In this paper, we present an analysis of student interview data focusing on students' ideas about mathematics and their experiences learning mathematics. We draw on the idea of "personal identity" (Cobb, Gresalfi, & Hodge, 2009) to capture the differences and similarities in students' views of math and themselves as math learners, although all student participants would be considered members of the same broad, identifiable community. The purpose of our analysis is to contribute to ongoing educational research efforts that challenge processes of essentializing and to use the construct of identity in informing how we design learning experiences and resources for working class students as they learn mathematics.