Sarah

I’m just going to say this, it feels weird to say: my dad was a banker. We had a big house, a pool, and all the things. I didn’t really know what life outside of that white, suburban, and wealthy lifestyle was like until the third grade, when I attended public school and met Chanley.

At the time, Chanley was my best friend, but we could not have come from more different backgrounds. She lived in a humble apartment above her family’s grocery store in a “bad part of town,” according to my parents. She was from Laos (a Southeast Asian country) and spoke a foreign language at home (I assume it was Lao).

Although I am enormously grateful for my upbringing and how well my parents provided for me, I was jealous of Chanley in many ways. She had more freedom to choose what she wore, who she hung out with, and where she could hang out, and really tight-knit bonds with a community.

For the three years I spent in a public school system, I walked to school and sat next to an extremely diverse group of kids, Jewish, Black, Mormon, and Laotian, among many others. To this day, this time is one of the most memorable of my childhood that has inspired my passions and work as an adult.