The following thoughts are my own personal opinions. Like everyone else I view the world through a unique perception formed by my past experiences, opportunities, and exposures.

Differing views, backgrounds, and beliefs are essential to the optimal forward progression of humanity, and rather than creating weakness and strife, our differences should be our foundation. I truly believe that our differences make us stronger.

Although there is obviously room for growth, it's been great to see soaring interest and passion regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion advancement efforts within our profession over the past few years.

With these advancements it should be made clear that racial disparities are still a huge problem, markedly present in academia, the clinical world, and everyday life, and DEI advancement is a gigantic topic, continuously moving and growing. A great deal of people have hearts for DEI expansion, but it's easy to get intimidated when considering where to start or where you fit in this great puzzle.

When I started physical therapy school I was surprised to find out that my class of 64 students had approximately 5 students who were not Caucasian. This trend was similarly reflected in the class before me and the class before that.

This is by no means saying that I believe my school is biased or employs negative discrimination toward students in a minority population during the application review process. But clearly something is going on, right?