AT Harvard, I was the only Filipino in my International Education Policy cohort. And in high school, I was one of just six Filipinos in the entire school of approximately 800 students. I remember being the only Asian American in most of my classes, where I often felt forced to assume the role of representative for an entire race.

Rewind further to elementary and middle school. I remember yearning to see a face like mine in the books we were assigned to read. Ultimately, the only time Filipinos were mentioned was in my US history textbook in a brief paragraph about the conflict between the Philippines and the United States.