Melvindale’s Allendale Elementary holds a successful career fair


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For the 13th year in a row, Allendale Elementary School in Melvindale hosted a very successful Career Day on March 23, 2018. This year brought a variety of guests varying in diversity from professions to individual life experiences and ethnicities.

Melvindale, MI
The Yemeni American News

The Career Day committee invited over 35 speakers to present to students the importance of setting life goals and following your dreams regardless of any obstacles you may face. From Miss Michigan, dance instructors, software engineers, journalists, doctors, comedians, real estate agents, police officers, a wood carver, to the publisher of our very own Yemeni America News Rasheed Alnozili, one of the goals in selecting speakers was to seek out professionals that the students can relate to.

Sean Fisher Sr., a middle school principal in Detroit never met his father and was born to a heroin-addicted mother that had an 8th-grade education. He shared with the students his life story about his family, being a US Army Veteran, an advocate for education and his love for embracing diversity. Though his childhood struggles were great, he preserved and followed his dreams of being successful. Fisher Magnet Upper Academy, a school located in Detroit was named after him. When asked about his success, he replied, “God has a plan for all of us”.

Another great success story shared was that of Mohamed Sohoubah, a pharmacist, and an entrepreneur. The recipient of the State Governor’s New Americans Leadership Award in 2017, Mohamed migrated to the United States from Yemen as a child. He shared with students how hard his father worked while he was growing up and how he discovered that he didn’t want to work as hard as his father but did want to make a huge impact on society. He currently owns approximately 30 pharmacies and prides himself on being a pioneer in his family. He encouraged the students to never allow the struggles of your past affect their future.

Although all of the guest speakers brought uniqueness in their conversations with the students, two very special guests in attendance were Amal Chammout and Mariam Charara. These young ladies are two women that faced possibly the greatest challenge in selecting their careers. Both young women are Muslim Americans and City of Dearborn Ordinance Police Officers, a non-traditional profession for a woman in general, let alone a Muslim American woman. This holds true especially for Amal because she wears a hijab but she has stated that she receives a lot of love and support from the community. “Helping people every day is our motivation” is what continues to drive these young ladies to be excellent role models in their community and continue to make a difference in how a woman in non-traditional roles are perceived. “We take pride in the fact that we are in a position to motivate and enlighten young girls not only of Muslim decent but of any minority group to believe they can do anything they desire.”

Education advocates Adel Mozip, a software engineer and Nofila Haidar, a real estate agent and Dr. Belal Abdallah all come from three different fields but all share one great thing in common; each child deserves the same equal opportunities to a great educational experience. These great community leaders contribute every day to helping improve the quality of education in public schools systems through generous donations, time and support of academic and extracurricular programs in schools. These well-informed guests shared their motivational stories as well as plans for the future to continue to empower students to “follow their dreams no matter how hard things may get”.

Nagwa Ali, assistant principal at Allendale told the Yemeni American News “Allendale was very fortunate to have a powerful group of speakers as guests. A very special thank you goes out to all of the speakers that have agreed to join us next year for our 14th annual Career Day event. Always remember your vision and you will never forget your purpose.”

 
  
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