Donald Unis… a man of great value… one with our school named after him for all of the beneficial things he has done. Donald is one of the many people that have passed recently (God rest their souls). However, to talk about all of them is beyond the scope of this paper. Therefore, I will focus on Mr. Unis specifically, and what he as provided for students and others.

    One of the things that Donald Unis did to provide for the community was to become a captain of the Fire Department which he did until his retirement.

    Another one of the many things that Donald Unis has provided the community with, is ACCESS. ACCESS is a program for students who may be struggling in school. Although he wasn’t the sole creator of it, he was one of the founding members.

This is a very important asset to have in Dearborn because as Shawntai Brown, the site leader for ACCESS at Unis Middle School puts it,

“ACCESS provides opportunities for students to get academic help, to learn more about stem, learn more about language, learn more about math, and participate in games that help them develop more.” She then goes on to say that this will all lead to them becoming better citizens and community members.

    Further moving, whatever Donald Unis did, it would always to the betterment of the community or the helping of people in need. Chadi Farhat the principal at Unis Middle School says, “Mr. Unis was a remarkable man.  He spent much of his life giving back to the community and assisted anyone that needed help.”

He was a one of a kind activist and a man who truly cared about his people, his culture etc. Every minute of his day was spent encouraging others and telling them to be proud of who they are. One example of such is when he says,

“Don’t be ashamed, no matter what you see in the media, of your Arabness. Don’t be ashamed of the fact that you’re a Muslim, that you believe in God. Look at your history and your people; they taught the world how to read and write, chemistry, science. You have a history second to none. Be proud of it,”

    Donald Unis’ unfortunate death was due to a deteriorating heart condition. He passed when he was 79 years old. His death may have saddened many but his everlasting glow remains. Shawntai says

“What continues on about his legacy in ACCESS is that we still have a big heart for refugees and we end up helping a lot of refugees, and that’s really important because these are people who are part of our community, who are going to be the future of our cities, our communities, our country and so it’s really important to embrace people.”

Donald Unis has inspired many people and has opened their minds to the fact that diversity is actually something to be proud of.

To conclude, Donald Unis was someone that had a kind heart and a welcoming smile. All he ever wanted was for his community to be thriving and content. All he wanted was his people to be proud of their background. All he wanted was for everybody to have a chance, an opportunity to succeed and lead a happy life.

By: Ali Mourtada