On Friday, March 22, U.S. Magistrate Mona Majzoub visited Henry Ford Community College at the
Michael Berry Amphitheatre and spoke to HFCC and Dearborn High School students.

Judge Mazjoub attended University of Michigan-Ann Arbor as an undergraduate and attended University
of Detroit Mercy for her law degree. After graduating, she studied law for 28 years in Professional
Liability Defense before becoming a judge.

Majzoub began her speech with a memory of first attending HFCC as a student. She mentioned her
Zoology and lab classes she took as a required for her degree. In the zoology lab, her professor asked the
class if there was anyone who wanted the extra pig that was available.

“I decided to take the pig home and wanted to show my father what I had learned, and what his tuition
money was buying,” she said.

Her uncle was terrified by the dead pig in her bucket. “In my family, my HFCC experience will always be
remembered as a chapter in my education that brings more memories and smiles to our faces,” Majzoub
said.

Mazjoub continued, explaining where she first started when her parents encouraged her to put education
first. When she was eleven years old, her dream was to marry a boy in her class and become a race car
driver. Mazjoub’s parents did not share her dream and had her take an entrance exam at a college prep
school.

“Before I knew it, it was ‘good-bye dreams’ and hello to an all-girls boarding school: Kingswood School
Cranbook in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan,” she said.

One of the other obstacles Mazjoub went through was the difficulty of being Muslim during her teen
years. When she was 14, Mazjoub was car-pooling with another girl from her school whose father was a
Methodist. On the first day of car-pooling, he asked her what kind of name Majzoub was. She told him
her ethnicity and religious status, and he called her a heathen. Her classmate’s mother drove them to from
then on.

Afterwards, she elaborated on the image of Arab Americans and how this country depicted them as
suspicious citizens. She gave the example of the 66 American citizens who were held hostage in the
U.S embassy in Iran in 1979 and also read two articles that were read as recognition to Arab American
citizens.

Mazjoub finished her presentation by answering questions. She ended her visit by stating, “One has to
appreciate and understand the importance of education particularly with regard to the need for leadership;
leadership in the community and in the world.”