NBC's Community and Rutgers University

Rutgers University is widely recognized for it's diverse student population.  Although this is a great characteristic and an invaluable part of the college experience, some first year students may find the change overwhelming.  Some first year students may not be used to being exposed to the vastly differing backgrounds that students at such a large university have.  According to the Rutgers University website, this is the breakdown of the most recent undergraduate class:

• White: 47.1 percent
• Asian: 19.8 percent
• Latino: 11.4 percent
• African American: 10 percent
• Foreign: 6.2 percent
• Other: 5.5 percent

This demographic breakdown illustrates how diverse the population is here at Rutgers.  As an out of state student coming from Pennsylvania, I was somewhat intimidated by the diversity that Rutgers offered because I was from such a small town.  While watching Community, a comedy on NBC, I noticed a humorous clip that was eerily similar to my experience as a student here:

From living in Pennsylvania I developed a slight accent when pronouncing the letter "o" in words like home, Google, boat, etc.  Early on in my first and second semesters at Rutgers, I would constantly get coerced into saying the words that I said different, similar to Brita in the clip above.  During my second year at Rutgers I still have friends that try to get me to say these words.  Although this is a small and humorous example of the differences in students at Rutgers, it is a microcosm of the massive diversity that Rutgers boasts.

Community represents this in almost every episode that is produced.  Although it is a very satirical take on the college experience, many of the pervasive themes in the show ring true.  If someone was asked how they would describe an incoming undergraduate class, the majority of people would start to describe a high school senior who is about to graduate.  In actuality, and as shown in Community, that is not completely the case.  Graduating seniors obviously make up a large percentage of the incoming class, but what many fail to realize is that there are a lot of different groups that come to school, whether it be veterans, working adults, or people with disabilities, all of these people have different needs and challenges.  Community does a great job of displaying this diversity on a community college campus.  The characters in the clip above all represent different students that may be undergraduates at a college.  Jeff Winger is an adult who left his job to come back to school, Britta Perry is a high school drop out who decided to continue her education years later, Abed Nadir is a trilingual student who is suspected of having Asberger's, while Shirley Bennett is a mother who is coming back to school after getting divorced.  Throughout the shows different episodes, these characters as well as others, navigate through college together, learning and accepting their differences as well as learning about themselves.  This is an extremely important theme for any first year student to understand because although it may be intimidating to meet so many people from different backgrounds, it is a great learning experience and a glimpse of what the real world will be.