The document describes a student's experience participating in a privilege walk exercise. The student felt bad about where they ended up in the exercise, in the middle, thinking it reflected their worth. While some at the front seemed smug, the student recognizes success depends more on personal choices than background. Everyone faces challenges and should be treated equally with respect, regardless of their starting point in life.

1. In the exercise today, many people took steps forward and many took steps back. Some
people are more privileged than others growing up.
The freedom walk made me feel bad about myself. It made it seem like my
parents weren’t good enough in raising me and that I will not do well in life. I was in the middle
and I’m sure the people next to and behind me felt the exact same way.
As I looked around, it honestly felt like the some of the ones standing in the
“privileged” section were kind of smug and cocky about making it that far. When we were doing
this exercise, though I did take steps forward, every step back made me sad. This exercise makes
it seem like if you took the steps back, you won’t succeed in life. But really, no matter how you
grow up, it’s ultimately the person standing in that line with the choice. Even if you grow up in
the best neighborhood and your parents love you and have amazing jobs, it’s your choice with
what you do in life. My parents don’t have amazing jobs and they were laid off at times, and I
didn’t grow up in the best place, but that never stopped me from wanting greatness.
Everyone should be happy with their life. This exercise made it seem like the less
privileged you are, the more people look down on you. That’s not true. Everyone is equal. Before
this exercise, I didn’t know anything about any of these people. We didn’t grow up the same, but
we are all here, at Marshall, together. We all want to be something. You can always achieve
greatness, these sentences in the privilege walk don’t matter.
You never know what someone has gone through to get to where they are today. Treating
everyone equally and with respect is what is most important.