Winner of the Foren Communications Scholarship, Sedra Mourad, pictured with John Foren, whose donation to Henry Ford College made the scholarship possible. Mourad and Foren celebrated her winning the scholarship at a lunch at The Whitney in Detroit.

This month, Henry Ford College Mirror News staff writer, Sedra Mourad, won the Foren Communications Scholarship. She is the second student to win the award.

Mourad is the eldest of four. Her family immigrated to Dearborn in 2024. She enrolled at HFC and immediately became active in the community, including being accepted into the Henry Ford II Honors Program and becoming vice-president of the college’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the prestigious Honors society.

Mourad credits her experience in the Honors Program’s colloquium on Detroit history and culture taught by Dr. Peter Kim for her interest in writing for the college’s student newspaper, The Mirror News. Her first story, “Hawks Volleyball Stresses Team Chemistry,” won first place in Sports News writing at the Michigan Community College Press Association conference earlier this year. Mourad’s journalistic interests expanded to investigative reporting. She interviewed and surveyed students, faculty and college leaders to write “AI at HFC,” which won first place in In-Depth Enterprise Reporting at the MCCPA.

Mourad shared her writing interests with Henry Ford College alum John Foren, who set up The Foren Communications Scholarship, at a lunch at The Whitney in Detroit honoring her receiving the award. Foren expressed great admiration for Mourad’s academic journey, being the first in her family to go to college and aspiring to become a medical doctor and researcher. Mourad told Foren she hopes to eventually be accepted into the MD-PhD program at University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Foren was impressed with Mourad’s application for the scholarship in which she stressed the importance of communications in the health profession and in medical research.

Foren is currently the regional director of Public Relations, executive communications and social media for University of Michigan - Health. While the majority of Foren’s career was as a journalist, he explained to Mourad how much what he does now draws from the skills and experiences he acquired as a journalist. He still looks for a great story and shared how the health field has so many amazing stories. Just recently, his team promoted a story on three generations of nurses in one family that was perfect to celebrate Mother’s Day. Foren also shared how at his office in Lansing, they are running a story on “517” day, which is the area code for Lansing, by having infants in the hospital’s neonatal unit wear “517” shirts.

Foren grew up in Dearborn and graduated from Edsel Ford High School before beginning his journey at Henry Ford Community College in the fall of 1979. Foren shared how Henry Ford Community College was the perfect place for him to figure out his interests. He started freelance writing for the student newspaper, which then was The Ford Estate. The student newspaper has been under the name The Mirror News since 1997. Foren credits retired English professor, Jim Reppke, who then was the advisor for the newspaper, for noticing his knack for writing and offering him the news editor position, then the editor-in-chief position.

Foren shared how much he couldn’t wait every day to show up to the high-energy environment of the newsroom and the people in it, spending more time there than in class.

Foren transferred to Michigan State University, writing for its student publication, The State News, while he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism. One regret Foren shared with Mourad during lunch was that he did not participate more in campus life. He said he had a girlfriend in Dearborn, so he would return home most weekends to visit her, so he did not get involved at the college, and he has since strongly encouraged his own children and young people that they should get involved and take every opportunity that comes their way.

After finishing his journalism degree at MSU in 1983, Foren began writing for the Dearborn Press and Guide until he landed a job working for The Flint Journal and Booth Newspapers in 1985. He was at the Washington bureau from 1990-92, the Lansing bureau from 92-95, then returned to Flint as an editor in late 1995. Foren worked as the local news editor, eventually working his way up to Editor-in-Chief for his last year with The Flint Journal, before taking a buyout in August of 2009. He joined Sparrow Health System’s Marketing Department in May 2010.

Foren shared with Mourad how antiquated news editing seems when he started compared to now. He recalled having to drive to the printer before the layout was set for the student newspaper and telling them literally what to cut with an Exacto knife from the paper.

Foren set up the scholarship to “express my gratitude for everything Henry Ford College has done for me.” Foren credits HFC for preparing him for a career in communications. Foren left Mourad with a message about the importance of communications in any field.

Inquiries about the Foren Communications Scholarship can be sent to The Mirror News faculty advisor, Peter Kim: pkim@hfcc.edu.