Working with Professor Saba this semester, alongside Zoey, became one of the most meaningful parts of my community engagement experience. Through my interactions with Professor Saba and his family, I had the opportunity to reframe my perspective on an individual’s culture and experiences.
I got to build a meaningful connection with the whole family through our various dinner meetings and trips to the park/museum. Our conversations were always filled with surprises about how relatable we both were when it came to the type of connection we felt to our culture/heritage. My first assumption was that I thought that an individual would feel really connected to the place they grew up in. However, this quickly shifted when Professor Saba talked about his disconnection from his culture, stemming from being far away for a long time, which I found relatable. As I interacted with their son, I also noticed many aspects of their lifestyles, from the way they teach discipline to how they communicate with each other, which are so vastly different from how I grew up.
Throughout this experience, I got to expand my knowledge of another culture while also rewriting many of my stereotypes. One of the biggest reframings that I did throughout this experience was viewing the experiences of immigrants. As the daughter of immigrant parents and growing up in a predominantly immigrant community, I’ve always been surrounded by those who struggled greatly with the migration and assimilation process in the States. For this reason, my stereotypes were built upon these ideas. However, after meeting my community partner, I got to meet someone who has the same identity as my parents, yet their journey, career, and married life are so different.
Overall, this was a wonderful experience since I got to see a little bit of how the world revolves around another individual other than myself. This experience will definitely impact the way I will be learning, especially in how open my mindset is now. Throughout my remaining years at Wesleyan, I want to continue bonding with my community partner and learn more about their passions. I also want to take advantage of the amount of knowledge they have by taking one of the classes they teach.
Date Posted: 16th December 2025
