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AGBU High Schoolers from Los Angeles and Buenos Aires Visit Armenia

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  • AGBU High Schoolers from Los Angeles and Buenos Aires Visit Armenia

    AGBU Press Office
    55 East 59th Street
    New York, NY 10022-1112
    Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
    Fax: 212.319.6507
    Email: [email protected]
    Website: www.agbu.org

    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 (www.agbu.org) 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.
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