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ARMENIAN SOCIETY PRESIDENT NALBANDIAN REFLECTS ON HIS HERITAGE
By Jeff DiLeo
PC The Cowl
http://www.thecowl.com/news/armenian-society-president-nalbandian-reflects-on-his-heritage-1.2730660
Dec 8 2011
Ari Nalbandian '12, a member of the Pre-Med Honors Society is a local
from Cranston, R.I., but took a different path than most getting to
Providence College. Nalbandian, a member of the school's rugby team,
just helped found the Armenian Society on campus. He says that,
between the Armenian Society and rugby, his senior year has been
really busy. He also recently finished sending applications to medical
schools along the East Coast.
Nalbandian's background is different than most, though, because his
parents are originally from Armenia, though he was born in the United
States. Armenian is actually Nalbandian's first language, and English
is his second. At home, he and his family only speak Armenian.
Nalbandian said, "There's a big Armenian community in Lebanon and
Syria. After the Armenian genocide, the survivors fled south to the
Middle East. That's where my parents ended up. They came here for
college when they were around my age."
He further explained, "[The genocide] was the generation before them,
because it happened in 1915, so my grandparents' generation went
directly through it. My mom had always held on to my grandfather's
memoirs, because he was orphaned during that time and he wrote down
everything."
He continued, "It took her two years to read through it. After two
years, she typed out everything he handwrote and then, we had it
published. It's called The Caravan of Hope. Hearing a personal story
[makes me realize] that it directly affected me and why I'm here,
and what my family had to go through. It is a meaningful event."
Nalbandian is proud of the strong Armenian presence in downtown
Providence. He attends services at one of the two churches in the
area, one of which is a block off of Federal Hill. There are Armenian
schools there and church services every Sunday. Nalbandian says this
community has definitely helped him.
Nalbandian is excited about the amount of Armenians on campus and
is eager to have them join his club. Ari said, "There's a pretty big
outlet for Armenian culture. URI and Brown both have Armenian clubs,
so I figured, 'Why not PC?'"
Nalbandian is an aspiring general practitioner whose goal is to get to
know each of his patients and give each of them with the best service
and care he can provide. He is also interested in sports medicine
and has applied to schools in New England, New York, Philadelphia,
and Washington, D.C. He received help from the Department of Biology
in preparing for interviews and considering schools, and says he
doesn't know what he'd do without Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P.
Nalbandian commented, "I did have a theology minor, but I'm not going
to be able to do their major seminar...I took extra theology classes,
[but] just the stuff I was interested in. It's always been one of my
interests, but I've never been able to make an official minor here."
He added, "As long as I enjoy what I end up doing and am able to show
that to other people, regardless of whether or not I make a lot of
money doing that; [I'll be happy]."
Second semester of last year consisted of all the preliminary stages
of establishing the Armenian Society on campus. Nalbandian estimated
this period will continue for the rest of this year, so the complete
process will take approximately 18 months. The early part of this time
was spent drafting a constitution and figuring out what members could
theoretically plan for events and who their executive members would be.
Ari mentioned, "If I didn't have the guidance of the people on BMSA
who are familiar with the administration and how to deal with red tape,
I would have felt really lost. They helped me out a lot."
Right now, the Armenian Society is a "proposed" club as far as Student
Congress is concerned. Previously, the Armenian Society was part of
the ISO (International Student Organization). Now, however, it is
officially a separate organization from the ISO.
Nalbandian said, "We're a proposed club now, and if it has been shown
over the next semester or year that our events are successful and we
have members at the events, then we'll become an official club."
The club's first event took place in McPhail's on November 16. It was
Armenian name-writing night, and Armenian food was provided. Students
were invited to have their name written in Armenian and learn the
letters and how the alphabet works.
By Jeff DiLeo
PC The Cowl
http://www.thecowl.com/news/armenian-society-president-nalbandian-reflects-on-his-heritage-1.2730660
Dec 8 2011
Ari Nalbandian '12, a member of the Pre-Med Honors Society is a local
from Cranston, R.I., but took a different path than most getting to
Providence College. Nalbandian, a member of the school's rugby team,
just helped found the Armenian Society on campus. He says that,
between the Armenian Society and rugby, his senior year has been
really busy. He also recently finished sending applications to medical
schools along the East Coast.
Nalbandian's background is different than most, though, because his
parents are originally from Armenia, though he was born in the United
States. Armenian is actually Nalbandian's first language, and English
is his second. At home, he and his family only speak Armenian.
Nalbandian said, "There's a big Armenian community in Lebanon and
Syria. After the Armenian genocide, the survivors fled south to the
Middle East. That's where my parents ended up. They came here for
college when they were around my age."
He further explained, "[The genocide] was the generation before them,
because it happened in 1915, so my grandparents' generation went
directly through it. My mom had always held on to my grandfather's
memoirs, because he was orphaned during that time and he wrote down
everything."
He continued, "It took her two years to read through it. After two
years, she typed out everything he handwrote and then, we had it
published. It's called The Caravan of Hope. Hearing a personal story
[makes me realize] that it directly affected me and why I'm here,
and what my family had to go through. It is a meaningful event."
Nalbandian is proud of the strong Armenian presence in downtown
Providence. He attends services at one of the two churches in the
area, one of which is a block off of Federal Hill. There are Armenian
schools there and church services every Sunday. Nalbandian says this
community has definitely helped him.
Nalbandian is excited about the amount of Armenians on campus and
is eager to have them join his club. Ari said, "There's a pretty big
outlet for Armenian culture. URI and Brown both have Armenian clubs,
so I figured, 'Why not PC?'"
Nalbandian is an aspiring general practitioner whose goal is to get to
know each of his patients and give each of them with the best service
and care he can provide. He is also interested in sports medicine
and has applied to schools in New England, New York, Philadelphia,
and Washington, D.C. He received help from the Department of Biology
in preparing for interviews and considering schools, and says he
doesn't know what he'd do without Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P.
Nalbandian commented, "I did have a theology minor, but I'm not going
to be able to do their major seminar...I took extra theology classes,
[but] just the stuff I was interested in. It's always been one of my
interests, but I've never been able to make an official minor here."
He added, "As long as I enjoy what I end up doing and am able to show
that to other people, regardless of whether or not I make a lot of
money doing that; [I'll be happy]."
Second semester of last year consisted of all the preliminary stages
of establishing the Armenian Society on campus. Nalbandian estimated
this period will continue for the rest of this year, so the complete
process will take approximately 18 months. The early part of this time
was spent drafting a constitution and figuring out what members could
theoretically plan for events and who their executive members would be.
Ari mentioned, "If I didn't have the guidance of the people on BMSA
who are familiar with the administration and how to deal with red tape,
I would have felt really lost. They helped me out a lot."
Right now, the Armenian Society is a "proposed" club as far as Student
Congress is concerned. Previously, the Armenian Society was part of
the ISO (International Student Organization). Now, however, it is
officially a separate organization from the ISO.
Nalbandian said, "We're a proposed club now, and if it has been shown
over the next semester or year that our events are successful and we
have members at the events, then we'll become an official club."
The club's first event took place in McPhail's on November 16. It was
Armenian name-writing night, and Armenian food was provided. Students
were invited to have their name written in Armenian and learn the
letters and how the alphabet works.