“I’m Indian American. My parents emigrated from India after my dad found a good engineering job over here. It was about two years before I was born.

“I was bilingual at a very young age. Since my parents really emphasized education, I was prepared for school from that standpoint. But I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to integrate socially. What was I supposed to wear? How was I supposed to fit in? I didn’t know what the social cues were going to be, so I kind of had to pick that up myself.

“Through the years, I’ve become pretty well adjusted. But even today, I’m still trying to balance my cultures. I travel to India almost every two years. I’m going again this winter. But it’s always a little odd for me because the cultures are so different.

“My friends and I founded an international club at our school. We all celebrate our diversity and promote cultural awareness. Through that, I have become more confident in talking about my heritage.”

— Divya Singh

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• Student finds balance in Indian, American cultures

The post Students celebrate diversity, cultural awareness appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I have a nephew who is really into learning about our family’s heritage. My father was an immigrant from Mexico, but we discovered that his mother was a Tejana. She was born in Nacogdoches, Texas. On top of that, it looks like her parents and her grandparents were there on an original Spanish land grant. That means my people were here to greet these immigrants by the names of Houston, Travis, Bowie and Austin who came across the Red River. 

“On a related note, my nephew gave a DNA testing gift to his father for Father’s Day last year. It turns out that the overall percentage of his DNA is from Greece.

“So when somebody talks about ‘your people,’ they need to be very careful because you never know where we all come from. We should not judge people for who we think they are. We are all a part of somebody in this world.”

— Joe Montemayor

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The post This family’s heritage is full of surprises appeared first on The Baytown Project.