Growing up with immigrant parents shaped junior Axum Yared’s perspective on culture and identity, and she said it influenced how she viewed immigrants, family traditions and shared human experiences. 

Yared said having immigrant parents influenced how she understands everyday life and important milestones. Rather than seeing her family’s background as unusual, she described it as a normal part of her life that provided meaningful experiences and memories. 

“It gave us a different perspective on things than other people may have,” Yared said. “The way we see immigrants is different than I think a lot of people who don’t have an immigrant in their family view it.” 

Yared said her family celebrated moments that others may not have experienced. She said those events stood out as meaningful family milestones and were moments of excitement and pride. 

“It gave us holidays to celebrate that maybe other people didn’t have, like when my parents got their citizenship,” Yared said. “We were excited.” 

Yared also said being part of an immigrant family allowed her to experience traditions, foods and language that are closely connected to her family not being from the United States. She said the experiences helped her feel connected to a broader community beyond her family. 

“I have another culture, so I have new foods that I know that other people don’t,” Yared said. “This is more on religion, Ethiopian religion, but we have a different Christmas. It’s in January instead of December.” 

Yared said some people may hold negative views about immigrants, but she does not believe those have taken anything away from her personal experiences or opportunities. 

“I think there are definitely people who may view you in a negative lens,” Yared said. “But I don’t think that I’ve lost anything so far because of it.” 

Yared said growing up with immigrant parents felt normal to her, and she believed people from different backgrounds were more alike than different. 

“I hope everyone just thinks of everyone as a person,” Yared said. “We’re all the same.” 

Yared said differences in nationality or background do not define someone’s character. 

“People coming from a different country doesn’t make them different than you in any significant way,” Yared said. “It’s more about their character and their actions that you should judge a person, not where they come from.” 

Yared said immigrants should be judged based on their character and actions rather than their background or place of origin.