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PRESS RELEASE
Monday, October 5, 2009
AGBU Paris Summer Intern Program Successfully Wraps Up Its 7th Season
From the beginning of July until mid-August, 12 students of Armenian
descent from Armenia, Canada, France, Russia and the United States
came together to participate in the 2009 Paris Summer Intern Program
(PSIP). The program, which is concluding its seventh season, is a
unique experience for students who are able to expand their
professional knowledge and learn about their Armenian identity through
special events, lectures and outings coordinated by PSIP staff.
This year’s students worked at a number of leading French
institutions, including Association Française de la Relation Client,
France Loisirs, Institut Supérieur des Métiers, Grant Thornton,
Groupement Interprofessionnel International Arménien, Kalayciyan
Architects, Lefèvre Pelletier & Associates, Musée d’Orsay, Pierre and
Marie Curie University, and Radio France Internationale.
During the summer, students met with Hovhannes Guevorkian of the
Representation of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh in Paris, who
discussed the political fault lines in the Caucasus; historian and
author Claude Mutafian, who spoke about Armenian history; and
professor, historian and director of the AGBU Nubarian Library Raymond
Kevorkian, who addressed recent efforts at Armenian-Turkish
reconciliation. Interns also had the opportunity to visit the Embassy
of the Republic of Armenia in Paris, where they met with General
Consul Vahe Vahramyan and Diplomatic Attaché Ara Lazarian.
In addition to lectures, PSIP-organized events and activities
strengthened the networking and social component of the Paris
program. Students attended a reception organized in their honor at the
Alex Manoogian Cultural Center, where they were welcomed by AGBU
Europe Chairman Alexis Govciyan. The students also spent time with
AGBU Youth members, who showed the interns around Paris, while giving
them a taste of daily life in the French capital. Among the landmarks
visited were the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, Versailles, and two sites
in Normandy (Trouville-sur-Mer and Honfleur).
Students lived in the Maison des Étudiants Arméniens, which is a
residence hall created in 1928 by AGBU’s first president Boghos
Nubar. Since its founding, the building has housed several generations
of international Armenian college students who arrive in Paris to
complete their post-secondary education.
Business student and PSIP participant Hayek Harutyunyan, who interned
at the French Association for Client Relations, acknowledged that
leaving home allowed him to "understand the challenge of preserving
your Armenian identity outside of Armenia, and the effort it takes to
keep it." Sveta Ohyanyan, a student of Roman philology, interned at
the Musée d’Orsay, where she was "very happy to be working a
prestigious museum and greatly improve my French, especially spoken
French." Aren Manoukian, a biomedical science student at the
University of Montreal, interned at the Pierre and Marie Curie
University. The program, he said, gave him an incredible opportunity
to work hands-on in a laboratory with fellow researchers.
Every summer, PSIP director Zarouhi Odabashian sees the formative
experience PSIP can be. "An internship allows students to affirm their
career choice and helps them position themselves in their area of
specialty," she said.
After a successful session, AGBU’s Paris Summer Intern Program is
already preparing for an exciting 8th year in 2010. For more
information, visit students.agbueurope.org/psip.
Sponsored by AGBU France District, the AGBU Paris Summer Intern
Program (students.agbueurope.org/psip) was established in 2003,
placing young aspiring Armenians in seven-week internships working for
leading organizations in Paris.
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.