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My Everyday Interactions Were Microaggressions at College
Going to a predominantly white institution let me know how high the bar is set for Black people.
When I was a high schooler, my dream schools had been Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt). The allure of going to a school with name recognition far outweighed my concerns over anything else at these schools. The beautiful campuses, school spirit, and wow factor that came from mentioning these two colleges as my top choices made me believe that I was making the right decision regardless of which one I picked. By January 2012, I put in my security deposit for Pitt.
When I first toured Pitt, all I could notice were the students going from class to class. The buildings were so much bigger than anything I had seen before and the campus was full of so much life. Students laughing, the tour guides bragging over how much this school had changed their life, and what was next for them made me confident that I was going to feel the same way. I was going to be a success story like seemingly everyone else on this campus. I failed to recognize just how white the people around me were.
Within the first week of being a freshman, I came across the phrase ‘PWI’ while attending an info session for NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers)…
