Alexis Roddy

Being together, dancing to traditional music, and preparing foods native to their culture, expressing their Mexican heritage is not foreign to senior Alexis Roddy and her family.

However, with the Frisco demographic being predominantly white, at 75 percent, relating to others with the same Hispanic culture can be difficult for Roddy in her daily life.

“There will be times where I can’t relate to the people around me by just the difference of being raised differently and just being differently cultured,” Roddy said.

When comparing life to a city flourishing with the hispanic culture, Roddy feels a disconnection to her heritage with the lack of representation of Latino culture in Frisco.

“If I’m back home in El Paso, then it’s never hard to find things that bring me back to my culture,” Roddy said. “But, when I’m back in Frisco, there is hardly things that bring me back to my culture due to the lack of Hispanic representation.”

However, despite growing up in a Westernized society, Roddy’s childhood memories are filled with tradition and cultural aspects of her native country.

“We always [get] together for homemade Mexican food while music is playing with all the family dancing,” Roddy said. “Another one of my favorite traditions is coming together the day before Christmas Eve and making tamales with all of our family members.”

Roddy’s grandparents migrated from Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico to provide a better opportunity for their children’s future. However, she believes that there is a common misconception of immigrant’s motives when moving to America.

“The most common misconception carried with Mexican immigrants is that they are all illegal who are only capable of doing manual labor like yard work or construction,” Roddy said.

Coming from a long line of family members in the medical and law field, Roddy challenges these ideas and opinions.

“In my family, there a lot of doctors, surgeons, and lawyers,” Roddy said. “They went past those stereotypes of a family moving from Mexico to the U.S. with not much other than the drive for a better life for them and their family.”

Having the opportunity of being raised in the United States with a latino heritage has given Roddy the advantage of knowing a second language.

“Being able to speak Spanish helps me to able to communicate with some of my relatives who don’t know English,” Roddy said. “Also, with wanting to go into the medical field, being able to speak Spanish will allow me to help any patients who don’t speak or feel comfortable communicating in English.”   

However, along with its advantages, comes the disadvantages and stereotypes of being Latina in an American society.

“Latinas are known as ‘the loud one’, ‘always having an attitude’ and that cleaning is the only thing we’re ‘good at’,” Roddy said.

In today’s society, Roddy believes people should have an  open mind to learning and accepting new ideas, opinions and cultures.

“People shouldn’t stereotype a whole culture based on what they hear on the news but instead get to know someone who is from that culture,” Roddy said. “Just asking questions and getting educated is one way to get rid of common misconceptions without being disrespectful.”

Roddy believes her culture is one of strong core values that she prominently expresses in her life.

“Being Latina means to be a strong, independent woman who values family and lives the different cultural aspects that come with being Mexican, “ Roddy said. “It makes me stand out in a positive light of being outgoing and not afraid of speaking out and being different.”