The “Young Armenolog” Committee working under the aegis of the Hamazkayin Regional Executive Board for Australia held a question-and-answer game-contest on September 9, 2023, at the Hamazkaine Arshak and Sophie Gaulstaun College in Sydney. Students from four Saturday schools and Galstaun College gathered in Nalbandian Hall for the occasion.
The game-contest was one of the events marking the 95th anniversary of Hamazkayin.
The program’s aims are to
- bring together the students attending Armenian schools in Australia in a warm and enthusiastic setting,
- improve the students’ knowledge of Armenian studies, including history and values,
- help raise a generation that has national spirit and consciousness, with a sense of belonging, history, and values, and
- create and reinforce a healthy social setting.
The contest was full of vigor and interest. It was heartwarming to see confident students who, we hope, will be the future leaders and volunteers of our community.
At the end of the events the students put on an artistic program which included a dhol—raising the roof.
Before the scores were announced, Mrs. Kohar Marashlian, a member of the committee and a longtime teacher, spoke, quoting William Saroyan: “It is simply in the nature of the Armenian to study, to learn, to question, to speculate, to discover, to invent, to revise, to restore, to preserve, to make, and to give.”
The winners of the contest were all the schools and students that attended, having learned and gained experience. Nonetheless, the jury pronounced the Tumanian Saturday School the winner of the 2023 contest. Kevork Vartanian, chairperson of the Regional Executive Board, offered his congratulations in an address.
The board gave certificates of appreciation to the members of the jury and the organizing committee. The committee, in turn, gave commemorative gifts to individuals who had supported the project financially.
Thanks to the volunteer teachers, the administration, trustees, parents, and especially the students, who were all enthusiastic about the success of this project.
We will continue to implement Hamazkayin’s program and keep the Armenian language, history, and traditions alive.
“Young Armenolog” Committee
