DEARBORN, Michigan – The Dearborn Community Fund (DCF) has announced names of students representing three Dearborn public high schools on the 2012-13 POP project design team. The students will collaborate in designing a mosaic wall for Dearborn’s new Intermodal Passenger Rail Station.
The POP project is an initiative of the DCF as it supports arts, cultural and recreational programs that enrich the Dearborn community.
The POP project, an acronym for Pockets of Perception – We Are One Community, focuses on young people, encouraging multicultural understanding while cultivating their creativity and investment in the community through the creation of public art.
The 10-member student design team selected from Dearborn High School, Edsel Ford High School and Fordson High School, will design an artistic mosaic wall to be installed in the Intermodal Passenger Rail Station that is under construction on Michigan Ave. near Brady Street in Dearborn. The station is scheduled to open in late 2013.
The Dearborn Public Schools partnered with the DCF to launch the POP project in 2010. The inaugural POP team designed two complementary aluminum sculptures that were unveiled in April 2012 at Dearborn City Hall Park and the West Dearborn Pocket Park.
“This year we are fortunate that Henry Ford Community College Art Department has joined the DCF and the Dearborn Public Schools, providing access to ceramics lab equipment and working space for the new POP team,” said EmmaJean Woodyard, executive director of the Dearborn Community Fund.
“The students will meet on campus almost every Saturday over the next 10 months working with educators and artists to develop their mosaic designs.”
Dearborn High School students (listed with their grade level) on the 2012-13 POP Project design team are Mona Beydoun (11), Mary Charara (11), Jack Ashraf Davis (12), Francisco Nunez (12) and Leah Wendzenski (12). Edsel Ford High School students Khalid Amin McDowell (10) and Claire Young (11) and Fordson High School students Reem Aoun (11), Aleen Bazzi (11) and Siham Saleh (10) round out the team.
Fordson High School teacher Mohamad Bazzi and Wendy Sample, a former Art Resource teacher for the Dearborn Public Schools, provide professional guidance for the team.
The DCF is seeking sponsors to join the East and West Downtown Development Authorities and the Ford Motor Company Fund in supporting the POP Project.
“Our sponsors recognize that art brings communities together and they want to offer students the opportunity to develop their talents while learning how to work in a team environment outside of school walls,” Woodyard said.
The Dearborn Community Fund, which supported the POP Project, is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization with the mission to support cultural and recreational programs in Dearborn.
For sponsorship information about the POP Project and other programs supported by the DCF, call 313-943-5478 or visit www.dearborncommunityfund.org.