By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – The latest Pockets of Perception student team mural, “The History of Tomorrow,” sponsored by the Dearborn Community Fund, was dedicated Aug. 26 at the Dearborn Historical Museum offices, 915 S. Brady.
Dearborn Community Fund Board President Johanna Seidel said the latest mural is the 15th art installation that has been placed throughout the city since 2010 by the Pockets of Perception youth public art program.
She said the team designed and painted the mural over the course of a month this summer.
The 2026 team included Amanie Alfatlawy, Fatima Alhilfi, Kaitlyn Catris, Kole Catris, Affrica Cassidy, Adam Hachem and Lilian Kaafarani.
In addition to the Dearborn Community Fund, Seidel said other supporters included the Ford Motor Co., William Bailkowski, Steven and Faye Adelson, Ken and Jamie Paris, herself, EmmaJean and Jim Woodyard, and the Dearborn Historical Museum, who hosted the team during the mural creation.
Acting Executive Director of the Dearborn Community Fund Sasha Corder said they were celebrating more than just a mural.
“We are here to honor the dreams, the courage and the endless creativity of our high school students,” she said. “‘The History of Tomorrow’ mural isn’t just a piece of art: it’s a snapshot of Dearborn’s rich past, our vibrant present, and the hope we share for the future.”
Corder said the mural was dreamed up, researched, revised and brought to life by the POP student design team.
“These are truly extraordinary teens who prove what’s possible when young people are trusted with something real and lasting,” she said. “They worked side-by-side with artists and mentors, and these students sacrificed summer days, faced set-backs, breakthroughs and they not only learned to make large-scale art, but also how to collaborate and how to lead and how to bring a vision to life with their own hands.”
Corder said one can spot stories in every brushstroke, including how the mural transforms from black-and-white to color.
“That transformation, that’s Dearborn, that’s these students, and the promise for tomorrow, ” she said. “Since 2010, the POP program has had one powerful mission: to give young people from Dearborn and across Wayne County the access to shape public spaces, to tell their stories and unlock their creative potential.
“What started as a wild idea from no other than EmmaJean Woodyard to invite high school students into the heart of public art-making truly has become one of Dearborn’s proudest traditions.”
Corder said POP isn’t just about learning how to paint and draw, but is about building leaders and collaborators and confident young artists.
“Each year, a diverse team of students is selected for their vision and drive,” she said. “They spend the summer immersed in creative team work, learning from professional artists, their mentors and community partners, and they get to experience every part of a real public art commission, brainstorming, pitching ideas, working through creative differences, meeting all those deadlines and finally seeing that vision come to life right here in their own city.”
Corder said past POP teams have left their mark throughout Dearborn, from the first team’s aluminum sculpture that connected PEACE Park East and the Pocket Park in west Dearborn, the tile mosaic installation at the John D. Dingell Transit Center, and colorful murals at businesses and schools all over the city.
“Each piece is a lasting tribute to what young people can accomplish when we trust them and give them real responsibility,” she said. “But POP’s impact goes way beyond the art itself: this program really does open doors, giving students access to professional tools, mentorship, and a glimpse into creative industries that may otherwise feel out of reach.”
Corder said the program provides students with a paid internship, breaking down financial barriers and “making space for all voices.”
“When they leave, they don’t leave with just a portfolio piece or just a resume builder,” she said. “They walk away with skills, network and a deep sense of community pride that will carry with them to the future.”
Corder said the most important part of POP is lifting up the students’ voices.
“It’s living proof of what happens when we let the next generation not just participate, but lead, create and transform the world around them,” she said. “Every mural, sculpture and installation is a reminder: the future of Dearborn is in talented, passionate and capable hands, so let’s keep lifting up Dearborn’s next generation of history-makers together.”
Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said he thinks we don’t impower our high school students enough.
“If this is their imagination, we have to let them run wild across the whole city and give them more screens to apply all these art pieces to all across our city,” he said. “I think the only thing that I’m really upset about is we only do one of these per year right now, and so my ask is we have to excel and add more, and I will find you the funding – I pledge this and promise this!”
Hammoud said that each time they cut the ribbon on a new mural, he always says it is his favorite piece, and he said this one is as well, partly because it features the original city seal.
“When we were established and founded as a city back in 1929, this was the city seal,” he said, pointing toward the mural. “I use it on my material in my office now, once Jack (Tate) gave me the history lesson about the original city seal: it was so beautiful and so masterful, and there was so much heart within that city seal.”
Hammoud said the community is proud of what the POP team does each year as they showcase the story of Dearborn.
“And I think if we have learned anything over the last week, what we need to be doing a better job of is showcasing the story of Dearborn,” he said. “So many folks try to impose their vision and their idea of what Dearborn is, and we got to do a better job of telling our story, because we have such a beautiful story to tell.”
Pockets of Perception Mural Director Sunshine Durant said the gathering was more than a mural dedication: it was a celebration of the youth who created “The History of Tomorrow.”
“This summer I got to watch these students show up with creativity, determination, and so much heart,” she said. “I’m incredibly proud of them.”
Durant said POP is about so much more than painting a wall.
“It’s about building confidence, friendships and creativity and community,” she said. “It’s about learning to listen, working together and overcoming challenges, and keep moving forward.
“As an art teacher and a community activist, I truly believe we give young people an opportunity to create, we give them the voice, and they will create and give the city a voice.”
Durant said the POP team is singlehandedly changing the face of Dearborn.
“We drive down the streets and there, there, there, and pretty soon I’m going to have their kids come in,” she said.
POP team member Fatima Alhilfi said the mural shows how Dearborn has changed over time, including the past and the present.
“I saw that history is today, and history is always becoming,” she said. “So, we wanted to include that in here.”
She said they included a portrait of Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Ross, the last resident of the McFadden-Ross House, who willed the house to the Dearborn Historical Museum upon her death in 1950, as well as the museum’s office corgi, Lizzie, driving a Ford Model T.
Alhilfi said the team really wanted to include the old city of Dearborn seal, as well as old-fashioned unicycles.
“We wanted to kind of do like a road that leads from the past to the present,” she said. “We wanted to show everything, and we also love the Model Ts – everyone in their own ideas had the Model Ts.”
Alhilfi said the Model T shown in the mural is a customized red color, not the classic black that came off Henry Ford’s assembly line.
“We put very vibrant colors, so everything can stand out, to show that it’s modern times,” she said. “I love that everyone got to put their own touch into this.”
Acting Chief Curator Jack Tate thanked the POP team for creating the mural.
“I love the way it represents the collection of this museum: its future depends on this collection, and its past is represented here,” he said.
Tate said the story of Lizzie is also interesting because the Model T itself was nicknamed the Tin Lizzie, the donor of the McFadden-Ross House to the Dearborn Historical Museum was a Lizzie, and the museum has a staff member’s dog named Lizzie who is a regular visitor.
Durant said that Lizzie’s dog was named Jack, and the museum’s curator is named Jack, which is another fun coincidence.
For more information about future POP team projects, contact the Dearborn Community Fund at [email protected].
For more information about the Dearborn Historical Museum, go to thedhm.org.