Week 38: Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay

Diversity is any kind of variety that makes our world a better place.

The Himalayan and Karakorum mountain ranges are so massive that 90 of the world’s 100 highest mountains are found there. This week in 1953, Edmund Hillary (a New Zealander) and Tenzing Norgay (a Sherpa born in Nepal), became the first people to ever climb the highest of them all, Mount Everest.

From the very first attempts to climb Mount Everest in the early 1920’s, Europeans and Sherpas have worked together. Sherpas are an ethnic group that live in the highest mountain regions of Nepal. Mount Everest has always been considered holy to them, and today, all expeditions there begin with ceremonial offerings and prayer for protection.

Today the term “Sherpa” is often used in a generic way to describe any mountain guide in the area, but ethnic Sherpas are rightfully proud of their identity and prefer that people understood the distinction.

Remember, you don’t have to travel as far as Nepal to find diversity. There are hundreds of opportunities to celebrate diversity right here at your own school. Find one today!