THE
PIONEER
PRESS
Pg.6-
Discover the unexpected face behind the hidden talent of Dearborn High School!
dearborn high school volume 102 edition 1 OCTOBER 2, 2019 Photo: Heba Elzaghir
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News
TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 NEWS 4 FEATURE 8 OPINION 9 SPORTS ADVISER
Mike Schmitt
THE STAFF
Editor-in-Chief Nadien Mellah Editor-in-Chief Malak Almonajed News Editor Yakeen Bazzi Feature Editor Reem Kassir Opinion Editor Fatin Saad Sports Editor Mohamad Ghader Photo Editor Lilian Nashar Ad Editor Israa Saad Media Editor Heba Elzaghir Design Editor Sophia Palise REPORTERS Jibril Ahmed Ahmed Harajili Email us at: thepioneerdhs@ gmail.com Twitter: @thepioneerpres2 Instagram: @thepioneerpress Web: dhspioneerpress. net
October 2, 2019
Deprivation of Color Reem Kassir & Yakeen Bazzi Feature Editor & News Editor On Sept. 4, 2019 the story broke out that Michigan has become the first state to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, more popularly known as Juules . This ban is implemented by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and will forbid any sale of flavored nicotine vaping products. This ban does not ban all vapes, unflavored and tobacco flavored e-cigarettes are still legal and permitted to use for people over the age of 18 as of September 2019. However, people under the age of 18 are still banned from buying any form of vaping devices. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has initiated this ban and it was passed by Michigan state agencies. this ban for 6 months where it can be continuously renewed, however according to an interview she had with MSNBC, she hopes for it to become a law.
Why The Ban Happened The ban was put into place after the MDHHS realized a rise in teen health issues that are caused by vapes. Since e-cigarettes have not been around as long as other nicotine products, there hasn’t been as much research and coverage on how they really affect someone’s health. Unlike cigarettes, no one was certain of the long term effects these products have. However, recently, there has been an outbreak of teens being hospitalized from vapes. There is still a question as to why they only decided to ban flavored vapes. According to Whitmer, 81% of teens who vape start off with flavored products.
Related Deaths The number of serious lung problems caused because of e-cigarettes are tremendously growing every single day along with deaths. According to CNBC, as of Sept. 24, 2019, the deaths in the United States caused by vaping has grown to 9. The illnesses linked with vaping around the nation has grown to 530 cases. Over half of the 530 cases were younger than 25 years old.
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We [the Dearborn community] are smart, and with sufficient public education and awareness I hope these products will be avoided. I would advise anyone thinking of using vaping products to first read the latest medical findings about health problems caused by vaping
-Susan Dabaja
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News
October 2, 2019
New Sickness
I would advise anyone thinking of using vaping products to first read the latest medical findings about health problems caused by vaping,” Dabaja said. Dabaja said Dearborn residents should be using social media platforms to inform teens of the risks that come with it. “Social media is used by most, if not all, teens. There should be a huge social media campaign educating them about the harmful and even fatal effects that vaping has had on people. These problems may be even more dangerous to your health than those caused by regular tobacco use. It’s just not worth the risk,” Dabaja said. Adam Martin has been a principal here at Dearborn High since 2016. Martin said that there could be two possible reasons kids are no longer getting caught with vaping products, ““I don’t know if that’s a product of the ban or that’s a product of last year. Last year we had a lot of it going on,” Martin said. “I don’t know if kids just figured out smarter ways to have it here and avoid getting caught, or if they just determined ‘Hey it’s not worth bringing, it’s not worth the risk.’”
Early August, the Federal Drug Association (FDA), researched more on the vaping problem and what it’s actually doing to the health of all the people vaping on a daily basis for a long period of time. More specifically, how vaping and seizures are related. The FDA had gotten 127 reports of seizures or other neurological symptoms that happened to people that vaped between the years 2010 and 2019. Some of these other neurological symptoms include things like fainting or tremors. The number of cases reported to the FDA from April to August of 2019 increased by 92.
Effects on the City of Dearborn Here in Dearborn, vaping has become a very common trend, along with the rest of the nation. With the ban against flavored e-cigarettes in Michigan, this will affect a lot of businesses, as well as changing the habits of many Dearborn residents. Ali Hamade, manager of the local shop Vape Zone on W Warren Ave. has been manager there since they opened in 2016. Hamade said that the recent vape ban has really taken a toll on sales, and is making them discount all their merchandise to sell as much as they can before they can’t anymore. “The ban has effectively about eliminated 80% of our sales. We can no longer sustain to keep a vape only shop open as the ban does not allow us to sell the majority of the products on our shelves,” Hamade said. “As a result, we are forced to put a store wide sale beginning at 50% off to get rid of our entire stock within a week before the ban takes place.” Council President Susan Dabaja has served in her role for two terms now for the City of Dearborn. Dabaja said that if anyone is considering starting to vape, they should research the negative effects involved. “We [Dearborn community] are smart, and with sufficient public education and awareness I hope these products will be avoided.
Past Year Vaping
8th graders
10th graders
17.6%
32.3%
12th graders 37.3% *According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse for Teens*
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Feature
October 2, 2019
5 Fresh Faces Reem Kassir Feature Editor
Alizia Bazzi What has been your favorite part of DHS so far?
“The people here are very welcoming and the teachers are very helpful.”
What do you miss most about middle school?
“I miss my friends that went to Edsel.”
Maha Darwich
Adam Hadous
Moe Faraj
“My science class is really fun and interesting. I have Ms. Jaber and she’s really fun and open.”
“Getting to know more people. There’s a lot of new kids here and a lot of personalities.”
“Football because I like football.”
“Nothing.”
“I don’t miss anything from middle school.”
“I miss the smaller school, not a lot of people.”
“I miss my teachers, my old friends, coaches, and football team.” “The new work we have to do that we did not do in middle school.”
“The lunch and how it is different hours and more choices.”
‘The amount of kids in this school is ridiculous.”
“The amount of kids there are, there’s a lot.”
“This school is a lot What has been the biggest change you´ve bigger than my middle school.’ experienced?
“The hallways are bigger and it’s not as crowded.”
“The diversity in this school.”
“How hard the classes and teachers are.”
Do you plan on joining any sports or clubs?
“I’m doing Key Club, HOSA, and I might do track.”
“I plan on joining basketball.”
What’s one thing that surprised you from high school?
“I adjusted in a good matter of time.”
“I plan on joining Piano club, Gaystraight Alliance club, and Soccer.”
Thomas Brown
“I play football and I’m also joining basketball and interact club.”
“Meeting all the new teachers and seeing my new classes.”
“I have to come to school earlier and give a hundred percent of my efforts to do good in school and in sports.” “Right now I’m in football and I’m planning on joining baseball and wrestling.”
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Feature
October 2, 2019 Elizabeth Shaw
NOT
PICTURED
Subject: American Sign Language 1 & 2, Computer Applications Attended Michigan State University
MEET YOUR TEACHERS Heba Elzaghir Media Editor
Describes herself as mindful, fun, and approachable
Amber Estep Subject: Algebra II Attended Western Michigan University & University of Detroit Mercy
Mark Walters
Subject: Personal Finance and Credit Recovery Attended University of Detroit Mercy
Elizabeth Klaus Subject: Physics Attended University of Michigan Dearborn
Describes herself as friendly, dorky, and supportive
Describes himself as patient, kind, and fun
Describe himself as caffeinated, ambitious and fun-loving
Elizabeth Victor
Steven Holt
Lisa Cunningham
Subject: Algebra II
Social worker
Attended Wayne State University
Attended University of Michigan
Subject: Algebra 2
Attended Albion College, University of Hawaii, California State University, & Madonna University. Describes herself as air, a spaz, and energetic
Amy Meeker
Describes himself as calm, cool, and collected
Jane Culp
Subject: Biology
Subject: Chemistry
Attended University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, and Northern Arizona University
Attended University of Michigan Ann Arbor & Madonna University Describes herself as thoughtful, caring, and a Michigan Wolverine
Describes herself as structured, weird, and detailed
Describes herself as kind, creative, and helpful
Christina Robbins Subject: German & Computer Applications Attended Michigan State University and University of Freiburg, and Wayne State University Describes herself as helpful, dramatic, and approachable
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Cover Story
October 2, 2019
Strokes of Brilliance
Heba Elzaghir & Israa Saad Media Editor & Ad Editor
Do you feel like pictures speak to you?
“Absolutely, there's no question. Just like I think the strongest expression from human to human is body language, much more so than words. I transfer that to a painting, drawing, print, or sculpture. When it says something, it says it vociferously; meaning super loud and commanding.
What is the importance of art to you?
“I think the creative process, whether it's the visual arts, performing arts, or musical arts, is the empitis of human spirituality. I really do believe it. Creativity is a pentacle achievement of human intelligence and I think without it, like someone else said, ‘Science gives the world understanding but art gives it meaning.’”
What inspires you to
What makeinspires art? you to make art?
“Good conversation. If I go to a museum and I see a beautiful painting and a drawing where I study the artistic qualities, I want to sort of duplicate that if it’s something I haven’t done before. If I’m walking in the park or something, and I see a tree, I start looking at the composition of the tree and how the branches branch out. Then I start making out the negative spaces and the relationship between that and the positive spaces. So, inspiration can come from just about anywhere.”
Art comes in many different forms. It presents itself as music, drawing, and even dance. It is something that anyone has the ability to appreciate and admire. A person doesn’t have to be an artist to make art, it can be created at any level of experience. DHS social responsibility teacher JeanPaul Abou-Dib has had a passion for art since he was just six years old. Ever since then, he has worked endlessly for thirty-three years improving upon his remarkable talent and making it his own. He has had many instructors throughout the years who have influenced his early work, but as he evolved as an artist, he found a great deal of influence and motivation through his personal experiences. Near the main office, Abou-Dib painted a mural of the original Dearborn High in 1893 with his cousin Antoum Kahl. This piece of art is a great representation of the growth of Dearborn High since its establishment.
How did you begin to make murals and artwork in general?
“Ever since I just picked up a pencil since I was five, I’ve been doing all kinds of work: whether it’s representational work, whether it’s drawing people, whether it’s completely abstract work. I pretty much try to find what the client wants and I try to work within the parameters that they want, but also staying true to my integrity as an artist. I’ll go with whatever style I’ll find inspiration in. I don’t like to cage myself in any particular style.”
How long did it take to paint the mural?
“The mural took me about 450 hours actual hours of working time between me and my cousin, who is also an artist. I hired him to do the job with me and he did a tremendous job.I don’t think I could’ve done it without him, actually.”
What do you enjoy most about art?
“The creative freedoms and the degrees of liberty with which I can work. The idea that when I'm working and creating something, the notion of time doesn't even exist to me. It literally ceases to exist in my consciousness. When I sit back and reflect on what I did, it's a feeling that's unrivaled by anything else.”
What is the hardest part What is thea hardest of creating painting?
part of creating a painting?
“For me it's finding inspiration. So there's two components: finding the inspiration to do it in the first place and really truly understanding and listening to the painting when it’s telling you that its complete. Sometimes I have a tendency to overwork the painting, so listening to it when it tells me ‘do not touch it anymore’, that's the hardest part for me, to just set down my analytical brain and just surrender to the painting”
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Cover Story
“Peace Hero”
October 2, 2019
“Lullaby of a Lepo”
“Insalubrious”
“Where have all the saviors gone?”
“Chaos and Captivity”
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Opinion
October 2, 2019
Social Media Detox Fatin Saad Opinion Editor
About two years ago I deleted social media thinking I was doing it for time management. However, about two weeks later, I noticed shocking results. Not only was I saving a lot of time and living a more productive life, but I also felt a positive vibration and a sense of freedom. I felt free to be myself. There wasn’t a magnet pulling me toward the trap I was constantly falling into. My life was finally in my own hands. I didn’t care about anyone else’s life, I only cared about mine. I found myself quitting the harmful habit of making adjustments to my life in order to resemble what I had seen on social media. I was finally the one in front of the steering wheel, steering myself in the direction I choose, instead of social media in front of the wheel taking me down a detrimental road.
I Stopped Comparing Myself to Others On social media, every individual’s life seems perfect. In the past I would scroll through Instagram and when I saw a pretty picture, I would click on the page and look at the user’s “perfect life.” As a result, I immediately started to compare my life to those portrayed on my screen. I would ask myself, ‘Have I had these kind of moments before? Am I missing out on so much? Do I have enough friends? Do I need to change my lifestyle so it can be like this?’ Believe it or not, I am a person who is aware that a person’s life is typically not the same as it is presented on social media, but I still find myself falling for this trap. Imagine someone not even aware of this. If I can fall into this trap while being aware of this, Imagine a younger child scrolling through social media, imagine what goes through their head.
or even more than some other friends. In that moment I acknowledged that I was embarrassed by the fact I was spending four hours, and sometimes more, a day just on my phone. ‘What is it that I spend 4 hours a day on? What am I doing that is taking up so much of my life?’ I was spending about 28 hours a week mostly on Instagram, Snapchat, and Whatsapp. What do these three all have in common? Well, those are the apps where people display their lives. Sadly, I realized that I was spending so much time comparing myself to others instead of using that time to better myself. I told my friends how I felt. I told them this isn’t normal. I asked them, “What is it that we are doing with our lives? What is it that I am doing with my life?”
“Believe it or not, I am a person who is aware that a person’s life is typically not the same as it is presented on social media, but I still find myself falling for this trap” -Fatin Saad
I Realized I had an addiction One day my friends were checking their weekly screen time hours on their phone. They all had 24 hours or more a week. I was surprised by their results. I started teasing them and telling them they go on their phones way too much. Then I decided to check my own use. My screen time was just as much as some of my friends,
Fatin Saad, Opinion Editor
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Opinion
October 2, 2019
I Deleted All My Social Media Sites I went home that day and deleted all my social media accounts. I did not want to continue living like that. I noticed results almost immediately. The first thing that happened was my grades improved. Since there was nothing to distract me I would study days before a test because there was nothing else to do. I would do my homework right when I got home and finish it early and then I would get to go to bed early. I realized how many times a day went on my phone. I would pick up my phone as a force of habit and try to go on instagram or snapchat. Then I remembered that they’re gone. I felt relieved. That magnet I talked about was gone. There was nothing pulling me in the trap. I never wanted to go on those apps but I always felt like I had too. Sometimes I didn’t even realize what I was doing. It was an addiction and a really bad one.
My Days Felt Longer I didn’t realize how much time I was wasting until I deleted social media. I never thought it was possible to do so many things in a day. I started reading more. I never thought I had time to read. I started working out more. I started spending more time with friends. I was doing things I actually wanted to do. I was finally focused on my own life.
My Message for You
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I gained so much energy. I didn’t know it was possible to feel so alive. I felt FREE. I
There is no one as diverse, and as beautiful, and as singular as ourselves. Remembering that melts away the idea that other people are better than us or other people are more beautiful than us. You can’t be anyone else and no one else can be you. Once we take a step back from social media and stop comparing ourselves to others, we start realizing all the qualities that we have that can't be compared to anyone else. We can’t be anyone else but ourselves so why even try? Why not just own everything about ourselves that is so different? Why not embrace the flaws? Because guess what, you are the only person who has these separate flaws all together. There is no reason to be online comparing ourselves to other people when we have our own life to live.
was LIVING my life.
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My Overall Mood Changed I gained so much energy. I didn’t know it was possible to feel so alive. I felt free. I was living my life. I was so focused on my life. I started working on improving my self. I was working out, reading, learning, and growing as a person and discovering new things about myself. I wasn’t changing myself to be like others. I was working on myself to be the best version of me. I learned so much about myself when my focus wasn’t on other people. I learned that I love to exercise,I learned that reading can be fun, I learned that I love yoga and running. I learned that I am a morning person. Before, doing my homework would take me 3-6 hours everyday.
The average teen spends about eight hours a day, every day on their phone.
10 Sports
October 2, 2019 Photo: Sophia Palise
Swinging against the odds Sophia Palise Design Editor
The girls golf team this year is facing an indeterminate future, with only four girls on the team. Last year, they had nine girls and qualified for the state championships in Battle Creek for KLAA. The team is facing a decline in size, and at this rate, there is uncertainty as to what the future holds for girls golf at DHS as well as for different sports at and beyond Dearborn. Head coach John Cialone explained that girls golf teams in MHSAA need to report four scores from their team to officially compete in a match. With that rule in place, most teams play every girl on their roster and then are able to take their four best scores to compete for a win. That’s the game. Cialone said that having four girls is a big struggle. “Most teams have five or six, oftentimes more, so they can pick their best four players to compete that day,” Cialone said. Since there are only four girls on the entire team this year, Cialone said he has no options, and that it’s harder to enter high enough scores to win against teams with multiple people to choose from with varying levels of experience. “We can’t [pick]. We only have four girls, and on many days, we have less than four which means we can’t compete at all,” Cialone said.
The team actually has to forfeit an entire match if one girl isn’t present. They automatically lose a match that they could have won, and they don’t even get to play the game that they signed up and tried out to play for their school. This has caused a dramatic shift in the team’s performance, coming off last year’s season in which they soared through Regionals and qualified for States. Sophomore Carley Wehab is returning to the team this year for her second year playing golf. She said everyone on the team is very dedicated, and they’ve all been working hard at practice, but the lack of mobility in the roster alone just doesn’t allow them to be their best. On Aug. 22, Dearborn forfeited the team’s first match against Detroit Renaissance. On Sept. 16, they forfeited their match against Fordson, a team that they beat by almost 100 points last year. And on Sept.17, when they finally got their fourth member and were able to compete, they lost their first scored match against Livonia Stevenson, a team that they have had close matches against in the past, by almost 100 points. Last year, they were 4-2. This year, they currently hold 0-3. On Sept.24, the team forfeited against Livonia Franklin. Cialone said there isn’t much that the team can do at this point to gain new members. “I ask everyday,” Cialone said.
There isn’t much that the team can do at this point to gain new members. “I ask everyday,” Cialone said. , “I have the girls ask other people. I ask other people. It’s just not something that’s really popular around Dearborn High right now.” The interest is just not there. The team is even coming off of a great season last year. The team finished third at Regionals and qualified for the state tournament, placing eighteenth in the entire state, all in the first division. DHS girls golf alum Elayna Bowser won Michigan Women’s Amateur Golf Championship. The interest is not there. Cialone said Bowser’s previous experience at the Dearborn Country Club sets her apart from other golfers he has seen. He said there were girls with a similar amount of experience, but that they too are losing interest. “And what the solution is, I really don’t know, other than that if kids don’t start something when they’re young, if they don’t have that experience, are they really gonna go out for the high school golf team? Most won’t,” he said. The National Golf Foundation reported that, “Golf participation in the U.S. peaked in 2005 at about 30 million golfers, according to the NGF, at a time when Tiger Woods was at the height of his popularity.
11 Sports That number dropped to about 24 million but has held steady at that level for the past five years,” according to John Meyer of The Denver Post, earlier this year. Fewer and fewer kids are growing up around golf. Rupert Neate of The Guardian said that the average age of golf players in the US was 44 as of 2016. “We also have one of our girls who would have been one of our top golfers this year who isn’t playing because of her workload and her participation in other sports- soccer and swimming,” he said. That girl was junior Stella Doverspike, who, like Bowser, grew up at the Country Club, playing golf. She started golfing at just five years old with her family at the Country Club and played competitively throughout her first two years here at DHS. Yet she is not playing on the team this year. She said with the combination of the loss of last year’s seniors, the time commitment, and her progress in other sports, golf was the logical sport to drop in order to not be overcommitted. “I knew that the team was struggling, but I just couldn’t commit to it this year. I felt really bad leaving the team, but my ultimate choice was to not come back. I hoped that the team would maybe get some more girls, and I tried to spread it around because it’s a team that I would really like to see succeed, and the fact that we went to states last year should have brought new people, but unfortunately it didn’t work,” Doverspike said. Wehab, returning to the team this year for her second season of golf, said she has noticed people losing their interest in golf and shifting their interests to other sports, such as volleyball and swimming. She also said she feels golf is overlooked because of its focus on patience as well as its difficulty and that it is more of a mental game than an active one. “I don’t really see that many new people joining this year,” Wehab said. “I feel like people may think that it isn’t as fun or active as other games. I just think people would just prefer something like basketball or soccer.” Cialone said that at the start of this season there were six members in total. Two girls quit after making the volleyball team. He said he understands and respects the other sports, but it’s causing this to be a particularly difficult season. “That’s their choice to pick the sport that they wanna play; it’s just unfortunate for girls golf,” Cialone said. Some would argue that high school students don’t have the time, and some kids are overcommitting by participating in many clubs, sports, social activities, and their jobs.
October 2, 2019
Photo; Sophia Palise Senior Kelsey Montgomery lines up her ball on the green to put against Livonia Franklin during a forfeited match on September 24th at Dearborn Hills Golf Course. This was the fifth match that the team had to forfeit in the season, followed by another one.
Golf is becoming more and more obsolete, and at this point, there’s no telling what the future holds for golf at Dearborn High, or golf as a sport in general for that matter. In comparison to prior years, participation is at an all time low, and at this point, there are fewer girls on the team than there are girls from DHS on Dearborn Unified Figure Skating or DHS boys on Dearborn Unified Hockey. The DHS gymnastics team faced a similar situation years ago, when the decline in numbers ultimately led to the dissolution of the team. The remaining girls then merged into Dearborn Unified Gymnastics, yet the number of girls even on that team has been at a sharp decline as well. At this point, there were only two remaining Pioneers on the team last year, and the rest of the small team is composed of girls from Edsel and Fordson. Sophomore Malak Alataby was one of those girls, and she will be returning this year as well. She said that she actually enjoys the smaller team and working on a team with girls from other schools in the district. “It’s pretty fun, but all the pressure is on us during competitions, and when we compete, our points individually matter more than on bigger teams,” Alataby said.
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October 2, 2019