“I feel like I only celebrate stuff at home and rarely attend events elsewhere,” said Neel Barmecha, a biology major at The City College of New York (CCNY). Barmecha is a first generation student and values the cultural identity of his Indian-born parents. But he struggles to find a group of Indian-American students on campus who share his traditions. Without a strong peer group or a cultural club to join, he often feels out of place. Instead of staying after class to socialize, he heads straight home to Scarsdale, and that makes it hard for him to fully connect with college life.
Barmecha’s experience isn’t uncommon on campus. Nearly 37% of students at CCNY are first-generation college students, with families from over 157 different countries. Many find their deep cultural connections make it difficult to fit in on campus. But if they become more Americanized, some say there’s another disconnect. Tahira Moses, a biology student, feels like an outsider when she visits Trinidad, her parents’ home country.
“Because I was born in America, there are many events I haven’t had the ability to partake in, leaving me feeling ostracized when I’m around others from my culture,” she said. Tahirah tries to stay connected when she joins celebrations like J’ouvert and Easter services in New York.
Val Ruiz, a Puerto Rican and Filipino computer science major, thinks his family has moved away from their roots. “I do sometimes feel disconnected because my parents were born and raised in America. Our family is very Americanized,” Ruiz said. He finds it difficult to converse with elderly relatives because he doesn’t speak their languages.
Neel Barmecha feels lucky that he can communicate easily with extended family, “I speak both my parents’ native languages and feel connected with my culture because I can speak to my relatives in India using those languages.”
Yet some like Susan Lin, a biology major with a minor in sociology, embrace the diversity on campus. “I have a diverse range of friends who share my culture, and being in New York City helps because of the big immigrant population,” she said.
CCNY tries to encourage students from diverse backgrounds to come together on campus. Many clubs supported by Student Affairs try to fill the need. The African Student Union, the Albanian Culture Club, the Caribbean Student Association, and the Muslim Student Organization are just a few of the affinity groups. But some say they don’t see clubs promoted and often don’t know that they are available.
“Maybe I don’t see it, but I’m on campus three out of five days and don’t see much. Posters get clustered, and realistically, nobody is reading your poster in a sea of 45 of them,” Barmecha said.
Yet, some of the first generation students we talked with said being with people from other backgrounds has helped them appreciate their heritage.
“I’ve learned to love my culture and appreciate it in my own way,” Tahirah Moses said. Susan Lin agrees, “I appreciate my culture a lot more than I used to as a child,” she said. Ruiz, too, has come to terms with his cultural identity. “There is no point in wishing I was raised differently,” he said. “I appreciate the mix of my family’s culture along with American culture.”
