National, International, Armenia, and Community News and Opinion

6 The Armenian Reporter | November 8, 2008CommunityTHIS ARMENIAN LIFECulmination points:Beirut and Yerevanby TamarKevonianCrossing Syria’s southern borderinto Lebanon, I finally breathe asigh of relief. Under Syria’s cosmopolitanveneer there is a sense of silentoppression that becomes morepronounced the further we moveaway from Kessab, an Armenianvillage on the far northwesterncorner of the country, across theTurkish border.We are heading to Beirut, mybirthplace. My father, Nazareth,and I are on a journey through theancient Armenian kingdom of Cilicia,now the southeastern end ofTurkey along the Mediterraneancoast, and have expanded the tripto include the city where both Dadand I were born.It has been a number of yearssince my last visit and I’m lookingforward to seeing not just friendsbut the city itself, because duringthe last couple of years it has experiencedtremendous upheaval andgrowth. We arrive from the norththrough Tripoli, Lebanon’s secondlargest city, and drive by the Palestiniancamps that were bombardedlast summer. They’re the latest reminderof the variety of social andpolitical ills that have plagued thecountry for the last 30 years.We’ve decided to avoid the city forthe moment and stay at a beach resortjust south of Jbail (Byblos), theancient seaside city that was an importantcenter for trade throughoutthis region’s history as well as a jetsetters’paradise during the 1960s.It is heavenly to wake up toa view of the sea and swim in itssalty waters every day. Dad and Ispend a week in Lebanon visitingfriends, walking down city streets,trying to imprint their new adaptationsonto the older versions in ourmemories.Sometime during our time inBeirut we decide to travel to Yerevan.We arrive a few hours beforedawn. The airport is full of passengersfrom several other flights thathave arrived within minutes of ours.Collecting our luggage, we make ourway through customs. The new airportis beautiful and modern, so differentthan what I had seen on mylast visit. The hotel has arranged forour transportation and Sevag, thedriver, is there to greet us. It is theweek leading up to the muronorhnek,the blessing of the holy oil usedduring mass, an Armenian-churchritual that takes place every sevenyears.The hotels are full and we havehad much trouble finding a placeto stay for the few nights we will bein town. By the time our luggage isloaded on the mini SUV and we’vetaken our seats, it is past 4:30 in themorning. I can’t wait to get to theAdventures in historyhotel and crawl between the coolsheets for a few hours of sleep. Thecar won’t start. Sevag has left theheadlights on and drained the batteries.I’m off looking for jumpercables while Dad helps push the carinto position. Welcome to Armeniaand all its beautiful absurdities.We spend our short three daysexploring the plains at the foot ofMount Ararat. The mountain itselfis shy and stays hidden behind theclouds throughout our sojourn. Yerevanhas changed a lot since mylast visit six years ago. The clean,wide streets, the upscale shops, theplethora of luxury cars are all indicationsof the growing affluence ofthe city. It is a giant leap forwardfor a young, Third-World republicthat has experienced 70 years ofcommunist rule. What an incrediblefeat it is for Armenia to reducemass poverty and step into the 21stcentury in such a short period. Perhapsall the assistance by the diasporaand its goodwill, along withgood old Armenian hard work, hadan effect after all.One late night, suffering fromthe insomnia that occasionallyafflicts me while switching timezones, I hear noises and mutedsnippets of conversation from thestreet outside my window. I leanover the windowsill and look ontothe wide, unlit, boulevard. There isa small, moving circle of light. It’scoming from a flashlight searchingthrough the trash bags collected inand around the two metal bins onthe sidewalk just outside and to theleft of the hotel entrance. There arethree people, a woman, a man, anda young child, searching throughthe garbage. The city has acquired ashiny persona of progress, but thepoverty I remember and which somany organizations have focusedtheir efforts to help alleviate is stilla way of life for many in Armenia,albeit now existing in the shadows.With the trip to Yerevan, ourvoyage has come full circle. Westarted in Istanbul, the jewel ofthe East, drove through the ancientlands of Cilicia, visited Kessab,a 2,000-year-old village fromthe days of the Roman Empire, toDer-Zor, site of some of the mosthorrific chapters of the Genocideand the end of life as our ancestorsknew it, down to Beirut, one ofthe hubs of the modern Armeniandiasporic experience, to Yerevan,the capital of the modern Republicof Armenia. Within our month oftravel, we experienced the vestigesof a thousand years of Armenianhistory and witnessed the progressionof Armenian life.All the high-school years of readingArmenian history, of studyingthe names of long-dead kings anddates of long-ago battles had notmade as much of an impression asa few weeks treading in the footstepsof my forebears. Hearing thecrunch of gravel under my shoesand seeing the three-dimensionalplaces of the names learned only inhistory books brought all of it intothe present. Knowing where I, as aDiasporan-Armenian, came fromfinally gives me the perspective toknow where I will be headed. Everythingis illuminated as the pastwalks alongside the present. New principal brings change to A.G.Minassian School in Santa Anaby Alene TchekmedyianORANGE COUNTY, Calif. – Inthe past five years, student enrollmentat Ari Guiragos MinassianArmenian Elementary School inSanta Ana has decreased significantly;in 2003, the student populationexceeded 120, but now theschool only has 60 students.With the economic crisis at itspeak, the high cost of transportationand the availability of SaturdayArmenian schools, parentshave found it difficult to spendthe extra time, money and effortto send their children to a privateArmenian school.Others deem it necessary to keepArmenian culture and traditionalive for generations to come. Dr.Niary Gorjian, the newly hiredprincipal of the school, and Minassianfaculty members have a visionfor change to increase student enrollment.Having served as a visiting assistantprofessor of managementat the School of Business andManagement of the American Universityof Armenia in Yerevan, Dr.Gorjian firmly believes in properprofessional training for teachersto capitalize student learning.To complement the annual trainingsessions for teachers providedby the Board of Regents, the MinassianSchool has hired gate-certifiedtrainers to provide monthlyin-house professional developmenttraining to teachers, extending theknowledge gained while pursuingtheir teaching credentials. Amongthe many topics of training areeducating teachers of how a child’sbrain functions, how to identifymultiple types of intelligence andhow to develop a child’s emotionaland social intelligence.“[My] primary [goal is] additionaltraining for teachers, so they canbetter meet the needs of students.My main emphasis to make surestudents are at a point where theycan transition to the public schooldistrict and be able to handle thatappropriately,” said Dr. Gorjian.The Western Association ofSchools and Colleges (wasc), a credentialingprogram in Californiathat accredits public and privateschools, colleges and universities inthe United States, has accredited A.G. Minassian School until 2011.The academic curriculum of thePre-K through sixth grade schoolincludes two hours of Armenianlessons daily, math, science, English,social studies, physical educationand electives: computers, art,religion and music.The tuition to attend the schoolis currently over $400 per monthper student, which is high in atime of economic instability, butis relatively low compared to otherOrange County private schools.Allise Panosyan, Parent TeacherOrganization (pto) Chair and parentof triplets who attend Minassian,believes the tuition and highlyranked public schools in OrangeDr. Niary Gorjian, principal of A.G. Minassian School, with her students.County have contributed to theenrollment decline. “Before publicschools were not so great and nowparents feel safe sending their kidsto public schools. Now they are ontop of the list of all the cities [ofOrange county] and are competitivewith private schools,” she said.“Because of great public schools inthe neighborhood, parents don’twant to make the effort or feel theneed to drive kids to Minassian,”she added.To combat this, school officialswill implement a bus system to pickup children from far cities in thenear future to increase enrollment.Panosyan has always valued raisingher children with a strong culturalbackground and plans to sendher children to Minassian untilthey graduate sixth grade. “I get aknot in my stomach thinking theywill be in different school. They getevery necessity academically andsocially, especially our cultural education…they are learning readingand writing…you would be shockedhow well [my children] write in Armenian,”she said.Among the academic improvementsthe school plans to employnutritional, environmental andsafety changes. Every day, thepre-Kindergarten students eat anafternoon snack that the parentsare responsible for providing inshifts, based on a list of appropriatesnacks parents were allowed tobring. “I identified things that arelow in sodium and cholesterol andcontained no saturated fat. I waswary of food allergies that childrenhave a tendency toward, which includegluten in wheat and peanuts,and am trying to make [the snacks]much more nutritional. [The ideais to make them] more health consciousbecause nutrition starts atan early age and what they are exposedto shapes what they eat incoming years,” Dr. Gorjian said.Dr. Gorjian and the (pto) are concernedabout the safety of the elementarystudents and have soughtout an electronic gate. Sponsoredby the pto, the gate will be monitoredby the secretary in the officeand monitor everyone who entersand leaves the school.Parents and teachers recognizethe importance of this addition, althoughthe school was never unsafe.“When you don’t have that manychildren, you always know whensomeone is missing. The parentsmay feel much safer now…I neverdoubted safety in our school,” saidAstrik Ashkarian, a preschoolteacher at the Minassian School for11 years.Another safety change to graceA. G. Minassian is the replacementof black top to Astroturf where thestudents have physical education,which is set to happen by the end ofDecember. Dr. Gorjian has a samplein her office of the artificial grass,which keeps students excited aboutthe upcoming change. “The kids areexcited to play soccer; looking attheir faces and excitement makesme excited,” she said.Dr. Gorjian has also been conductingneeds assessment researchto discover the demandsof the Orange County Armeniancommunity. “I’m trying to collectsurvey research from those wholeft and those still attending toget a snapshot of what the communityneeds, and understand thecurrent situation better. I’m workingon the surveys now; I haven’timplemented or distributed themyet,” she said.Another major long-term additionDr. Gorjian plans to bringto A. G. Minassian is a trip forher graduating class to Armeniaat the end of each year. “I thinkits extremely critical to make thattrip as graduating class from anArmenian elementary school togo see the country that they havelearned so much about as theymake their transition to the publicschool district. They can keepthe values they learned duringelementary schooling and whatthey observe in their country willbe an extremely powerful intervention,”she said.Astrik Ashkarian recognizes theimportance of cultural education.“This is how we are going to pass ourculture to future generations,” shesaid.College studentneeding cash forbooks?Part-time salespositions available.Email jobs@reporter.com