Jamie Shen, 14

Jamie Shen, 14

I grew up in a very white-dominated area. In school, I was one of the few Asian kids. Because of this, I was stereotyped quite a lot. Many expected me to be ridiculously good at math, and other more physical stereotypes. Throughout my life, I have been made fun of because “I have small eyes” or that I would be a terrible driver because I am Asian. Even pretty recently, due to the coronavirus, people have avoided me in public, j because I’m asian. I think I never really was affected that much because I would brush it off, or sometimes, I’d be the one enforcing these stereotypes. I am someone that uses humor as a coping mechanism, but sometimes even when I acted like I didn’t care or it didn’t bother me, there was still a little part that affected me. I think that going through these experiences made me who I am today, so even though they might be negative experiences, it has positively impacted me.