Recent West Linn grad builds connections through language

At an early age, a lack of representation of Mexicans in the media and negative perceptions outside of her home led Lina Corona to feel ashamed of her background.

But inside the home of her babysitter, Eli, she saw a different reality. Lina’s mom would drop her off at Eli’s around 3 a.m. before heading off to labor-intensive jobs. Lina would wake to the smell of Eli grilling spicy peppers, which became a scent of home for her.

Eli was a single mom, who took care of up to 15 children at a time. She cared for Lina for six years, making sure she continued her Spanish speaking.

Lina learned to be appreciative of Eli’s hard work and developed an admiration for her and their surrounding community. Eli taught Lina the negative stereotypes were wrong.

“I saw that through her, she was capable of so much,” Lina said.

Last year, Lina became the president of the Latino Student Union at West Linn High School. Through documentaries, music history and workshops, Lina helped highlight the multitudes of Latin cultures represented in the club.

Now she has learned to love languages, stories and cultures. She yearns to have deep conversations with people. Lina speaks Spanish and English fluently, and has also taken courses in German, Korean and Japanese, which helps her dig deeper into different cultures.

Lina spent parts of her junior and senior year of high school as an Outdoor School counselor. Outdoor School is a week-long camp dedicated to helping Oregon sixth graders explore nature, where high schoolers are student leaders.

One time, Lina was able to make a student at the camp feel seen. She initially approached him with English, but after realizing his native language was Spanish, Lina quickly switched over.

“I saw his face brighten up,” she said. It was the cutest thing ever.”

Another time, she overheard some students speaking Arabic with each other. Following her curious nature, Lina asked them to teach her some words.

“Language has been a way for me to connect with kids,” said Lina.

Language has also become a tool for her journalism. In Lina’s journalism class, she wrote an article about a local ice cream shop, Ome Calli. In the interview, she helped the store owner feel comfortable by conducting part of the conversation in Spanish.

Lina will attend the University of San Francisco as a freshman this August. She was initially drawn to the school because of its high campus diversity, as ranked by several sources.

Furthering her explorations and understanding of diversity, she plans to major in sociology with a focus on criminal justice and a minor in journalism.

She aims to become a defense attorney, but no matter the career, the themes of justice, helping people and learning about new cultures remain her focus.

“Whatever I do,” Lina said, “I’m going to make an impact.”

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Neea Mende, Ida B. Wells 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

.

High School Journalism Institute 2025

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