P-CEP’s Student Youth Dialogues on Race and Ethnicity program presented students and families a multicultural show in the Salem Auditorium on December 12. Eight of P-CEP’s ethnic clubs showcased their culture through music, dance and storytelling. 

Behind the scenes, the show went through months of planning, but it all came together in the end.  

Multiple Metro Detroit high schools and community groups participate in Student Youth Dialogues, a program to facilitate conversations between teens from both suburban and urban settings. The event consists of a six-week summer program with a week-long stay at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor to learn about the struggles people face within their culture. Students in the program have the opportunity to participate in group discussions, activities and action projects that challenge discrimination through public policy initiatives. 

Plymouth senior Samah Suliman, student participant, said that being part of the program felt like a rich experience. 

“The experience gave me, and I felt like other students, a little bit of independence,” said Suliman. “I learned more about other people’s experiences here at P-CEP, because the school is so big it can feel very, like, there’s just so many different social circles that I felt like I was I was learning a lot more about what it means to be a P-CEP student, as well as what it means to be a student in Grosse Pointe or in Novi.”

Salem junior Aubrey Furlow, Salem Congress’ treasurer, said that the experience of students while at school at  P-CEP differs from the experiences of students from other schools in Metro Detroit.

“We were by far the biggest school in SYD and so we had a lot more ideas to bring together, which was good and bad because it’s difficult to agree on one thing with a group of 15 people,” said Furlow. “But it also brought in a lot of different perspectives, which was super beneficial.”

Rania Hammoud, assistant principal at Discovery Middle School, previously the district’s 12-grade curriculum coordinator, said each year P-CEP’s SYD students pick a project to do as a team at school to apply what they learned during the summer program.

“Even though SYD was doing this program for six years, each year they’ve done something different,” said Hammoud. “So this year’s group decided to do this multicultural show.”

At P-CEP, there previously was a production known as the Diversity Show which happened annually and had a similar purpose, but that show has not happened for a few years. SYD decided to make its own multicultural program this year.

Michele Smiley, Student Youth Dialogues advisor and history teacher at Canton, said the process of working on this show was challenging. 

“There were a lot of moving parts and so getting all of that to come together with so many different groups involved, organizations involved, different students in student-youth dialogues,” said Smiley. “We had some excellent leaders in the Student Youth Dialogue that really took the reins and brought it all together.”

Plymouth senior Myah Salah, Canton’s Congress president, said that while participating in the show was a big responsibility, it came with a rewarding experience as Congress helped other clubs to participate and served as a link between the fundings and club prizes.

“Participating in the show was definitely a big thing that we’ve partaken in,” said Salah. “And it was also a really good way for Tri-Congress to come together as one.”

The purpose in presenting the show was to entertain and to bring awareness to the spectators. “I hope the audience understands how important it is to support a multicultural America,” said Salah, “and to support all clubs here at P-CEP.”