, the groups who were working the most efficiently were the ones with the older men and women. Unlike the groups sitting at Bojangles, they were making conversation with one another and seemed very intrigued in the topic conversations they having. These groups

Paulina Hernandez Larumbe 04/25/14 Elizabeth Hinnant English 1102 of these older men and women were very productive in whatever activity they were trying to complete, unlike the younger groups. Because the last time I thought people were comfortable it turned out that they previously knew each other, I decided to, once again, ask. One of the men, Alejandro, said: Unlike the younger kids, we dont have time to sit around on our phones. We have jobs, kids, and lives to get back to. We know were not here to make friends, but personally, if I know I need help with something, Im not afraid to ask for help. Older people are much more secure in their abilities to complete a task but if introduced to something unfamiliar, they ask for the help of others, which is more than could be said for the younger generations. Younger adults are often hesitant to ask for the help of others, in fear of being judged. Older students also find it easier to get tasks done with one another, because they have a mutual understanding of each others lives outside of school, in that, Alejandro was 100% correct. This is very important because they respect each others time as opposed to wasting it by procrastinating. These students take into consideration that their time is extremely valuable and time not well spent is time wasted. Because of this, they are productive during their time together. Jones states that, Student interaction and engagement with diversity have in turn been found to be positively correlated with a range of desirable educational outcomes, including higher levels of student cross-cultural competence, increased academic engagement, and greater gains in critical and active thinking (3). This was apparent within the older students because students who looked past the idea of age, gender, or ethnicity were much more successful in the assignments they were to complete. Ethnicity

Paulina Hernandez Larumbe 04/25/14 Elizabeth Hinnant English 1102 In Cynthia Britts classroom, it was evident that the way the groups were formed was largely based on ethnicity. For example, Lizeth and Kevins group had four Hispanic students. One group had three Caucasian males and two Asian males. Two of the other groups were completely made up of African Americans, both male and female while the last group seemed to have a large range of ethnicities. Because this was one of the quiet groups, its probably true that if the groups were individually picked at the beginning of the semester, these were the people who did not find a specific group to be in. Though it is not believed that the groups were slightly separated by race due to racism, one could say that being around people who look and talk like you makes you more comfortable to be yourself. In group discussion, people who are more alike probably have more similar ideas that than those who are completely different, which may be the reason the group with the most diversity were shy with one another. The reason they were indifferent with one another quite possibly be that because of the environment at a community college, they have not been provided with enough time to get familiar with each other. Bowman makes a point in saying having a racially diverse student body only provides educational benefits to the extent that students from different racial backgrounds actually interact with one another (877). In other words, the large amount of diversity at community college could positively impact students by allowing them to see many other peoples points of view. In turn, the groups with the most diversity could have earned a larger amount of knowledge than the groups with less diversity had they allowed each other to open up and share their ideas. Gender

Paulina Hernandez Larumbe 04/25/14 Elizabeth Hinnant English 1102 Gender doesnt seem to have a very larger effect on the way people interact with one another, the way race and age do. Although in certain areas, such as Bojangles, girls were sitting with girls, and the large groups were usually made up of men. One can assume that in a campus such as the one in CPCC, most females would be slightly afraid to approach large group of males. Although the males approached the females, it seemed like it was mostly to try express interest in them rather than just be friendly. At this point, the females, almost always, aggressively rejected the males. In general, males were much more comfortable with one another than females. Females find it challenging to be relaxed around other females whom they are not familiar with. Conclusion Coming into this project I had no idea that students in community colleges interact with one another as little as they do. I researched the way age, ethnicity, and genders have an affect on the way these students interact with each other, inside and outside of the classroom. As a result of not being very familiar with others, students dont socialize with one another, for the most part. Inside and outside the classroom, students interact with people they identify the best with, whether it is due to sex, ethnicity, or age. Harper and Yeungs article states that: Students saw the diversity of their friendships as somewhat incidental because they did not focus on race in their friendship choices; rather, they made friends with the students they encountered most frequently during their first year of college (27). Students at community college arent given very much time to be social with one another because of the fact that the majority of them commute; they come to class, and leave when its over. Because of this, instead of making specific friends during their first-year of college, like Harper and Yeung suggest, they never have

Paulina Hernandez Larumbe 04/25/14 Elizabeth Hinnant English 1102 the opportunity to make close friends. In addition, they proceed throughout the rest of their community college experience without a set group of friends.

Paulina Hernandez Larumbe 04/25/14 Elizabeth Hinnant English 1102 WORKS CITED Bowman, Nicholas A. How Much Diversity is Enough? The Curvilinear Relationship Between College Diversity Interactions and First-Year Student Outcomes. Research in Higher Education. 5.8 (2013): 874-894. JSTOR. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.

Harper, Cassandra E. & Yeung, Fanny. Perceptions of Institutional Commitment to Diversity as a Predictor of College Students' Openness to Diverse Perspectives. Review of Higher Education. 37.1 (2013): 25-44. EBSCO. Web. 30 Mar. 2014

Hostager, Todd J. & De Meuse, Kenneth P. The Effects of a Diversity Learning Experience on Positive and Negative Diversity Perceptions. Journal of Business and Psychology 23.3 (2008): 127-139. JSTOR. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

Jones, Willis A. The Relationship Between Student Body Racial Composition and the Normative Environment Toward Diversity at Community Colleges. Community College Review. 41.3 (2013): 249-265. SAGE PUBLICATIONS. Web. 6 March, 2014.

Locks, Angela M., Sylvia Hurtado, Nichonals A. Bowman, Leticia Oseguera. Extending Notions of Campus Climate and Diversity to Students Transition to College. The Review of Higher Education. 31.3. (2008): 257-285. PROJECT MUSE. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.

Paulina Hernandez Larumbe 04/25/14 Elizabeth Hinnant English 1102 Vergara, Kevin. Interview by Paulina Hernandez. 20 Feb. 2014