Social Belonging

Throughout her educational journey, Jane recalls encountering a sense of exclusion, stating:

"Even though LA is very diverse, I still just did not feel like I had a place... I felt like there was no one that looked like me, especially being biracial. I was not Mexican enough for the Mexican kids or Asian enough for the Asian kids" (Interview 1).

Jane also recalled feeling out of place due to socioeconomic differences throughout her early education, mentioning:

"A lot of the kids there, their parents were doctors, lawyers, film producers, people who made a lot more money than my parents... my parents were always working and they couldn't really attend all the preschool events. So it was really hard for me sometimes" (Interview 1).

However, her participation in extracurricular activities later in high school provided opportunities to build friendships and feel more connected despite ongoing challenges related to identity and socioeconomic differences.

Jane shared:

"I still did not feel like I had like a place, but I started to like, find other hobbies, like I did cheerleading and I did like, student body and I did theater. And so I was like in all these different activities, meeting all these different people. And even though I found, like, places like I could still, like, make friends and like, have connections, I still did not find like, other people that look like me or related to like, my like background and stuff" (Interview 1).