THE
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Dating in Dearborn
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Self Love FEATURE 4-5 read about the young Dearborn women who transform both the setting and topics of typical conversations dearborn high school volume 102 edition 2 OCTOBER 31, 2019
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News
TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 NEWS 4 FEATURE 6 SPORTS
October 31, 2019
Reconstructing Dearborn’s Future BRIC by BRIC Yakeen Bazzi & Fatema Almoamen News Editor & Staff Writer
Total # of buildings 34 Average Age 65 yrs. Over 90 yrs. 12 Between 60-75 yrs. 12 Between 20-59 yrs. 6 Under 20 yrs. 4
10 OPINION 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 Fatema Almoamen Jad Aoun Ahmed Harajili Nour Kassir Hadi Moughni Fatima Taleb
Email us at: thepioneerdhs@ gmail.com Twitter: @thepioneerpres2 Instagram: @thepioneerpress Web: dhspioneerpress. net
Photo: Sophia Palise
The ceiling in the hall at Dearborn High School. On Nov. 5 2019, an election for the 2019 BRICS bond will be made available for residents to vote on the ballot. BRICS stands for Buildings, Renovations, Infrastructure, Capacity and Safety. The BRICS bond will give Dearborn Public Schools $240 million for school improvements. The money will be split into $194 million for buildings, infrastructure and renovations. The remaining of the funds will be distributed as follows: $22 million goes towards capacity, $14 million for technology, and $12 million for security. The bond will not increase the current tax rates for Dearborn residents. The bond is similar to the SMART bond that was passed in 2013. The SMART bond focused on improvements to address student learning, technology, health, enrollment growth, safety and security. The bond stood for Security, Modifications, Additions, Renovations, Technology, and Transportation. The SMART bond also had no tax increase. The difference between these two bonds is that the BRICS bond is more than 3x the amount of money that the SMART bond was, SMART being at $78 million and BRICS at $240 million. David Mustonen ,Dearborn Public Schools Communications Director, said the bond will provide the district with money needed to make necessary repairs and upgrades that will improve the future of the schools in the district. “The BRICS bond proposal would allow the district to address the most critical needs at the schools in a proactive approach. This proposal
Buildings In The District
Photo: Sophia Palise
The girls bathroom sink at Dearborn High School. is not ‘kicking the can down the road’ for future residents to deal with,” Mustonen said. “This is a comprehensive plan that will benefit all schools and extend the life of our buildings and protect the investment our community has made in the schools.” Adam Martin, Dearborn High School principal, said that the BRICS bond is going to give the building lots of new improvements. “I would say anytime you have extra resources that can be applied to any situation, generally that is going to be a positive thing,” Martin said. “There is a perspective list of all the improvements- new roof, new bathrooms, new boilers, updating flooring, updating ceilings.” Jane Culp, Dearborn High School chemistry teacher, said when class sizes are overpopulated, being in the lab becomes hazardous. “In science, especially, if the class sizes are too big then the labs become unsafe,” Culp said. “If there’s not enough room, it’s unsafe to have too many people and so that’s a big concern of ours.” Martin said district officials make decisions on how they distribute the money from the bond in the district through levels of importance. “We have leadership that decides ‘ok what are we gonna support and what aren’t we gonna support,” Martin said. “It’s kind of prioritizing where the money is supposed to be spent based on the need.”
Money contributed to repairs such as... -Restrooms -Roofing -Replace buses -Secured vestibules -Site work Air conditioning will be made available in special education rooms as well as limited select gathering spaces such as the gym and auditorium. There will be additions at select elementary buildings, as well as purchase of high school space at Henry Ford College.
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News
October 31, 2019
Pulling In A New Policy
Administration and student council put new policies in place for student and parent parking. Malak Almonajed Editor-in-Chief With a new budget in mind, Dearborn High School has sought to update the school with new policies and traditions. They have enforced the new phone policy, the new tradition of painting parking spots along with the new pick up and drop off changes, and the new lunch menu. It has been two months since school has started with these policies enforced. Adam Martin, principal of Dearborn High School, said that many aspects had an influence on the decision to be made regarding the parking. “Our former engineer, John Faiola, told me on his first day that out of all the improvements that were needed, the parking lot should be the number one priority. From that day forward we received complaints and had incidents that confirmed that statement,” Martin said. “The initiator wasn't one person specifically but was a follow up to many of the other changes that were needed based on our capacity issues. Ultimately, the school board approved the request that was made by myself, our Executive Director of Student Achievement, and then the supporting personnel that assisted in the budgetary expense and the completion of the project, the business office.” Martin said that the new parking lot tradition and changes have had a good impact on the way everything has flowed. “Generally speaking the parking lot is significantly better than in years past based on safety, order, and flow,” Martin said. “Having assigned spaces for students by number, moving the buses to the front circle drive, and expanded the parent and drop off area have all benefited our students.” Martin said that we had an organization to fund our new parking lot. “The parking lot construction was paid using the Wayne County Enhancement Millage funding that was passed by voters two years ago,”
Photo: Sophia Palise Senior Madeline Nickles puts the finishing touches on her spot on Paint Day, Aug. 25 2019. Nickles attended DHS freshman year but online school the last two years, so this was a good activity to start the year off.
Martin said. Senior Jenna Achkar, president of Student Council, said that it was very easy to get the whole plan to work since they were the ones who presented this to administration. “It wasn’t hard to get approval because our administration was super cooperative and also thought it was a great idea, we just had to organize and plan it efficiently,” Achkar said. Martin said that the new parking lot with the pick up and drop was changed because of all of the problems that kept on occurring. “Primarily student safety as well as numerous complaints from the community,” Martin said. “In fairness, the lot was built many years ago and our enrollment has changed in size as well as drop off patterns. It needed to be upgraded to become more relevant to our families today.” Senior Batool Alrabiey said that buying a parking spot was something she felt she could make about herself. “I bought a parking spot because I wanted to personalize my parking spot and make it unique to me and my personality,” Alrabiey said. Alrabiey said that painting parking spots
Photo: Sophia Palise Senior Rachel Williams lines up tape to paint her spot on Paint Day, Aug. 25 2019. Students arrived to pick their spots, first come, first serve, at 8 am, and they continued painting through the afternoon.
Photo: Sophia Palise Senior Noura Alfatlawi dips into paint for her spot on Paint Day, Aug. 25 2019. Alfatlawi painted the popular meme of Peppa Pig onto her spot, as students were given a lot of freedom to express themselves.
is a nice memory to look back at it. “I would recommend seniors to paint their parking spot next year because the process is a lot of fun and kicks off the school year in a positive way,” Alrabiey said.
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Feature
October 31, 2019
Casting
Culture
Dearborn journalist releases her new podcast, discussing misconceptions of the Arab culture.
Heba Elzaghir Media Editor
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Being an Arab or Muslim in today’s society comes with many negative assumptions and stereotypes. A 35 year old Arab-American woman and journalist, Zahra Huber, has recently started her podcast “Breaking Pita With Zee” which launched on September 13, 2019. Her podcast sheds light on topics and issues of the Arab culture. Zahra attended University of Michigan Dearborn where she studied Print Journalism. Before starting her podcast, she worked at WWJ Newsradio 950 and 910 AM Superstation as an editor, reporter, and producer. Zahra said her focus is to show the true Arab culture in her podcast. “I believe that the Arab-American culture has a lot of negative connotations to it. I feel like people have this negative image of the Arab American culture that women are oppressed, that arab women don't have rights,” Zahra said. Zahra said a struggle she faces with her podcast is the fear of backlash. “I didn't know what to expect once I put this out. Were people going to insult me, were people going to have negative things to say to me?,” Zahra said. “I'm very open and honest, I don't hold back, and I'm going to talk about topics that people might not agree with or that isn't really talked about in our culture.” Zahra’s mother, Zainab Huber, has always encouraged Zahra to pursue what she wanted to
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I want to break those stereotypes. I think it's important to show who we really are and that we have an amazing culture.
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Courtesy of Zahra Huber
Zahra recording a podcast in her studio.
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and has always saw great success for her. Huber said she has always believed Zahra has a strength in journalism and podcasting. “From the time Zahra decided she wanted to be a journalist, I have always supported that because I thought it was just a wonderful idea to use all her skills and talent,” Huber said. “What is really great is that she has great communication skills and she's very social, and I just thought a perfect job for her.” Huber said Arab American culture is something that should be talked about from the perspective of an actual Arab.“It's really great that someone talks about them in a light way. When you watch on television when people talk about Arabs or Islam, its always non-arabs and nonmuslims who talk about it,” Huber said. Yasmeen Kdouh, Zahra’s friend, helped Zahra secure the space for her podcast and gave her logistical tips. Kdouh said she enjoys Zahra’s podcast and the topics that she takes on. “I think Zahra’s show is engaging and the perspective she brings is very different,” Kdouh said. “Arab-American culture doesn’t have enough diverse representation, so I’m glad she is addressing this.” Experience is what makes people who they are and teaches them different lessons.
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Feature
October 31, 2019
Dearborn Girls Challange Community Misconceptions Yasmeen and Rima sat anxiously in their seats, watching the Dearborn Girl logo come up on to the screen with hundreds of people sitting around them. The project they’ve worked so hard on was finally becoming a reality. Dearborn Girl is a podcast that two girls from Dearborn started as a way to get the thousands of Arabs and Muslims in the city to understand some of the struggles women in Dearborn goes through.Rima Imad Fadlallah and Yasmeen Kadouh are the two co-founders of Dearborn Girl. The girls had been working on the project since winter of 2018 and released season one of Dearborn Girl on May 23, 2019. They are currently producing season 2. Rima Imad Fadlallah, the second cofounder of the show, said Dearborn Girl was an idea sparked from a different series Rima had going for women in Dearborn to talk about problems they all had collectively. “Dearborn Girl was birthed from the SHAI series coffee chats I would organize for Dearborn women to get together and talk about issues that uniquely impact us as Arab and Muslim women,” Fadlallah said. The coffee chats started from a chat Rima had with one of her good friends, and wanted to bring more women in Dearborn into the mix. “The coffee chat was something I did in partnership with a good friend, Doonia Abdallah. We first met over coffee and had a really beautiful conversation, and we wondered how we could create more spaces for the women in our community to experience the sisterhood and affirmation we experienced that day,” Fadlallah said. 2018 graduate Malak Wazne began after Kadouh and Fadlallah in order to expand to a media platform. Wazne moved the project from podcasts to videos, short films, and weekly Ask Dearborn segments. Wazne said the group wanted to change the negative connotation of the term “Dearborn girl”and turn it positive. “Dearborn girl’ was a term used to demean women in the community, and we wanted to turn that around. We have, and will continue to do so,” Wazne said. Fadlallah said the project is aimed towards making the community feel involved, as well as getting important discussions going, celebrating the Dearborn culture, and teaching standards we
Yakeen Bazzi & Nour Kassir News Editor & Staff Writer
should be responsible to hold up to. “Our goal first and foremost is and will always be for the people in our community to feel represented and heard by our platform. A close second would be to spur urgent and meaningful conversation around our identities, around celebrating all that we are, around holding one another accountable to being the best we can be,” Fadlallah said. Wazne said every podcast is focused on what a Dearborn girl is and every female that comes on the podcast has a different topic to speak about than the next. “All episodes have a common theme in that they’re all about being a Dearborn girl, and what that means, but they are all also very different in the topics being talked about, from mental health, to sexual assault, and so much more,” Wazne said.
Wazne said the feedback the team receives is used as a way to improve the overall product. “When doing something for your community, of course, there will be criticism. The important thing is to take in that criticism in ways that can better your platform to deepen your impact. Because after all, if we’re doing something for our community the impact is the most important thing,” Fadlallah said the plan to expand Dearborn Girl into two more separate platforms. “The next two platforms we will be launching in 2020 are Dearborn Guy, and Typical Dearborn, a space for young Arab and/or Muslim Dearborn youth (ages 13-21) to step up to the mic and own our narrative,” Kdouh said they’ve been getting tons of good feedback on Dearborn Girl. “The support has been overwhelmingly positive. It has been really nice to see the community express such support for a space like this,” Kdouh said.
Photo: Walaa Alhabhab From left to right: Yameen Kdouh, Rima Imad Fadlallah, and Malak Wazne at their documentary’s watch party at the Arab American Museum.
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Sports
October 31, 2019
From East Side to West Side
A young soccer player’s journey from Fordson to Dearborn High At this point last season, senior Hussein Sbeiti had grown accustomed to watching soccer games at distance. Now this year, Sbeiti was named a starter on the varsity soccer team by head coach Aaron Pfeil. The players on the team have formed a strong bond with Sbeiti. On Sept. 16, 2019, DHS played against Sbeiti’s old school and long-time rival, Fordson High School. The game ended 3-1 as Fordson withdrew from the game with one minute left on the clock. The three games that Dearborn has been victorious in, Fordson had withdrawn from the game before the time had ended. Sbeiti said he has been traveling to Lebanon and back since he was born and had to give up soccer for a year. “I was born in America, in Livonia, Michigan, then I moved to Canada for 12 years, so I grew up in Canada and then I moved to Lebanon for five years,” Sbeiti said. “Last year I came here and went to Fordson, but then I had to go back to Lebanon because of an emergency, so I went back for a year and came back here.” Coach Mohamed Salman, Fordson’s Varsity Soccer team coach said that Sbeiti would’ve been a crucial part of Fordsons Soccer team if he was still playing there. “I was glad he came back to the area and wished he had returned to Fordson. He would have been an integral part of what we were doing at Fordson to stay competitive and to be successful,” Salman said. “I think he ended up at DHS because of where he lives - either way he was able to play on a solid squad and did rather well.” Pfeil said Sbeiti got put into the Dearborn High School Soccer program when he came back here. “He didn’t move here because of soccer. Hussein went away for a year to Lebanon and then when he came back, he was relocated to our district,” Pfiel said. Pfiel said Sbeiti stood out to him, the way he played and the way his skills stood out. “During tryouts I noticed right away his quality with the ball in his feet, his ball skills, movement off the ball, his speed he does possess. You can definitely tell he was a talent,” Pfiel said. “I had other players coming up and talking to me about the quality of how good he was, so
Malak Almonajed & Mohamad Ghader & Hadi Moughni Editor-in-Cheif and Sports Editor and Staff Writer
Photo: Mohamad Ghader
right away we knew he would be an important component to our program.” Sbeiti said that he was qualified to play many positions on the field. “I play left wing and right wing. I used to play as a number 10, which means midfielder, but the coach told me I should play as a left winger because my abilities are better to play as a left winger,” Sbeiti said. Pfiel said Sbeiti fit right into the team, and he wishes he could’ve had Sbeiti from the start. “Hussein has a very good personality. He’s very outgoing and it kind of matches what we already have. We see him instantly gravitating to some of our senior leadership and it's like he's been here for four years. He hasn't skipped a beat,I wish he was here for four year,” Pfiel said. Salman said “With DHS he became more comfortable and was able to contribute more as a team player than when he was at FHS,” Salman said. “I think he was a key member of the team at DHS. I am not sure he would have done as well as he did this year, had he come back to Fordson.” on our team. He’s one of the best dribblers on our team and those are two key things that every team needs in like one player. He gets the balls fast, runs down balls, and he just does that really well on the team so that's like his main contribution,” Belaire said.
Photo:Mohamad Ghader
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Sports
Photo: Mohamad Ghader Photo courtesy of TCS pictures
October 31, 2019 Senior Evan Belaire, one of Sbeiti’s teammates and captain, said Sbeiti’s skills have made a big impact on the team’s progress. “Our team isn’t necessarily the fastest and Hussein definitely brought that to the team this year,so he’s definitely one of the quickest players on our team. He’s one of the best dribblers on our team and those are two key things that every team needs in like one player. He gets the balls fast, runs down balls, and he just does that really well on the team so that's like his main contribution,” Belaire said. Belaire said Sbeiti is a better fit with the Pioneer squad than he was when he was a Tractor. “Hussein likes to play actual soccer, so he likes playing the game. I think our style here at Dearborn fits more of his playing style because we like to move the ball around, and we like to actually try and combine key possession,” Belaire said. “I think though that he fits more at Dearborn,while at Fordson, it’s a little more discombobulated, so I definitely think he fits more here at Dearborn.” Junior Hadi Jawad, striker, said since Sbeiti came to Dearborn and played as a starter, it really motivated him to play. “I feel like he didn’t play that much at Fordson and he always talks about how he wants to get a scholarship for soccer, so I feel like he’s really focused on that this year and he wants to do good,” Jawad said. Salman said that he sees potential in Sbeiti and knows he could go somewhere with what he has. “Playing at the next level requires dedication, commitment and sacrifice as it is a balancing act between academic, athletic and social life. It is far more challenging and demanding than high school,” Salman said. “I think Hussein potentially could play at that level, rather can he manage the demands put on student athletes and can he succeed both academically and athletically at the next level.”
Photo:Nour Kassir
Photo:Mohamad Ghader Photo:Mohamad Ghader
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Sports
October 31, 2019
100 Years of Dearborn Football A closer look into into the history of our football team
1921-1922 *Season record: 8-0 Undefeated *16 Players only registered on roster.
Mohamad Ghader & Israa Saad Sports Editor and Advertisement Editor
1980-1981 *Season Record: 4-1-2 *Began to have anual football dnaces *Funds from the dances were used to pay for injruies on the football team. *All pictures credited to Dearborn High Yearbook*
1994-1995 *Season Record: 10-1 *Went 10 straight games without allowing a single point to be scored against them.
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Sports
October 31, 2019
1931-1932
*Season Record: 4-1-2 *Began to have anual football dnaces *Funds from the dances were used to pay for injruies on the football team.
1957-1958 *Season record: 3-4 *4 Players Made the all city teams
TEAM 100 *Season record: 4-5 *The big year 100 of dearborn highschool football. *Team 100 was the first class in Dearborn public schools history where two athletes from the same school verbally commit into a big ten school. (Ali saad; Minnesota) (Tommy Guajardo;Michigan State)
*All pictures credited to Dearborn High Yearbook*
10 Opinion
October 31, 2019
Foreign Protests With a Message Close to Home Ahmed Harajili Staff Writer
Recently, especially since October of this year, citizens from different countries across the world have been taking to the streets and starting protests against their governments, the reasons behind these protests varry, but a key focus of these protests is government neglect of its people. It started months before when the citizens of Hong Kong, a special territory controlled by China, began protesting against their government. What originally sparked these protests was an Extradition Bill which would have allowed people arrested in Hong Kong to be tried and imprisoned in China. Hong Kong citizens felt this was a violation against their sovereignty, and went out to protest against the Chinese government, which eventually spread to protesting against Chinese rule in general and calls for full sovereignty of Hong Kong from China. The fact that Hong Kong citizens were brave enough to stand up against the PRC, one of the most tyrannical governments in the world who have a known history of violently suppressing protests against their government, most notably the Tiananmen Square Protests in 1989, which some say lead to the deaths of thousands of Chinese citizens, was a huge shock to the world, and later one, would inspire others to protest against their governments. For example, in Oct. 1, Iraqi citizens went to the streets to protest against their government for lack of government services, and eventually the corruption of their government. Iraqi police began violently cracking down on these protests, using water cannons and even live ammunition in an attempt to discourage protests. However, after these protests, Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi said he would try passing civil services reforms promising to better take care of Iraqis and provide them with basic necessities like clean water, employment, and quality health care, to name a few. Whether he was only saying these to calm down protesters or if he is seriously looking to get reforms done shows one thing, the protests worked, the government had to respond, and they had to make a promise, and puts pressure on the Iraqi government to care more about their citizens.The Lebanese protests eventually become a new thing entirely, Lebanon is a very diverse country and they realised that in the midst of these protests there were Christians, there were
Sunnis, and Shiites, all united in demanding change. Some have been calling for an entire political structure of the Lebanese government, which in order to keep peace between the different religions and sects, divides and regulates how much one group can control in government.
reported, in hispanohablante social media, images have been getting shared of police holding guns directly to the faces of protesters, and Chileans saying there has been suppression of internet access, and that they have seen blood in the streets. Piñera has referred to the protesters as powerful enemies who are willing to use violence to get what they wanted. The future for the protests in latin america, compared to the ones in the Middle East, seem glim, and it could lead to dictatorships and oppression, the trend that many Latin American nations did not want to repeat, given that they have suffered such fate in their history, an example being the reign of Augusto Pinochet in the 70’s that lead to the deaths of thousands of political opponents.
I believe that the fact that we are having more protests across the world is a good thing. It shows that governments are having their power checked by the people, it shows that people are not letting their people deteriorate into corrupt inhabitable dictatorships that show no respect to its citizens. I think it is the responsibility of the US government to support these protesters, to pressure governments trying to subside There were also protests in the Americas into tyranny. I think it benefits everyone when this month, in South America, two major democracy is prioritised and when people take protests commenced, in Chile and Bolivia. to the streets to protest, this encourages other The Bolivian protests started on Oct. 20, when people around the world to not be too afraid to protesters claimed that he falsified the results protest, for example, if people are brave enough of his reelection, calling him a fraud. Morales is currently the longest serving leader in the region to stand up against one of the most oppressive governments in the world, China, then it gives of South America, who has displayed traits of dictatorship, including changing the constitution, others hope and motivation. It is also in the interests of people in Dearborn that people in arresting political opponents, delaying election the Middle East are protesting, half of this comresults, and running for multiple terms. There have also been protests in Chile, which began on munity is arab, many coming from Lebanon and Iraq, and if these protests do lead to change, then Oct. 7, originally due to the increase in metro the overseas families of many of us in Dearborn rush hour price. Many students were outraged will be able to live better, more convenient lives. and thus protested against the government. It could also encourage others in the Middle East, These protests spread to complaints against the like Yemen, to protest towards a common goal, privatisation of many aspects of Chilean society, as well as decreasing wages and increased cost of to protest for peace and stability and to put aside living. The rush hour metro fee was dropped but differences that are killing Yemeni citizens everythat did not stop protesters who were demanding day. We should all support and wish the best for these protests, they benefit us all, and it is in our more reform, they were demanding an end to interest that they succeed. And in your commuinequality in Chile. Then, on Friday Oct. 18, nity, if you want to make your voice heard but are as protests turned into looting and vandalism, too afraid to go out and protest, remember that President Sebastián Piñera declared a state of people in other countries are currently dying just emergency in the nation. Police forces have also to change their country, you actually have the been violently clashing against these protesters, with a couple deaths and several injuries being
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