Culture is a very important factor in deciding how one functions in society. For freshman, Lily Prat, her world is half white and half Argentinian; however, her culture is often mistaken, which leaves her feeling misunderstood.

“I think it is important to function different in society based on your culture because we should all embrace who we are and where we are from,” Prat said.

In society, it is important to embrace one’s own culture because it can shape views, hopes, loyalties, and fears. These are all things that are a part of who we are. When interacting in society, it is important to have perspective and understanding of other people’s culture in order to build a variety of relationships.

At Clear Creek High School, there is a fair amount of diversity, with a 52.2 percent of enrollment classified as “minority”. This diversity helps people connect with each other, and find common ground in everyday life, which can be very comforting for people such as Lily Prat, who has a unique culture.

“At Creek, I do notice that people may interact with each other differently based on culture,” Prat said. “When there are individuals of similar cultures, they seem to have more in common and more to talk about, even if it isn’t specifically about culture.”

Culture is often immediately assumed in society, which makes it hard for some individuals to interact in the same way as others just because they don’t look like the “typical” image for a certain culture.

“Having a white complexion makes people assume many things about me. People assume my lifestyle, my values, my personality, and more,” Prat said.  “All because they think I’m white. I think it’s really ignorant to decide what type of person an individual is just because of how they look, and it’s also ignorant to decide what culture someone might be in order to satisfy whatever view you want to have of them, because that makes people with a unique culture want to identify with one side of their culture, when in reality it’s important to identify with all sides of your culture, and to embrace yourself completely.”

Culture has certain values, custom, beliefs and social behavior, whereas society encompasses people who share mutual beliefs, values and way of living. If people assume what culture you are, it is harder to connect with people in society due to the fact that individuals naturally try to find common values in everyday life.

“In a way my culture does affect how I function in society because when people look at me, they just assume that I’m pure white when they don’t truly know that I am from other cultures too,” Prat said.

Being culturally misidentified makes an individual function differently in society because they are struggling to which side of culture to identify with during everyday life. This changes the way one interacts with people and can even change their views on certain topics in society. However, Lily Prat has learned to identify with both sides of her unique culture and wouldn’t want it any other way.