Journalism Next: Lakewood Ranch High School diversity can cause confusion

LAKEWOOD RANCH -- The Lakewood Ranch High School student body is diverse.

As a result, whether it's cultural or ethnicity issues, students have their differences.

Puerto Ricans, for example, are not understood by some students.

Are they American or foreign?

Some Puerto Rican Mustangs say the confusion is downright irritating.

Puerto Rican sophomore Alexandra Banks, who moved to the United States at the age of 5, said she regularly confronts student confusion.

"People call me Mexican and they think I'm too white to be Puerto Rican," she said.

While it's true the first language spoken in Mexico and Puerto Rico is Spanish there are minor differences there, too.

"Although I do get comments from people calling me Mexican, I don't feel left out or weird," said Banks, "I've lived in the United States for 10 years now so I'm used to it."

Freshman Eduardo Méndez said he hasn't had much trouble with the transition from Puerto Rico to the mainland United States since he moved at the age of 10.

"I grew up in Guaynabo," said Méndez. "My whole family still lives there and we go visit them every summer and during the holidays."

When asked about his adjustment, Méndez replied: "Speaking English every day was kind of weird but not hard since it's our second language. We start to learn it in preschool."

Puerto Ricans do get frustrated when asked about their citizenship.

"I just keep trying to explain that Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and that makes us American citizens," said sophomore Myriam Cintrón, born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.

Sophomore Alexandra Banks agreed.

"People always joke about saying that they own us and they have control over us," she said, "But the U.S. and Puerto Rico relationship is more of a partnership.

"Puerto Rico has its own laws and governor just like other states. And people pay more attention and focus there to the governor than President Obama, but we also don't need a passport or need to get papers in order to fly to the United States because we are citizens."

The United States and Puerto Rico have cultural differences but Puerto Ricans have the same federal benefits as people born in the states and play an important part in creating the Mustang community.

This story was originally published February 23, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Journalism Next: Lakewood Ranch High School diversity can cause confusion."