Cultural Self assessment
Cultural Self-Assessment
Haley McGuire
University of North Dakota
Cultural Self-Assessment
Introduction
No two people are the same. Race, ethnicity, gender, and age are all factors that make individuals different and unique. Throughout this paper, I will be discussing my values, beliefs and traditions, how I identify myself, and my attitude on diversity.
Family Values, Beliefs, and Traditions My family is very diverse and comes from many different places. My maternal grandmother came to the United States from England when she was 18 and met my biological grandfather. They lived in Montana on Flathead Indian Reservation. This is where my mother was born and raised. When my mother was in high school, she met my father who was a senior when she was a freshman. My father’s distant relatives came to the US from Ireland and started their family in Montana. Both of my parents have a little bit of German in them as well as Norwegian, but the majority of my heritage is Irish and Native American. My parents had my older brother and me when they were very young and they struggled to grow up while having small children. Eventually, they got divorced and moved apart from each other. When I was 2 years old, my mother met and married my stepfather and we all moved to North Dakota. In this time I travelled back and forth between my mother in North Dakota and my father in Montana. I spent my school years in North Dakota and my summers and Christmas in Montana with my dad. This was hard on me when I was young because I had no sense of what home was. My mother and stepfather moved to Bismarck, North Dakota after having my little brother and remained there until I left for college. When I was a freshman at UND they got divorced. They were married for 17 years but decided it was the right decision to have separate lives. This was hard for me because my stepfather felt like he was not my father anymore, even though he was the one that raised me. Because my
Haley McGuire
University of North Dakota
Cultural Self-Assessment
Introduction
No two people are the same. Race, ethnicity, gender, and age are all factors that make individuals different and unique. Throughout this paper, I will be discussing my values, beliefs and traditions, how I identify myself, and my attitude on diversity.
Family Values, Beliefs, and Traditions My family is very diverse and comes from many different places. My maternal grandmother came to the United States from England when she was 18 and met my biological grandfather. They lived in Montana on Flathead Indian Reservation. This is where my mother was born and raised. When my mother was in high school, she met my father who was a senior when she was a freshman. My father’s distant relatives came to the US from Ireland and started their family in Montana. Both of my parents have a little bit of German in them as well as Norwegian, but the majority of my heritage is Irish and Native American. My parents had my older brother and me when they were very young and they struggled to grow up while having small children. Eventually, they got divorced and moved apart from each other. When I was 2 years old, my mother met and married my stepfather and we all moved to North Dakota. In this time I travelled back and forth between my mother in North Dakota and my father in Montana. I spent my school years in North Dakota and my summers and Christmas in Montana with my dad. This was hard on me when I was young because I had no sense of what home was. My mother and stepfather moved to Bismarck, North Dakota after having my little brother and remained there until I left for college. When I was a freshman at UND they got divorced. They were married for 17 years but decided it was the right decision to have separate lives. This was hard for me because my stepfather felt like he was not my father anymore, even though he was the one that raised me. Because my