AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: press@agbu.org
Website:

PRESS RELEASE

Monday, September 14, 2009

AGBU High Schoolers from Los Angeles and Buenos Aires Visit Armenia

A total of 92 students, comprised of 50 from the junior class of AGBU
Manoogian-Demirdjian School in Canoga Park, CA, 34 seniors of the AGBU
Marie Manoogian School in Buenos Aires, Argentina and 8 juniors from
AGBU High School-Pasadena, made two-week pilgrimages to Armenia this
summer. The California schools’ trips began in the latter part of June
and ended in early July, while the Argentinean school’s occurred in late
July and early August.

All three groups visited major historic and cultural landmarks
throughout the country, including the reconstructed temple of Garni, the
medieval monastery of Geghard, the Sardarabad monument, the ancient Khor
Virab monastery, Lake Sevan and Holy Etchmiadzin. Other sites taken in
by students from one or two of the groups were the Dzidzernagapert
(Fortress of the Swallows) Armenian Genocide Monument and Museum; the
military cemetery Yerablur; the house-museums of literary greats
Yeghishe Charents and Hovhannes Toumanian; the Matenadaran Manuscript
Repository in Yerevan; the fort of Amberd; the monastery of Sanahin; St.
Hripsime and St. Gayane churches, as well as the ruins of Zvartnotz near
Etchmiadzin.

The juniors from the two AGBU high schools in California also visited
the AGBU Children’s Center in Nork, a district of Yerevan, where they
were treated to an impressive performance of song, dance and acrobatics
by its students. The juniors from Manoogian-Demirdjian High School met
with the Georgian president and were interviewed by a local radio
station. In addition, they visited the Orran Center for impoverished
children in Yerevan. Seniors of Marie Manoogian High School visited the
AGBU Armenian Representation offices, met the local staff and became
acquainted with AGBU activities in Armenia. While there, students met
AGBU scouts from Beirut and Iraq, who had arrived in Armenia to attend
AGBU Camp Antranik. The two groups spent the whole afternoon together,
sharing their thoughts and impressions, and forming bonds that were
based on their common cultural identity.

The trip for the graduating seniors of Marie Manoogian was made possible
through a number of fundraising events organized by the school, students
and their parents at the AGBU Center in Buenos Aires throughout the
year. These include the renowned Friday-evening, and the more recently
instituted Saturday-evening, Armenian dinners, which are prepared by the
school’s parents and served by the senior class. These events are widely
attended by Buenos Aires’ Armenian and non-Armenian communities and have
become an entrenched tradition in the city, ensuring that Marie
Manoogian students, regardless of their financial conditions, will be
able to experience firsthand the sights and sounds of the Armenian
homeland.

Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
educational, cultural and humanitarian program, annually touching the
lives of some 400,000 Armenians around the world.