Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918 Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
Friday, June 1, 2007
Contact: Haig Hovsepian
Tel: (818) 500-1918
ANCA-WR Announces 2007 Leo Sarkisian Internship Program Participants
LOS ANGELES, CA – The Armenian National Committee of America – Western
Region (ANCA-WR) announced its participants for the 2007 Leo Sarkisian
Internship (LSI) Program. They will be joining fellow participants from the
eastern United States as well as Canada and Europe for the eight week
program in Washington, D.C. The 2007 LSI session begins June 18th.
A program with over two decades of history, the ANCA Leo Sarkisian
Internship Program provides student leaders and activists an opportunity to
participate in an intensive program designed to give them the tools
necessary to effectively advance issues of concern to the Armenian American
community on the federal, state and local level.
The 2007 LSI Program participants from the western United States are Alex
Der Alexanian, Shant Hagopian, Dzovak Kazandjian, and Chris Yemenidjian.
Der Alexanian, a business major at California State University, Fullerton
and Orange County resident has dedicated numerous hours volunteering with
the On Track Mentorship program for at risk youth. In addition to his ANC
activism, he also currently serves as the Orange County AYF’s social
committee chairman.
Hagopian is a political science major that will be matriculating at the
University of California, Berkeley this autumn. Aside from his work with
the West San Fernando Valley ANC, he has served as a senator with the
student government at Los Angeles’ Pierce College and interned with
California State Assembly Member Fran Pavley.
Kazandjian is an English and Sociology double-major at the University of
California, Irvine. She currently serves on the executive committee for the
South Bay ANC. She has also interned with the Asbarez daily newspaper and
Orange County Register.
Yemenidjian is a Political Science and English double-major at El Camino
College who will be attending the University of California, Berkeley in the
autumn. He recently completed the ANCA-WR’s Internship-Externship Program
where he specialized in community and government affairs. He currently
serves as the South Bay ANC chairman. He has been and continues to be
actively involved with the South Bay AYF and Homenetmen, having served as
chairmen for both organizations. He is also the chairman of the United
Human Rights Council.
Since October 2006, ANCA-WR staff, board members, and former interns have
delivered presentations on college campuses throughout California and
reached out beyond to other Western Region states introducing students to
the ANCA and informing them about the ANCA Leo Sarkisian Internship Program.
"We are happy to send these young advocates to our nation’s capital," noted
Haig Hovsepian, ANCA-WR Community Relations Director and IEP Coordinator.
"These individuals have volunteered with our local or regional offices so
their experience in Washington, D.C. this summer will provide them with a
new and important perspective on our grassroots organization."
The Armenian National Committee of America is the largest and most
influential Armenian American grassroots political organization. Working in
coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout
the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA
actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad
range of issues.