DEARBORN — Fifteen high school graduates expected to attend college this Fall were each awarded a $1000 scholarship from the Yemeni American Association (YAA) at its 13th annual scholarship ceremony, Sunday, July 18 at the Byblos Banquet Center in Dearborn. The YAA established its educational commitment to the youth of its community by creating the scholarship program, which supports students who excel academically.

“We are devoted to encouraging students to pursue a higher education. This event is held to show that we care about young people and we want to increase the number of Yemeni Americans going on to local colleges and universities,” YAA advisor Daifalla Asoufy said.

Through generous support from sponsors, the YAA has awarded over 200 scholarships in 13 years, and expanded the program from awarding six scholarships to fifteen.

“The YAA has been a leader in showing young people the path to success,” Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. said.  Scholarship applicants with the highest GPA were selected to receive scholarships. Awardees were Yasmeen Atiq Alyaishi, Ruba Hendad, Nagat Hussein, Sumaya Musleh, Ahlam Jamal Saleh, Muhammad Saleh, Fatimah Shajrah, Hind Mohamed, Radan Saeed, Abatesam Elmathil, Sarah Ali, Gamal Yehia, Mohamed Askar, Jihan Aiyash and Wasem Altwil.

“I want to thank the YAA. I promise I won’t be letting you down, you will be seeing my name in the future,” Elmathil said.

According to O’Reilly more Yemeni students are beginning to attend four year institutions after high school rather than community colleges. Of the fifteen award recipients only one is planning to attend a community college.

YAA president Anwar Saleh said “To those students we are celebrating tonight, I would like to tell you that you have tasted your first big success. Let there be much, much more to follow. We hope that you will continue to follow this path and pursue higher education.  In today’s economy the path to realizing the American dream is through education and quality education only.  Being among the best in your class allows you to take full advantage of the great learning opportunities offered to you by some of the best universities in the world.”

Keynote speaker Stanley E. Henderson, Vice Chancellor for student enrollment and student life at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, said Arab students continue facing discrimination after 9/11. “You young people we celebrate tonight were eight or nine years old on 9/11. You have come to age at a time when your heritage to some is no longer seen as part of the great immigrant strength of America that in this region helped to build the automotive industry, but as a source of terrorism. You have seen and perhaps yourselves been victims of profiling discrimination, you have been angered, disappointed and may have felt marginalization in your America. A colleague of mine weeks ago told me that Arab and Muslim students today feel much like African Americans did in the 1960s and 1970s. You look for and ladies and gentlemen deserve respect and justice,” Henderson said.

Henderson also stressed that the U.S. standards on education have decreased greatly over the years.   According to Henderson high school graduation rates have slipped below 70 percent;  the achievement gap  between whites and students of color in reading and math is greater than it was in 1988; performances on international tests have continued to drop; in 2006 the U.S. ranked 35th in math competency out of the top 40 countries;  college participating rates have slipped from first in the world to seventeenth and while more than half the students in European and Asian countries are graduating from college, fewer than 40 percent of Americans and fewer than 20 percent of Latinos get college degrees on average.

Henderson said part of the reason for the results is that the federal government cut the education budget in half during the 1980s ending support for many programs that had positive impacts on learning. The federal government also cut health and human service budgets that led states to deemphasize education in order to pick up other service costs according to Henderson.  Henderson said states that won’t and can’t spend $10,000 per year on a student in under-resourced schools will later spend $30,000 a year per inmate. “We need to get our priorities straight. We should not be arguing about whether building a mosque next to ground zero is an affront to the victims of 9/11. We should be committed to the living memorial that ensures all Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Buddhists can pray without fear in the area their living. That is how we can win against extremists and demonstrate true American values,” Henderson said.