Click here to view the announcement for this event.

The American Lebanese Engineering Society (ALES) held its annual dinner on Saturday the 10^th of February 2007 at Byblos Restaurant in Norwood Massachusetts. The event was well attended by a group of Lebanese-American professionals and students. In addition to the great food and service, the rich program, and the wonderful company, the attendees enjoyed Middle-Eastern music and danced Dabkeh on the popular Lebanese song "Raje3 Raje3 Yit3ammar Raje3 Libnan"...

Mr. Salim Ayas, vice president of ALES, presented the program.

The first speaker was Dr. Hani Al-Dayaa, president of the ALES, who highlighted the achievements of the organization in the past year and emphasized that harmony and good will among the Lebanese are crucial to rebuild Lebanon (Click here to read Dr. Al-Dayaa's speech).

The event was a great occasion to honor a very successful Lebanese-American engineer, Mr. Amine Harb, one of the founders of ALES and president of Harbco Construction Inc. in Orlando Florida. Mr. Nabil Hourani, a past president of ALES, received the award and delivered the speech on behalf of Mr. Harb (Click here to read Mr. Harb's speech).

The event was also a great occasion for ALES to recognize two outstanding Lebanese students who had been selected to receive a $1000 scholarship award each. Mr. David Abichaker, director at ALES, introduced the award recipients (Click here to read Mr. Abichaker's speech), and they were:

- Recipient of the Charles Zraket Scholarship Award: Mr. Nader Shaar, Graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) majoring in Mechanical Engineering.

- Recipient of the Ackel Jreige / ALES Scholarship Award: Mr. Azzam Tannous, Undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts (UMASS) majoring in Electrical Engineering.

Congratulations to the scholarship recipients and the best of luck to all the engineering students! Later on, Mr. Abichaker announced good news to the students that Mr. M. J., president of PSSGROUP, pledged a $500 annual donation toward the scholarship fund. This contribution will allow ALES to offer more scholarship awards in the future.

Last but not least, Mr. Charles Sacre, director at ALES, presented the ALES Rebuild-Lebanon initiative and summarized the 3-Phase Reconstruction Plan that was introduced during the Dinner & Presentation event ALES organized in December of 2006. Mr. Sacre announced that a group of engineers from ALES are committed to volunteer and travel to Lebanon to implement the 1^st Phase of the Reconstruction Plan, "Getting the Facts", which is to assess the field conditions and quantify the remaining damage, knowing that few bridges have been repaired and are operational. Simultaneously, they will meet representatives of different governmental, educational and professional institutions to present the 3-Phase Plan, discuss it, and get the feedback. (Click here to read the initiative abstract. Click here to read the ALES Rebuild-Lebanon Dinner & Presentation event report).

During the event, ALES also selected the raffle winners. Mrs. Zakie Chekeyeh won the grand prize (An 80GB IPOD with a JBL On-Stage II IPOD Speaker and an iSkin eVo3 IPOD Case). Congratulations to the winners.

Many thanks to everyone who participated and contributed to the event. Special thanks go to Mr. Nassib Chamoun, Mr. George Jreige, and Mr. M. J. for their generous contributions to the ALES scholarship fund. Special thanks also go to the Arabic Hour and Profile News for covering the event.

Below are more pictures from the event.