A journey to safety and confusion
By: Neha Mukherjee
Tags: Brown University, Cultural Differences, Students, Syria, Immigration

In addition to these challenges, the language barrier is still a large factor for his family. While his parents speak English, they are not as fluent as Jack and his sister, Miriam, who is now 14 and attends Cumberland High School.

“Since I am fortunate to have learned English, I feel the need to help my family in any way possible,” says Jack Khoury. Often this help comes in the form of filling out paperwork or talking on the phone. For example, Khoury coordinated with the school department this past year to make sure that his sister had a bus stop near their house. “I try to take some responsibility and some weight off of [my parents’] shoulders, since they have already done enough for us by coming here and leaving everything behind.”

To Jack, family is everything which he says is “the norm” in Syria. His sister Miriam, who says that Jack is “more like a best friend than a brother” echoed these sentiments.

“He’s always there for me whether it’s an issue with school or my friends, and he’s helped me and given me advice countless times,” says Miriam.

Jack Khoury credits his experience with the war for jump starting the importance he places on family. “Thank God nothing happened to me or someone immediately close. I started to appreciate the people in my life, so I didn’t go through the phase where I wanted to rebel and not talk to family.”

While his value for family is evident, Khoury has continued to evolve and also to adopt some American principles. “I have taken a lot of positive things from Western Culture. And I choose to maintain certain aspects of Arabic culture,” he says.

Khoury’s roommate and best friend, Ethan Huang, 19, who is from Glenn Ridge, New Jersey, says, “I think Jack has a slight tension between American ideals and Syrian ideals. Syrian ideals are more grounded in tradition, family and respect for culture. Not that American ideals do not have this, but America is made up of different people from different backgrounds, so it is less defined and more modern.”

The two often share their culture with one another as Huang’s parents immigrated from China. “Jack’s journey reminds me a lot of my parents’ journey,” Huang says reflecting on their similarities. “We share a lot of aspects of our cultures with each other and we both have a mutual curiosity to understand the other one.”

This desire to understand diversity are part of what makes friends characterize Jack as “perceptive,” said Huang after being asked to describe Khoury in a single word.

Khoury’s perceptive nature and desire to understand are the driving factors in his decision to someday become a doctor. “It would feel fulfilling to me to know that I have helped a patient. It doesn’t have to be physical, but even in a mental way,” says Khoury. Khoury applied to Brown University through the Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME), which gives assured acceptance to Warren Alpert Medical School. According to Khoury, part of his decision to apply to Brown was to stay close to his family, especially since they had only arrived in the United States five years ago. He will now be in Providence, Rhode Island for the next eight years.

Despite this early acceptance to medical school, he continues to spend countless hours completing his neuroscience readings and chemistry problem sets in the basement of Brown’s Sciences Library, grateful for the opportunity to come to the United States and follow his passions. Day after day, Khoury slowly paves his own path to success, quietly studying with headphones on as his playlist switches back and forth between American hit singles and Arabic classics.