<p>D is currently attending college in the honor program at her college (not HBCU) and she is really struggling to connect with suitemates and the whole dorm and engineering classes. Out of the whole dorm, she has seen about 4 black students. She has tried making eye contact with others and she said she get no where. She attends the black run organizations on campus, but after that's over she goes back to her dorm room. She has tried to make friends, but nothing seems to work. How do I help her with that.</p>
<p>Knowing what I know now, I wish I was smarter in high school and looked at the percentage of diversity on college campuses. I really did not think it would matter prior to college. It was only after I got in that I realized what a BIG difference diversity makes and how much I longed for it. Do not get me wrong, when I saw diversity I do not mean I want to see only more of my race. Rather, when I saw diversity, I mean more of every race. Trust me, it matters.</p>
<p>I feel you should just attend the best school, and forget about race. Skin color tells you nothing about a person inside.</p>
<p>Mensa, diversity is not directed solely to race. It encompasses more than that aspect. When I think about diversity, I picture people from different economic, religious, educational, geographical, international, family, sexual backgrounds, too. </p>
<p>Sure, when I enter college and encounter a person who contributed to my school's diversity, I will not discover anything about that person by merely observing his or her skin color or any other physical characteristic. However, I can approach them and start a conversation, leading to the sharing of experiences that will be considered diverse and unique. Being able to talk to someone who under usual circumstances I will not is a gift. </p>
<p>I might never know what it is to be poor and on welfare but, in a diverse college I have a greater chance of meeting someone who does know and have valid first-hand opinions about that lifestyle and system. She or he does not have to be a minoriy and, more likely, she or he is probably not. Through the sharing of his or her experiences and opinions based on first-hand accounts, my experiences and opinions broaden. I have learned something about life in a way that a classroom can not emulate and most professors can not teach.</p>