P A R I N. R. Z A V E R I '99

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in November, 1998.

GOING OUT OF HIS WAY TO LISTEN

Parin R. Zaveri will graduate this spring with a list of credentials that would make any parent proud. Named the Presidential Fellow in psychology this year for his academic achievements, he is a member of both the national social sciences honor society, Pi Gamma Mu, and the psychology honor society, Psi Chi. He served as an officer of his Class Committee during his first two years at Trinity and this year was elected Vice President of the Class of 1999. As a senior, he is sharing the insights he’s gained about college life with 15 new students by being a mentor and living in a first-year dormitory. With such an impressive academic record and record of service, Zaveri clearly has a bright future before him. His sights are set on becoming a clinical psychologist.

While attending Springbrook High School in Silver Springs, MD, Zaveri took a basic psychology course and began to believe he might have the qualities necessary to become a successful psychologist. "You have to be a good listener and a good observer," he says. "You have to help people, but you have to want to help them. You have to notice the little things. That’s a part of being a psychologist."

A variety of research

As a Trinity sophomore, Zaveri began combining the powers of observation with what he was learning in his psychology classes and started to do his own research. In the fall of 1996, he focused his efforts on two neighborhoods in New Britain, CT and explored how a person’s race and level of education correlated with his or her employment status. He used his results for a major project in his "Research Design and Analysis" course, taught by Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Andrea Chapdelaine. He presented his findings at a Psi Chi conference at the University of Hartford in the spring of 1997. Two years ago, while a research assistant for Professor of Psychology and now Vice President for Student Services Sharon D. Herzberger, Zaveri examined another side of human behavior through research at Hartford Interval House for Battered Women. There Zaveri helped evaluate the effectiveness of adolescent support groups for children whose mothers are victims of domestic violence.

An outstanding student and role model

Currently, Zaveri is continuing his focus on children by serving as research assistant for Associate Professor of Psychology and the former director of the First-Year Program David A. Reuman for a project being conducted by the Connecticut Department of Education. It’s a project designed to determine how successful state schools are in integrating families and their communities into their programs. According to Professor Reuman, "One of the things that is wonderful about Parin is that he is very well-rounded in his skills. He’s not only an outstanding student himself but he is also an outstanding role model for other students by being involved with the first-year program as a mentor. He does more than just excel; he gives back to the community."

In addition to his work with Professor Reuman, Zaveri is also exploring a field with which he has had more personal experience -- standardized testing. As part of his senior thesis, he is serving as a member of a four-person student team, led by Professor of Psychology and Director of the Counseling Center George C. Higgins, which is administering oral intelligence tests, called Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) surveys, to 200 Trinity students. Based on the results, Zaveri hopes to learn whether there is a correlation between a student’s WAIS scores and his SAT scores.

Zaveri believes traditional means of judging academic potential aren’t always the most accurate predictors of student success. His parents, who are natives of Gujarat, India, emigrated to the United States in the 1970s and spoke mostly Gujarati at home. Although Zaveri himself didn’t experience difficulty with the SATs, he believes that many students who grow up hearing a language other than English spoken at home find themselves at a disadvantage because they lack exposure to certain Latin root words and vocabulary. Facility with English is not only reflected in verbal scores, Zaveri says, but in overall test results. "Testing isn’t fair to those who either don’t test well or who are more familiar with different languages," Zaveri explains. "Students should be reviewed on the basis of their interview and their grades and accomplishments from high school for admission to any college."

Zaveri’s many accomplishments at Trinity are sure to serve him well as he begins the process of applying to graduate school. What, in Zaveri’s opinion, is his own greatest accomplishment? "Making my parents proud of me," he says with no hesitation. There is little doubt that this impressive and focused senior will only add to his list of accomplishments in the future. Prominent among those accomplishments will be the positive effect he is certain to have on many people’s lives. "Down deep, we’re all good," Zaveri says. "I just want to take the good out of each person and help him or her deal with problems by talking them out."

-Linda S. Pacylowski ’99