<Begin Segment 18>

MA: So going back to your high school, what were your, did you have any, what were your sort of goals or hopes for the future? Do you remember at that time what you were thinking about your future?

NM: I wanted to be a nurse. But going to the high school in town, I got kind of lazy with my studies. In my yearbook, they had me on the honor list, and I can't say why. [Laughs]

MA: Was it going to school in Denver, you sort of... the transition, it seemed hard for you. So was it maybe that?

NM: Yeah, the teachers weren't as strict as on the farm, on a small town. In Fort Lupton, I really studied hard and got As and then I came to town and got Cs, and I even got a D in typing. [Laughs]

MA: I bet your school was probably much larger than the one in Fort Lupton.

NM: Oh, yes. And the school had a lot of African Americans and Hispanics and Caucasians and Japanese when I was going. It was very, what do you call?

MA: Like multiracial?

NM: Yeah, right.

MA: Did the racial groups interact very much socially? Or did each group sort of stick together on its own? What was the social dynamic like in your high school?

NM: As I remember, I think we all stuck together. Our own group, our own kind, I should say.

MA: What sorts of things in high school did you do, like social activities with your friends?

NM: I didn't do any. I had one friend that we used to, on our free time, we used to go play tennis and take our tennis racket and then we didn't play tennis, we just sat on the tennis court and talked. No, I came straight home. And then I think I worked, 'cause my grandparents really couldn't afford to really fully support me. So I worked.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.