Share Your Story: Fahoum and Handsome Dan

Although Handsome Dan’s image can be seen everywhere on campus, not too many people win a chance to have their photo taken with Yale’s mascot to celebrate their first months on the job.

Fahoum Fahoum, a program coordinator in Major Gifts, Development, won the chance to have a photo with Handsome Dan after being picked in a raffle. The raffle was part of a Yale exploration passport game, which encourages new staff members to explore Yale’s campus after their new-hire orientation. They are handed an It’s Your Yale “Explore Passport” that includes a campus map and a list of 17 iconic Yale locations.

To enter the raffle for a prize, staff members need to visit six of the 17 spots in the three months following their orientation. Once Fahoum received six stamps on his passport from visiting locations like the Beinecke Library or the Peabody Museum, he won a photo op with Handsome Dan XVIII.

Fahoum said he could not believe how playful Handsome Dan is. He said the two-year old dog, who was running around and being “super energetic,” calmed down though when it was time to take photos.

His positive experience with the pup seemed to be a precursor for the time he’s had at Yale so far.

“It’s been great. I have learned a lot. So far, I’m really enjoying my time, and the best thing about it is the structure,” he said. “I feel like I’m part of a team.”

At Yale, Fahoum said staff members get to learn the reason behind process—the “why”—which allows people not only to remember the process, but also trust in it.

 “There’s a reason why Yale is so competitive,” Fahoum said of his first impressions of the university as a workplace.

As a millennial, Fahoum said that he wanted to be part of an organization like Yale that he believed in. Ideally, the organization has an impact on an individual level or a collective broader level, both in society and globally.

This was especially important to him as someone who has made headlines for advocating for peace through sport, as a Palestinian-Israeli who grew up in Haifa and became the first Arab Muslim on the Israeli junior national team.

Fahoum has been in the United States since 2010. He received a tennis scholarship to attend Quinnipiac University in 2012, allowing him to compete in national competitions.

After graduation, he went to NYC for his masters at Columbia studying negotiation and conflict resolution, and eventually interned at the United Nations.

Fahoum still plays tennis a lot, and considers the sport one of his life’s biggest passions.  Now he teaches and coaches to pass on his knowledge.

Fahoum said one concept that has brought him to where he is today is that the willingness to ask questions takes two parties—one party to ask, and the other to welcome those questions.

This is why Fahoum thinks he and Yale match so well. “I feel like I matter here,” he said, “that my opinion and feedback are welcomed.”

Melanie Espinal, New Haven Promise intern 2018
Photo by Katie Pomes, Internal Communications.