Twelve of the 14 Otto Rowen Scholarship winners received their awards at the Rotary Club of Dearborn scholarship dinner. Recipients were Kaylyn LeVasseur (front row left), Adam Ramadan, Joseph Marano, Youssef Balaghi, Batoul Tarhini, Angela Matta, Amanie Elgahmi (back row left), Naser Elgarmi (third from left), Zeinab Alzayadi, Daoud Saleh, Ali Yassine, and Adam Farhat. Also pictured are Dearborn Rotarians Shannon Peterson (second from left) and Angela Linder, and John Bayerl of Dearborn Public Schools.
More than $700,000 in scholarships awarded since 1999
By MARGARET BLOHM
For the Times-Herald
DEARBORN – The Rotary Club of Dearborn held a dinner celebration at Henry Ford College in May to honor 26 recipients of this year’s annual scholarships totaling $71,200.
“It was an honor to welcome and meet these outstanding students, their family members, teachers and school officials,” 2021-22 Dearborn Rotary Club President Shannon Peterson said. “Helping students further their education has been a major area of service and fundraising for our club.”
The Dearborn Rotary Club will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2023, and club records indicate it has awarded more than $700,000 in scholarships since 1999.
This year’s scholarships included 21 graduating high school seniors, two nursing students at Henry Ford College, two veterans attending the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and one award to a qualifying participant in the 19th District Veterans Court.
Scholarships awarded to graduating high school seniors in Dearborn are in four, merit-based categories. Each award category is endowed by or honors a past Dearborn Rotarian, who recognized the importance of education and sought to pay their own success forward by helping outstanding youth with college expenses. Award amounts range from $2,500 to $9,500.
Receiving the Harry A. Sisson Scholarship of $9,500 is Olivia Sherman of Dearborn High School. She will attend the University of Michigan to major in environmental engineering and further her education with an emphasis on environmental law and legislation.
Glen Warren of Dearborn High School and Malak Elayyan, dually enrolled at HFC and Dearborn High, are winners of the Hugh M. Archer Scholarship, established in the memory of the longtime Dearborn resident and Rotarian. In addition to founding the Spiratex Corp. and many professional achievements, Archer served as president of the Rotary Club of Dearborn, Rotary District Governor, International Director, International General Secretary and International President in 1989-90.
The Past Presidents Scholarship was largely funded through the generosity of former Edsel Ford High School principal and Dearborn Rotary Past President Robert Young. It is awarded to four Dearborn Public School graduating seniors who will attend a Michigan college or university. This year’s scholarship recipients are Mohamman Alhameed and Assmaa Eidy, both dually enrolled at Fordson High School and HFC, as well as Hilal Baydoun and Ahmed Kaid, both dually enrolled at Edsel Ford and HFC.
Scholarship winners: Past President recipients Hilal Baydoun (left) and Asmaa Eidy, Archer recipient Malak Elayyan, Sisson winner Olivia Sherman, Archer winner Glen Warren (poster), Past President winners Ahmed Kaid and Mohamman Alhameed, and Archer Veteran recipient Terry Swain.
The largest scholarship category is the Otto Rowen Vocational Scholarships honoring the memory of former Rotarian, teacher and principal in the Dearborn Public Schools. Dearborn Rotary established the trust fund administered by the Dearborn Rotary Foundation to provide scholarships for DPS students who are the best representatives in their vocational areas as recommended by their instructors. The awards can be used for expenses related to their vocational pursuits.
Otto Rowen scholarships were awarded to 14 students: Zeinab Alzayadi, FHS and Career Academy; Brendan Andrews, EFHS; Youssef Balaghi, DHS and CA; Amanie Elgahmi, Henry Ford Early College; Naser Elgarmi, HFEC; Adam Farhat, DHS and Michael Berry Career Center; Michael Haddock, EFHS; Kaylyn Levasseur, DHS Collegiate Academy; Joseph Marano, EFHS; Angela Matta, EFHS and MBCC; Adam Ramadan, EFHS and MBCC; Daoud Saleh, FHS; Batoul Tarhini; HFEC Nursing; and Ali Yassine, DHS and MBCC.
Nearly 20 years ago, Dearborn Rotary established the Henry Ford College Nursing Scholarship in conjunction with the Henry Ford College Foundation. This year, scholarships were awarded to HFC nursing students Muhammed Awada and Leslie Villagomez.
The Archer Veterans Scholarship at UM-D was made possible by an endowment funded by the Archer family, Spiratex Corp., and Dearborn Rotary. This year, scholarships were awarded to two non-traditional students, Phil Rodriguez and Terry Swain.
Rodriguez is a Detroit police officer, who served in the USMC and participated in the military operation in Somalia. Swain served 10 years in the U.S. Army as an infantryman, who supports himself completely by working two jobs and attending college full-time.
Funds from the Archer Veterans scholarship are also made available to qualifying participants in the 19th District Veterans Court, a program designed to help veterans in need of mental health or substance abuse treatment and other services. The Archer funds help veterans further their education as they become contributing members of the community.
Peterson recalled for dinner attendees that this marked the first year that Dearborn Rotary was able to host the scholarship celebration since the 2022 graduating seniors were high school freshmen.
“Dearborn Rotary appreciates the support Dearborn Public Schools and Henry Ford College give the club’s scholarship program and the celebration,” said Lee Hollmann, Dearborn Rotarian and scholarship committee chair. “Many Dearborn Rotarians dedicate hours of volunteer time to make our scholarship program a success.”
Founded in 1923, the Rotary Club of Dearborn is the city’s oldest service organization and is a member of Rotary International bringing more than 1.4 million members in over 46,000 individual clubs together to live the motto of “Service Above Self.”