Reyna Grande — A Global Initiative Program Event

Last week, the Global Scholars invited novelist Reyna Grande to talk about her journey as a writer as well as provide her personal anecdotes as a Mexican-American immigrant. She was a very powerful speaker as her personal stories really illustrated the arduous path to become the renowned writer she is today.

One personal story I found compelling was the willingness to be vulnerable and write about her life as a Mexican-American immigrant. At the beginning stages of drafting her first book, her parents opposed Ms. Grande to share such personal information. Despite her parents' heavy dissuasion, she persevered to complete her book. It’s incredible how much bravery and courage it took for her to ignore all outside criticism and personal doubt and publish her first book.

As a Global Scholar, I also really commend Ms. Grande’s current goal in her profession — writing to change the world. I find it really important that we transform our world to become more understanding and accepting of our differences. As the countries are beginning to marginalize their minorities and people are further discriminating against others based on our differences, it’s important now more than ever we challenge our thinking. Ms. Grande has had a tremendous impact on providing a voice for Latinos and sharing personal stories with the world.

After listening to Ms. Grande stress the importance of diversifying your knowledge and understanding of the world, I hope Poly will continue to diversify books in our English curriculum to further promote a well-rounded and encompassed learning. By the sharing and understanding of different backgrounds and perspectives, the world is one step closer in establishing mutual trust and harmony.