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STUDENTS BEGIN EVENTS IN MEMORY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Glendale News Press, CA
Jan 15 2015
A 100-year-old survivor of the Armenian Genocide appears at Glendale
Unified board room.
By Kelly Corrigan, [email protected]
January 15, 2015 | 8:13 p.m.
In the presence of an Armenian Genocide survivor, Glendale students on
Wednesday night kicked off commemoration events in a continued effort
to honor those lost in the genocide and have the tragedy officially
recognized by the Turkish government.
>From 1915 to 1918, the Ottoman Turks killed an estimated 1.5 million
Armenians, and its occurrence is still denied by modern-day Turkey.
On Tuesday night in the Glendale Unified board room, several students
belonging to the Armenian clubs at Glendale's four high schools vowed
to fight for recognition.
"When our ancestors were so brutally massacred, they couldn't lean on
anyone else... they persevered and they survived, and they made sure
that their culture and their stories lived on to future generations,"
said Mary Agajanian, a senior at Clark Magnet High School.
"The same perseverance that allowed those Armenians to survive the
genocide 100 years ago now flows in our veins. We are their blood,
and we will not stop until we have achieved the recognition they
deserve," she added.
Fellow student Ara Mandjikian, a junior at Crescenta Valley High
School, said today's young people must forge ahead.
"We have to be motivated by our obligation to honor and promote our
culture publicly and privately," he said. "The end of these 100 years
is the beginning of the next, so let us make a name for ourselves in
this world. Not for any other reason than our personal duty to uphold
our nation above ourselves."
In their presence was 100-year-old Armenian Genocide survivor Madeleine
Salibian, a Glendale resident and mother of Clark Magnet High School
counselor Susan Howe.
Salibian, born in Aintab, now known as Gaziantep, Turkey, was only
a few months old when her father's Turkish friend ushered her family
to safety by giving them his donkeys to escape.
"A friend of my father who was Turkish -- he loved him so much that
when he heard that we were there, he came by midnight and took us
out to his home," Salibian said. "He kept us there, and the next day,
he gave us three donkeys."
The family traveled on the donkeys until they reached Syria, settling
in a rural village, and eventually, Aleppo.
Also on Tuesday, Greg Krikorian, president of the Glendale Unified
school board, shared his grandmother's story of survival, and her
harrowing experience losing her family and watching her father die.
"The last day I know my grandmother saw her father on was on the
horse they hung him on. Picture your kids going through that and
knowing that she was only one of 13 children left, that she lost all
12 brothers and sisters," Krikorian said. "She came to Cleveland,
Ohio, all by herself, at 8 years of age."
Commemorating the Armenian Genocide each year has been an important
focus for school officials and students, who produce an assembly each
April that draws hundreds of people to Glendale High School.
Over the next few months, students will also be writing essays and
creating art projects to commemorate the genocide, leading up to a
student-produced assembly at Glendale High School on April 21. The
100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide will be on April 24.
"It's very important, being the educational branch, that we do a good
job of educating, not only our students, but also our community,"
said Glendale Unified Supt. Dick Sheehan.
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/news/tn-gnp-students-begin-events-in-memory-of-genocide-20150115,0,4973648.story
Glendale News Press, CA
Jan 15 2015
A 100-year-old survivor of the Armenian Genocide appears at Glendale
Unified board room.
By Kelly Corrigan, [email protected]
January 15, 2015 | 8:13 p.m.
In the presence of an Armenian Genocide survivor, Glendale students on
Wednesday night kicked off commemoration events in a continued effort
to honor those lost in the genocide and have the tragedy officially
recognized by the Turkish government.
>From 1915 to 1918, the Ottoman Turks killed an estimated 1.5 million
Armenians, and its occurrence is still denied by modern-day Turkey.
On Tuesday night in the Glendale Unified board room, several students
belonging to the Armenian clubs at Glendale's four high schools vowed
to fight for recognition.
"When our ancestors were so brutally massacred, they couldn't lean on
anyone else... they persevered and they survived, and they made sure
that their culture and their stories lived on to future generations,"
said Mary Agajanian, a senior at Clark Magnet High School.
"The same perseverance that allowed those Armenians to survive the
genocide 100 years ago now flows in our veins. We are their blood,
and we will not stop until we have achieved the recognition they
deserve," she added.
Fellow student Ara Mandjikian, a junior at Crescenta Valley High
School, said today's young people must forge ahead.
"We have to be motivated by our obligation to honor and promote our
culture publicly and privately," he said. "The end of these 100 years
is the beginning of the next, so let us make a name for ourselves in
this world. Not for any other reason than our personal duty to uphold
our nation above ourselves."
In their presence was 100-year-old Armenian Genocide survivor Madeleine
Salibian, a Glendale resident and mother of Clark Magnet High School
counselor Susan Howe.
Salibian, born in Aintab, now known as Gaziantep, Turkey, was only
a few months old when her father's Turkish friend ushered her family
to safety by giving them his donkeys to escape.
"A friend of my father who was Turkish -- he loved him so much that
when he heard that we were there, he came by midnight and took us
out to his home," Salibian said. "He kept us there, and the next day,
he gave us three donkeys."
The family traveled on the donkeys until they reached Syria, settling
in a rural village, and eventually, Aleppo.
Also on Tuesday, Greg Krikorian, president of the Glendale Unified
school board, shared his grandmother's story of survival, and her
harrowing experience losing her family and watching her father die.
"The last day I know my grandmother saw her father on was on the
horse they hung him on. Picture your kids going through that and
knowing that she was only one of 13 children left, that she lost all
12 brothers and sisters," Krikorian said. "She came to Cleveland,
Ohio, all by herself, at 8 years of age."
Commemorating the Armenian Genocide each year has been an important
focus for school officials and students, who produce an assembly each
April that draws hundreds of people to Glendale High School.
Over the next few months, students will also be writing essays and
creating art projects to commemorate the genocide, leading up to a
student-produced assembly at Glendale High School on April 21. The
100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide will be on April 24.
"It's very important, being the educational branch, that we do a good
job of educating, not only our students, but also our community,"
said Glendale Unified Supt. Dick Sheehan.
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/news/tn-gnp-students-begin-events-in-memory-of-genocide-20150115,0,4973648.story