ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights key components of the participant interviews and demonstrates the context by which the participants have experienced and demonstrated their trust in institutions and themselves to achieve persistence and educational resilience in their academic and social lives, culminating in their college attendance. Participants articulated several reasons for choosing their college, among the reasons included distance from home, whether they felt accepted on campus and financial aid. However, some of the participants expressed that diversity on their college campus was not an issue to their decision to attend a particular college. Being socially integrated into the culture on campus was a strong component to feeling comfortable on a college campus, especially for those who were far from home. In addition to perceptions of race in terms of internal identity, Todd expressed how he experienced microaggressions and other challenges of being a minority on campus but felt up to the task.
