To recognize Arab American History Month, Community High School District 218 has celebrated alumni who have achieved noteworthy success academically, professionally, artistically, in public service, or in some other field of endeavor.
Shepard High School celebrated many alumni including:
Tala Tadros, Class of 2015
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Tala this year started medical school at the University of California at San Diego. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University.
As an undergraduate she served as the first female President for the Arab Student Organization at Western Michigan University in 2020.
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“Even though my time at my time at (Shepard) was short, I got to meet so many amazing people and made great connections.It was very hard, but with they helped with the support of my teams, counselors, and teachers, I was on the right path for success,” she said.
Deena Hamdan, Class of 2013
“I am Palestinian-Jordanian and proud of it! My family is from Palestine, I was born in Jordan and raised here in Illinois. As an Arab-American, my parents taught my siblings and me about our heritage and how to incorporate our traditions into our lifestyle,” she said.
Deena works as a Patient Care Tech at Advocate Hope Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn. She recently won the P.E.T.A.L Award for exhibiting patient advocacy, excellence, teamwork and leadership.
Ahmad Albanna, Class of 2010
Born in Kuwait, Ahmad moved to Jordan after the Gulf War. “He came to the United States in 2008 speaking no English and was a student in my math class for English language Learners,” said Shepard math teacher Joanna Stasiak.
“He stood out to me as a student from the very beginning: his work ethic and determination were unmatched,” she added.
After graduating from Shepard he attended the University of Illinois at Chicago and double majored in English and Criminal Justice with concentrations in American Literature and Public Policy.
He then completed a master’s degree in Public Policy. During his undergraduate studies he was the interpersonal assistant director of the student government and the co-founder of the first Arab-American culture center at UIC and the first such center in the country to be publicly funded by the state.
“The culture center provides a safe-space for Muslim students, English tutoring for newcomers, legal advice and educational sessions about Muslim stereotypes,” she said.
Currently, Ahmad works as a human resources officer for the University of Illinois system.
