Adoption Panel at Asian Student Conference

I had a really neat experience today. One of my students asked me to serve as a panelist for a session at a conference for Asian students in higher education. It was a very big confernce at Cornell. The panel consisted of two students of asian decent that had been adopted by white American parents, a professor who was adopted from Asia as a child, me as an adoptive parent, and an adoption social worker. It was really interesting to hear each person on the panel's story and to hear the answers to the questions the students in the audience asked. I also found it fascinating learn who the people in the audience where and why they chose the session. I have to admit that some of the stories the students shared throughout the day made me really think about the reality of raising an adopted daughter in a bi-racial family in a rural area in New York state. On the other hand it was amazing to meet so many interesting college students from so many different colleges.