Chaldean News JN
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eighth grade. More than half of the graduates go on to the Fran-
kel Jewish Academy a college prep high school in West Bloom-
field. "The second and third generation [in immigrant families]
began to achieve the American dream — became professionals
and have more than their immigrant parents or grandparents —
through education," adds Freedman. Hillel Day alumni include
attorneys, doctors, professors, journalists, a judge and rabbis.
"Yearning to learn . . . has always been a part of our peo-
ple," adds the school administrator. "Education allowed ac-
cess to better ourselves despite discrimination."
Chaldean families uphold their heritage at Catholic pa-
rochial schools and academies throughout Metro Detroit.
"These are schools that follow a secular curriculum in terms
of teaching all the subjects that you'd learn in government
schools," explains Farmington Hills residential developer
Dave Nona, who chairs the Chaldean Federation of America.
"Alongside a rigorous liberal arts education, they try to instill
basic values and discipline that are based on Christian val-
ues. Their primary goal is to educate, not preach, and equip
you with a general, broad education."
Extending a legacy
Nona was educated in Iraq's capital, where he graduated
from a high school named Baghdad College — founded by
American Jesuit priests. He carries that legacy forward as a
board member at Loyola High School in northwest Detroit, a
boys school in the Jesuit tradition.
At the university level, Wayne State continues to serve as
a career gateway for Chaldeans and Jews, as it has for count-
less children of immigrants. "Wayne was the logical choice
because it was accessible, geographically close and afford-
able," say Eugene Driker, who earned a bachelor of science
II III
11111 building
community
MOM INITIATIVE
in 1959 and a law degree in 1961. "I often joke my father told
me I could go wherever I wanted to for college as long as the
Dexter bus would take me there."
Earlier, he attended Detroit Central High and learned
about Jewish literature and other culture at the Sholem
Aleichem Institute in Latluup Village.
His merchant father had a high school diploma and his
mother lacked formal education. "It was a common pattern,"
says the founding member of a Detroit law firm called Barris,
Scott, Denn & Driker. "Immigrants struggled to make a living.
Their children studied hard and succeeded."
25'
411° 18% 18%16P
ft. •
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Bachelors degree
2
UA
Associate's degree
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Bank of America.
GOLD SPONSORS
WAYNE STATE
UNIVERSITY
meijer
DMC
Alan Stamm and Justin Fisette are writers for
Tanner Friedman, a marketing communications
firm in Farmington Hills.
DETROIT MEDICAL CENTER
SILVER SPONSORS
Chaldeans' level of schooling
on rise since 2000
411)
PRESENTING SPONSOR
`A premium on education'
Driker, who knows Chaldeans both socially and profession-
ally, sees that pattern woven through the fabric of their com-
munity: "The immigrant generation worked hard to establish
themselves in America through small businesses and profes-
sions, and put a premium on education."
Those stepping into the saga now include educated Iraqi
refugees facing fresh challenges. "With a poor economy, they
cannot be absorbed as easily into the system," says Nona.
"Many lack the necessary certification to become a profes-
sional or practice their current profession from Iraq. The
question is, how do we provide meaningful employment and
educational recertification for a new crop of educated immi-
grants in this area?"
Addressing that need will reinforce Metro Detroit's his-
toric role as a gateway to achievement.
METRO DETROIT CHALDEAN POPULATION
52%
THE
59%
Regularly
33%
Occasionally
7%
Holidays
1%..
Do not attend
Over 90% of
Chaldeans
regularly or
occasionally
attend church.
Lawrence
Tech
COLLEGE
OF BUSINESS
Bloomfield Hills Schools
2000 • 2007
SOURCE: METRO DETROIT CHALDEAN SURVEY 2008, COMMISSIONED BY THE CHALDEAN AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND ADMINISTERED BY UNITED WAY AND WALSH COLLEGE
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September 2 • 2010
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