While sipping boba at a small tea house in Corvallis, Avneet Dhaliwal’s mother asks her, “Tatti, tatti cha?” or “What’s the hot, hot tea?” Avneet smiles and shares the latest gossip. When she’s done, her mother reciprocates, telling Avneet about any familial drama she’s heard.
Avneet, 16, holds this closeness with her parents dear — it’s not something every teenager has.
Before she was born, Avneet’s parents and grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Punjab, India. Throughout her life, they’ve emphasized trust and open communication.
“I’m very grateful that I do have parents who are kind and loving and … they’re able to listen to my perspective,” Avneet said, adding that their relationship is “a two-way street.”
Avneet strives to make others feel safe and comfortable, using the skills her parents have taught her. This pairs especially well with her long-standing love of words.
Her interest in linguistics was piqued in kindergarten when Avneet and her brother were mistakenly placed in an English as a Second Language class.
“When my parents were filling out the application, they must have written Punjabi as a first language,” she said. “I think that led the school to assume that we didn’t really know English that well.”
While Avneet’s time in ESL could have been a negative experience, she made the most of it. Avneet soon came to enjoy reading new words and stringing them together into sentences through daily activities.
“I was able to see puzzle pieces fall together,” Avneet said.
Eleven years later, Avneet’s excitement for words and what they can create remains unchanged.
“I love using words, I love opening up a thesaurus… and I just love reading imagery,” she said.
Avneet joined the Whirlwind, West High School’s student-run publication, during her sophomore year. There, she found success by crafting impressive stories and building bonds with other staff members. By the second semester, Avneet had become the opinion section co-editor. For her junior year, she will be one of the publication’s four editors-in-chief.
Communication will no doubt be a large aspect of Avneet’s future, which may or may not include journalism. Avneet’s dream, at this point, is to pursue a career in medicine.
Through her grandparents’ experiences, Avneet has seen how language barriers can negatively impact peoples’ sense of understanding, comfort and safety within the U.S. healthcare system.
“There’s a little bit of a barrier about completely understanding what (a drug) does and what side effects it could have,” she said.
Avneet hopes to help non-English speaking patients, especially vulnerable groups like the elderly. She speaks both English and Punjabi fluently and is studying Spanish.
It’s deeply important to her, Avneet said, to communicate with people in the language they’re most familiar with, helping to “make them feel at home even when they’re at a place that is far (away).”
— Claire Coffey, Grant High School
This story was produced by student reporters as part of the High School Journalism Institute, an annual collaboration among The Oregonian/OregonLive, Oregon State University and other Oregon media organizations. For more information or to support the program, go to oregonlive.com/hsji.