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• 1 2020-11-03T14:05:42+00:00 Breaking Free From Stereotypes 52 By: Kimmie Drake plain 2020-11-18T22:38:39+00:00 Labeled
  I was adopted from China and grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. My mother is American, and my father is Korean (adopted as well). They both raised me in an American style household. In March 2009 I moved to Katy, Texas to a very diverse community. The school district I attended was extremely competitive and a lot of students started playing the GPA game in middle school. Throughout my middle school and high school experience I sometimes would be stereotyped. Since I am Asian people would always assume, I was raised in an Asian style household which meant having strict parents that only expected the best. Because of these assumptions whenever I would talk to my classmates some of them (even the same race as me) would say 

  "You're Asian aren't you supposed to be smart?" 
  "Why are you not taking AP classes now?"
  "Aren't your parents disappointed in you for not getting good grades?" (As in high A's) 

  In reality, my parents did not make me stay up for hours on end studying nor expected perfect scores every single time. To them their as long as I tried my hardest and put did the best I could do was all that mattered. However, even though my parents were accepting on my capabilities and intelligence it did not stop the perceptions others had on me. Being put down by multiple people would leave me feeling hurt or sad even though I knew I should just ignore them. Eventually all these labels I would be called started to make me form opinions (despite me not realizing I was at first) about schools in Texas and was something I took into heavy consideration when deciding on a college. In fact, I would say the number one thing when deciding on a college was that it HAD to be OUT of Texas. 
  
  A Different Me
  I personally felt as I grew up, I had two different personalities when I was in school. During the normal classes I was more introverted and reserved but once it was the last period of the day which would be track, I would be a completely different person. It was like a switch got flipped on because I would almost always be energized and "loud" during practice. I formed close friendships with some of them and could honestly call the team my second family. There was never a dull moment and so many memories were created that I will remember forever. Additionally, I used track as a way to express the true me. I felt I could be free and did not have to worry about anything. Every time I stepped onto the track at a meet I would have a serious look and my mind in full focus. Even if I did not get first in my heat any improvements I made made me feel proud.