ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA REACHES OUT TO YOUTH TO PROMOTE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Nov 28 2006

To expand the active involvement of young adults in the Armenian
Assembly of America (AAA), Intern Coordinator Joseph Piatt met with
college students to introduce them to the Assembly’s Intern Programs.

According to the information DE FACTO got at the AAA, the eight-week
summer programs provide college students of Armenian descent the
opportunity to intern in Washington, DC and Yerevan while taking part
in a full schedule of educational, social and cultural activities.

Piatt has been traveling to several East Coast universities to meet
with Armenian student organizations, provide them with informational
materials and discuss his own experiences as a 2004 intern in
Washington, DC.

Concurrently, Assembly intern alumni joined Western Office Director
Lena Kaimian to help promote the internship programs to prospective
students. In California, Gregory Bandikian, Armine Bazikyan, Shant
Norhadian, Cate Norian and Nareeneh Sohbatian shared with students
their first-hand experiences as Assembly interns while Joel Cretan
provided a briefing on the program.

In addition, George Houhanisin and Harry Kezelian met with students
in Michigan while Arpi Paylan discussed her back-to-back internships
in Washington and Yerevan with Chicago area students.

"As a former Assembly intern, I am thrilled to see so many young
adults interested in the Internship Program and I hope, a future that
includes community and public service," said Board of Trustees Member
Lisa Esayian. "As the Washington Program prepares to enter its 30th
year, I urge students to invest in themselves, and sign up for this
once in a lifetime opportunity."

Students who are accepted into the Washington program will be
placed in congressional offices, think tanks, media outlets and
governmental agencies. Interns will have the opportunity to discuss
Armenian-American issues during meetings with U.S Representatives,
Senators, other government officials and noted academics through the
Capitol Ideas and Lecture Series programs as well as gain a better
understanding of the inner workings of the Nation’s Capital.

Meanwhile, students enrolled in the Yerevan program are typically
placed in Armenian governmental offices and inter-governmental
agencies. They will have the opportunity to experience life in their
ancestral homeland while gaining valuable work experience.

Applications for the Washington program, known as the Terjenian-Thomas
Assembly Internship Program, as well as the Yerevan program, are
available online at Application deadlines are January
15 and February 15 respectively.