Niles West’s Middle Eastern North African (MENA) club participated in a healing and connections workshop on Monday, Dec. 4. The field trip was held at Northwestern University where 87 Niles West students were joined by students from Niles North and Evanston Township High School (ETHS).
Both Niles West and Niles North leaders created the agenda for the workshop with Evanston Township High School’s Middle Eastern North African and Asia Club (MENAA).
“The workshop’s goal was to create cross-district collaboration and solidarity between ETHS D202 and D219 students, specifically students in the schools [who] have been directly or indirectly impacted by recent events in the MENA region and/or have experienced anti-Muslim or anti-Arab sentiments,” sponsor of Niles West’s MENA club Alexsandra Davood said.
Yusef Shehade, senior and Niles West MENA club president described the outline of the day. According to Shehade, the field trip began with introductory remarks from leaders, followed by an open mic that invited student participants to share their stories and ask questions. Students then viewed a presentation called Know Your Rights + Online Safety Advocacy which focused on staying safe online. After lunch, the students participated in team-building activities, bracelet-making, journaling and banner creating. Field trip participants ended the day by mingling with kids from different schools and learning more about one another.
“Everyone who came was uneasy about the [current war in the Middle East] and the goal was to make everyone feel comfortable and have a safe place for everyone,” Shehade said.
Davood felt that the workshop achieved its goals.
One of these goals was, “simply being in a space where no explanation of identity is needed. It was so inspiring to see students being fully themselves without having the need to censor parts of their identity for safety reasons. Sitting with students, engaging in material with them and hearing their stories and perspectives were some of the best parts of the day. I’m thankful to work in a district that gave us an opportunity to engage in this type of learning,” Davood said.
Junior and MENA Vice President Muhamed Alali is ready for the next chance to get together.
“I can’t wait until the next time for MENA club to do something similar to this, like the Middle Eastern North African Summit from last year where Niles North and Niles West came together to celebrate their Middle Eastern culture; because it is important to come together as a community and support one another,” Alali said.
The former Niles West MENA club sponsor and Literacy Center Assistant, Reine Hanna, was an organizer for the event. She now works at ETHS.
“[Ms. Hanna] was a big part of organizing this whole event, and it was nice to see her again,” Alali said.
