Author: Jilavian Emma

Aid collection for Lebanon

Cyprus Observer, Cyprus
Aug 5, 2006

Kykkos Monastery, with the help of the Armenian Church of Cyprus
and the Orthodox Metropolis of Lebanon, is coordinating a plan to
distribute humanitarian aid to all the areas being bombed by Israel
in Lebanon. The collection of humanitarian aid for the victims of the
Lebanon war began on Tuesday and will be held at various points in the
government controlled areas of Cyprus by the Department of Humanitarian
Aid of the Kykkos Monastery and the Armenian Church of Cyprus.

NKR PRESIDENT EXPRESSES APPRECIATION FOR PARTICIPATION OF AMERICAN ARMENIAN
BENEFACTORS IN PROGRAMS IN ARTSAKH

STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 3, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The President
of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) Arkady Ghukasian on August
1 received members of the Babayants family – American Armenian
businessmen and benefactors, co-owners of the former central hotel
of the city of Shushi, and Abo Boghikian.

NT was informed about it from the NKR President’s press service. The
quests informed the NKR President about the process of constructiing
a 9-story building and about things to be done. It is envisaged to
put the hotel into operation until early May, 2007, and to improve
the park adjacent to the central square of Shushi. Attaching special
importance to preserving the architectural character of Shushi during
the restoration and construction work, A. Ghukasian expressed his
appreciation for the active participation of the Babayants family,
Serge Babayants and Abo Boghikian in charity and investment programs
being implemented in Artsakh.

GDP GROWTH RATE IN CIS REPORTED

RosBusinessConsulting, Russia
Aug 3, 2006

RBC, 03.08.2006, Moscow 19:00:06.The average GDP growth rate of the
CIS countries was 6.5 percent in January-June 2006 compared to the
same period in 2005, the Interstate Statistical Committee of the CIS
reports. Azerbaijan and Armenia showed the highest GDP growth rates
of 36.3 percent and 11.9 percent respectively. The GDP growth rate
in Belarus reached 10.1 percent, Tajikistan’s growth rate was 7.1
percent, Russia’s growth rate amounted to 6 percent while Ukraine
saw a 5-percent growth and Kyrgyzstan’s GDP rose by 3.1 percent.

BUSH URGED TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Jewish Telegraphic Agency, NY
Aug 2 2006

A Jewish member of the U.S. Congress opposed the nomination of a new
ambassador to Armenia and urged the Bush administration to recognize
the Armenian genocide.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) wrote Wednesday to President Bush that
ambassador-designate Richard Hoagland’s "denial of the Armenian
genocide and lack of compassion for the suffering of the Armenian
people makes him unfit to represent American interests in Yerevan."

The U.S. government has never recognized the 1915-1920 atrocities,
when Turks slaughtered about 1.5 million Armenians, as genocide.

Some say the killing was not organized and occurred in the context
of Turkish-Armenian fighting, making it less than genocide.

.asp?intid=3978

CENTRAL BANK: THREAT TO 3-PERCENT INFLATION RATE LOOMING LARGE IN ARMENIA

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Aug 2 2006

YEREVAN, August 2. /ARKA/. Threat to 3-percent inflation rate retaining
are looming large in Armenia, the Central Bank of Armenia said Tuesday
in its report.

At the same time, taking into account economic developments in the
country, the CBA finds double-digit economic growth is very likely.

The bank mentioned higher-than-expected oil and metal prices, possible
further weakening of dollar and geopolitical situation deterioration
in the world among outside risks. "Imported wheat prices may grow
because of the poor crop expected this year in Russia and Ukraine",
the report says.

Besides outside risks, there are inside ones, the CBA board members
say in their report.

Faster-than-expected growth in construction and services areas can
constitute risks for 3-percent inflation as well.

The Central Bank also pointed out that the state budget large-scale
expenditure will have lag impact on inflation growth and will be seen
in the first half of 2007.

Increased consumer prices for water, in turn, may negatively impact
inflation rate within 12-month period.

That’s why the bank doesn’t rule out additional changes in interest
rates in coming months.

In particular, the central Bank decided Tuesday to raise refinancing
interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to annual 4.25%.

National Statistical Service of Armenia says inflation in Armenia
was recorded at 3.6% in July 2006, compared with December 2005.

Consumer prices index made 106.8% in July 2006, compared with the
same month a year earlier, and 100.8% in Jan-July, compared with the
same period of 2005.

State budget has planned 3-pecent inflation rate for 2006. M.V.-0—

HUMANITARIAN AID ALLOCATED BY GOVERNMENT OF ARMENIA REACHES LEBANON

BEIRUT, AUGUST 1, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The humanitarian aid
allocated by the Government of Armenia reached Lebanon on July 28. It
was sent through the territory of Syria and given to the Lebanon
Highest Commission on Humaniatarian Aid. 7.5 tons of humanitarian
load which consisted of 52 titles of medicine and medical means of
first necessity will to some extent make easy the state of the Lebanon
population suffered from the war. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the
RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information Department, Lebanon mass
media fixed that humanitarian action. Materials telling about the aid
of Armenia were published both in Lebanian Armenian and in foreign
language periodicals among which the "Al-Mustakbal," "As-Safir,"
"An-Nahar," "Al-Balad" dailies were, as well as materials on the
mentioned theme were broadcast by the biggest "Al-Mustakbal," "LBC"
and "NBN" TVs of Lebanon.

LIFE PRISONERS ARE DISSATISFIED

Lragir.am
01 Aug 06

The working group of the Office of the Defender of Human Rights of
Armenia met July 31 with a group of life prisoners at the Nubarashen
jail. The office of the ombudsman undertook this visit on learning
that life prisoners went on a hunger strike in a protest against the
conditions of the penitentiary. The office of the defender of human
rights told the news agency ARKA that during the meeting these life
prisoners complained of their verdict, as well as the way they are
treated in the penitentiary.

Taking into consideration the complaints, the leadership of the
penitentiary of Nubarashen was instructed to improve the situation,
namely guarantee regular medical aid, rest, as well as objects of
everyday use.

The warden of the penitentiary of Nubarashen Aram Sargsyan promised
to try his best to eliminate these problems. And the working group of
the office of the defender of human rights will assess the situation
during the next visit to the penitentiary.

Under fire
The Independent – United Kingdom; Jul 30, 2006
Robert Fisk IN BEIRUT
Sunday 23 July

To Sidon. Ed Cody has found a cool, 120-mile-an-hour driver called
Hassan – he has a black Mercedes which I nickname "Death Car" (because
that will be the fate of anyone who gets in our way) and we zip down
the coast road and turn east into the hills at Naameh, where the
Israelis have just blown the bridge.

Thirty years ago, Cody was an Associated Press correspondent in Beirut
and taught me how to cover wars. "Get in the car, drive to the battle
and find out what the arseholes are doing," he used to say. Cody is
from Oregon, a slim, brilliant, highly subversive journalist who is
now Beijing correspondent for the Washington Post. A great guy to
travel with, eyes sharp for F-16s, brave without being a poseur,
fluent in Arabic, he understands the dirty war we are watching and
thrives on cynicism.

"Look," he says, pointing to a blown-up highway interchange. "It’s a
terrorist bridge! And if you take the road to Zahle, you’ll find a
burned out terrorist flour and grain lorry!" If the world became a
better place, I fear Cody would contemplate suicide.

Sidon is full of Shia refugees, and I hunt down Ghena Hariri, daughter
of Sidon’s MP and niece of murdered ex-prime minister Rafiq
Hariri. She is a Georgetown graduate and reckons three more Hiz-bollah
buildings will be bombed in her city. The Israelis have just bombed a
Hizbollah mosque. Cody and I mosey over to take a look at the crushed
cupola, and the local Lebanese "Squad 112" – a kind of paramilitary
police – arrive to shoo us away.

We race back to Beirut, joining the coastal highway south of the
city. It is a bleak, desolate, empty road and we watch the sky,
detouring round the airport, the air filled with smoke from burning
oil tanks and the vibration of another massive Israeli bomb on the
southern suburbs just as we pass.

Monday 24 July

To southern Lebanon on a humanitarian convoy. No problems as far as
Zahle in the Beka’a – though we pass Cody’s "terrorist" flour truck, a
missile hole through the cab door – and then turn south towards Lake
Qar-aaoun. A bright, wonderful day of sun and fluffy clouds, and then
the scream of highflying jets.

We watch the skies again. I’m becoming an expert on light and cumulus
clouds.

In the middle of a field of tomatoes, I see a London bus. I turn to
the driver. "Isn’t that a London bus?" I ask, like the man who sees
the sheep in atree in Monty Python. "Yes, that’s a London bus." It
is. It’s a bloody great bright red Routemaster double decker. In the
Beka’a Valley. In Lebanon. During the war.

Seventeen miles south and the road is blown up, craters in the middle
and narrow tracks on the edge for our vehicles to pass. One Israeli
bomb has blown away most of the road above a 60ft chasm and it reminds
me of that scene in North West Frontier where Kenneth More has to
manoeuvre a steam locomotive over a blown-up railway bridge, on which
the tracks are still connected but there’s nothing underneath. More
turns to Lauren Bacall and says: "Of course, it’s one of my hobbies,
driving trains over broken railway bridges."

We inch forward along the narrow section of road and the stones spit
out beneath our wheels. The vehicle starts to lean to the right and I
lean to the left. So does the driver. Then we are across and turn our
heads like wolves to see how the second driver copes. North of Khiam,
I can see fires burning in the forests of northern Israel and smoke
drifting from Metullah, and hear the thump of shells into
Lebanon. Great weather. Pity about the war.

Tuesday 25 July

I prowl around Marjayoun, the Christian town wedged between two slices
of Hizbollah territory. This was the headquarters of Israel’s brutal
"South Lebanese Army" proxy militia, and there are still a lot of
ex-SLA men here, all with Lebanese mobile phones, but a few of them, I
suspect, with Israeli ones. No shells fall on Marjayoun – not yet – so
the locals gather at Rashed’s Restaurant (yes, there is a restaurant
open in southern Lebanon, serving kebabs and cold beer) and watch the
war. You can sit on the ridge and hear tank fire, Katyusha fire, bombs
from jets and bombs from helicopters. Far across the valley, beside
the old fort at Khiam, there is a UN post where four unarmed UN
observers are watching the battle at first hand, reporting each shell
burst.

Wednesday 26 July

Indian UN soldiers bring what is left of the four observers to the
run-down hospital in Marjayoun. All day they had been reporting
Israeli shellfire creeping closer to their clearly marked position. An
officer in the UN’s headquarters at Naqoura phoned the Israelis 10
times to warn them of their fall of shot, and 10 times he had been
promised that no more shells would fall close to the Khiam post.

But the four soldiers did not run away – as the Israelis presumably
hoped they would – and so yesterday evening an Israeli aircraft flew
down and fired a missile directly into their UN position, tearing the
four brave men to pieces and flattening their building. I notice that
they are brought to the hospital in unwieldy black plastic bags,
apparently decapitated. One of the Indian soldiers is wearing a
turban, painted the same pale blue as the UN flag.

The schools of the region are now crammed with refugees, white flags
on the roofs. I go to a classroom where 15 Shia families are squatting
on the floor.

The lavatories are blocked, the place stinks of urine. "What are you
doing to us?" a dark-haired man with a heavily lined face asks me
quietly. How should I reply? Well, my Prime Minister doesn’t think
it’s time for a ceasefire just yet, but he promises to give you acres
of freedom and lots and lots of democracy and a new dawn later
on. But no truce right now, I’m afraid. In other words, you’ve had
it, chum. No. I just remain silent and say "Haram" in Arabic. It
means shame or pity, depending on the context, which I am happy to
leave vague.

Thursday 27 July

I sit with a French friend on a small hill, looking across southern
Lebanon at dusk, watching aircraft swooping like eagles on to patches
of scrub and blasting rocks and trees into the air. To our left,
Israeli artillery is ranged on to a house this side of Khiam. Te first
shell bursts in a bubble of flame and there is a double report, then a
barrage – a pillonage, as my friend calls it in his more powerful
French – of fire consumes the house and we can see bits of it high in
the air, then more bubbles and eventually a grey cloud of smoke covers
the wreckage.

"My God, I hope there was no one in there," my friend says. We may
never know. All over southern Lebanon, the dead are sandwiched between
the floors of bombed houses. We discuss the language of war, and
discover that most of the French words for battle and death are
feminine.

To Nabatea at lunchtime, a few shops bravely open amid the rubble of
houses on the main road, a market blasted across the fields (a
terrorist market, I hear Cody’s spirit announcing) and then, just by
Arab Selim, a plane puts a bomb on the bridge in front of our vehicle
and we beat a hasty retreat from this unpleasant ambuscade and return
to the sanctuaire of our little house on the hill. Mosquitoes at
night, a bare mattress on the marble floor, a dirty pillowcase to
sleep on.

Friday 28 July

At 3am, a huge bombardment starts across the valley over Beaufort
Castle, the massive Crusader keep to the west. Captured by Saladin in
1190, handed over to the Knights Templar – the neo-conservatives of
their age – in 1260, besieged on one occasion by a Muslim army which
asked to negotiate with Beaufort’s commander and then tortured him in
front of its defenders, it looms over us as 46 shells ripple across
the next-door village of Arnoun.

My mobile phone rings. An American journalist is walking south of
Tibnin towards the Hizbollah-Israeli battle at Bint Jbail – a wise
precaution because all cars are now prey to Israel’s eagles – and has
found two wounded Druze men lying by the road. One of them cannot
stand. She has no car. Can I help? I am 15 miles away. "Can I tell
them they will be rescued?" Don’t lie to them, I say. Tell them you
will try to get help. I promise to call the Red Cross.

I phone Hisham Hassan at the ICRC in Beirut and tell him the precise
location. Both men are lying by a smashed roadside stall with an
orange flag in the ground, a kilometre past a road sign which says
"Welcome to Beit Yahoun" and next to a huge bomb crater. Hisham
promises to call the Tibnin Red Cross ambulance centre. Ten minutes
later, I get a text message: "Red Cross on the way." Angels from
heaven.

I start my way back to Beirut on another convoy, grinding back over
the same dangerous roads and past the same bomb craters. There are new
ones, and a man shouts that we must detour down a dirt track. "Big
rocket on road," he says, and that’s good enough for me. We trail past
an old, tree-shrouded cemetery.

Three hours later, we stop for sandwiches in a Christian town, among
people who traditionally despise Hizbollah. I find that they are all
watching Hizbollah’s station, and when I talk to them, an old man says
he believes Hizbollah tells the truth.

Saturday 29 July

Home. I shower and sleep in my own bed and hear the wash of the
Mediterranean on the rocks below my window. Fidele has recovered her
courage and has returned to clean and cook. I receive a call from a
Turkish journalist to talk about the 1915 Armenian genocide – a lot
grimmer than this little war – and do an interview with a New Zealand
television crew who are about to set off for southern Lebanon with
"TV" written in giant silver letters on the roof of the car. I don’t
think it will help them.

A call from DHL. Proofs of the paperback edition of my book have
arrived from London. Someone drove them and DHL’s other parcels from
Amman to Damascus and then – beneath the jets – across the Beka’a to
Beirut. I get a bill for $30 for the extra risks involved in the
freight transit. Then go through my notes of the week for this
diary. I find that my handwriting briefly collapsed after the air
attack on Thursday. I was so frightened that I could hardly write.

I sit on the balcony and read Siegfried Sassoon. Cody also reads to
calm himself in war. But Cody reads Verlaine.

Today, Azerbaijan
July 29 2006

Armenians violate cease-fire regime, one Azeri soldier killed

30 July 2006 [04:58] – Today.Az

Armenians violated the cease-fire once again.

Azerbaijan defence Ministry press service told APA that on July 28
Armenian Armed Forces’ units fired on Azerbaijani Army’s positions
from their positions in 3.5km northwest of Jerabert village of Terter
by machine and submachine guns from 2010 to 2030 hrs.

On Saturday at 1130 hrs Armenian Armed Forces violated the cease-fire
in Terter region. A solider of Azerbaijani Army was shot dead.

Defense Ministry pres service told APA that solider Ismayilov Galib
Movlud was killed during violation of the cease-fire. He had been
drafted by Khachmaz Military Registration office in July, 2005.

URL:

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

July 28, 2006
___________________

ARMENIAN STUDENTS REWARDED FOR COMMUNITY WORK

This year 63 undergraduate students from 15 states applied for college
scholarships distributed by the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America
(Eastern).

The money is available thanks to donors who have established endowment funds
to provide such scholarships to young Armenians who have taken an active
interest in the Armenian Church.

(The Diocese encourages others to establish such funds by contacting
Berjouhi Saladin at the Armenian Church Endowment Fund, via e-mail at
[email protected].)

Rec ipients had to be U.S. citizens, and priority was given to those who have
been most active in the life the Armenian Church community, those in
financial need, and those who had done well academically. Recommendations
from pastors and parish lay leaders were also taken into consideration.

This year the Diocese was able to give $500 scholarships to 23 college
students.

"These young people have given of their time and skill to better their local
Armenian Church community," said Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate.
"They are the future of our community, and we can see from their devotion
and service that we are encouraging our youth to live as part of the
Armenian Church."

HOLOPIGIAN MEMORIAL FUND

Receiving funds from the George Holopigian Memorial Fund, the largest
scholarship fund distributed by the Diocese, were:

Shant Broukian, son of Raphael and Astgik Broukian of Watertown, MA, a
senior at Boston University studying psychology and biology. He has been
active in the ACYOA chapter of the St. James Church of Watertown, MA, and
been a member of the parish’s junior choir. Most recently, he has begun
training as a deacon.

Gregory Dalakian, son of Martin and Nancy Dalakian of Parsippany, NJ, a
junior at the University of Delaware studying music education. He has
served as the assistant choir director in his home parish of St. Mary Church
of Livingston, NJ, where he has also been a sub-deacon and led performances
during parish events. He has also served as a counselor and director of
dramatic studies for the Diocese’s St. Vartan Camp and served as chairman of
his parish’s ACYOA Jrs. chapter. He is a past participant in the St.
Nersess Seminary summer programs.

Marisa Kelegian, daughter of Fr. Yeprem and Yn. Judy Kelegian of Racine, WI,
a senior at Drake University studying music performance. She has been an
ACYOA Jrs. Chairman, an ACYOA Srs. member and Assembly delegate, has
performed as a musician in her home parish of St. Mesrob Church of Racine,
WI, and has served as a counselor at the Diocese’s Midwest Hye Camp. She is
a flutist.

Tatevik Khoja-Eynatyan, son of Leon Khoja-Eynatyan and Narine Petrosyan of
North Bethesda, MD, a freshman at the Peabody Conservatory of John Hopkins
University studying music performance. He has been an active member of the
Narek Bell Choir of the St. Mary Church of Washington, D.C. and has also
performed with the Armenian Chorale of Greater Washington.

Taleen Kupelian, daughter of Krikor Kupelian and Gilda Buchakjian-Kupelian,
of Ft. Lee, NJ, a sophomore at Fairleigh Dickinson University studying
humanities and education. She has graduated from several Armenian
religious, linguistic, and cultural education programs and has taken
leadership roles in Armenian youth organizations and has taught Sunday
School.

Lori Manukoglu, daughter of Berch and Talin Manukian of Cliffside Park, NJ,
a sophomore at Babson College studying business administration. She is a
graduate of the Diocese’s Khrimian Lyceum program, and recipient of its Role
Model Award. She has also taught Sunday School at the Holy Cross Church of
Armenia in upper Manhattan and has served as an assistant to the Khrimian
Lyceum program in Boston.

Valerie McQueen, daughter of Eric and Arpine (Nakashian) McQueen of Jackson,
NJ, a sophomore at Boston University studying communications. She served as
vice president of the ACYOA chapter and as an altar server at the St.
Stepanos Church of Elberon, NJ, and also has volunteered as proofreader for
Diocesan publications.

Sossie Nalbandian, daughter of Fr. Zenob and Yn. Hasmig Nalbandian of
Windham, NH, a junior at the University of Massachusetts studying business.
She has been a member of the ACYOA Srs., a choir member, and organist. She
has also taught Sunday and Armenian school.

Christine Quinn, daughter of Karl and Nancy (Khachian) Quinn of Fairfield,
CT, a sophomore at the Rhode Island School of Design studying illustration.
She has been active in the Church of the Holy Ascension of Trumbull, CT,
serving as an ACYOA Jrs. officer, a choir member, and active member of the
Sunday and Armenian Schools. She has also been involved in the Armenian
Students Association.

Harout Sahagian, son of Hagop and Ani Sahagian of New Milford, NJ, a
freshman at Montclair State University studying biology. He has been an
ACYOA member and altar server at the St. Leon Church of Fair Lawn, NJ. This
year he will be a staff member of St. Vartan Camp, after serving as a
counselor-in-training for the past few years. He has also attended the St.
Nersess Seminary Summer Sessions and plays basketball for the St. Leon
parish team.

Lisa Salbashian, daughter of Nazareth and Azniv Salbashian of Ft. Lee, NJ, a
junior at Rutgers University. A member of the St. Thomas Church of Tenafly,
NJ, she has been active in the Armenian Club at Rutgers and has worked on
the Times Square Genocide Commemoration.

Onnig Terzian, son of Fr. Aved and Yn. Vivian Terzian of West Boylston, MA,
a junior at Georgetown University studying finance and international
business. He has been an altar server, Sunday School teacher, Armenian
School assistant teacher, and ACYOA member in his home parish of the Church
of Our Saviour in Worcester, MA.

Aleen Tovmasian, daughter of Mania and Thomas Tovmasian of Ft. Lee, NJ, a
sophomore at Barnard College of Columbia University studying sociology and
Italian. She has been active in the ACYOA chapter of the St. Thomas Church
of Tenafly, NJ, and the Tekeyan AYO. She has also attended St. Nersess
Seminary Summer Sessions.

OTHER SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS

Several other endowment funds also provide money for college scholarships.
They include the Adrina Movsesian Scholarship Fund, the Armine Dikijian
Journalism Scholarship Fund, the Mabel Fenner Scholarship Fund, Dikran and
Nevart Dadourian Scholarship Fund, Joseph and Eve Gorvetzian Scholarship
Fund, Louie Cefalu Scholarship Fund, and the Astrid Hatabian Zolas
Scholarship Fund.

Receiving $500 each from these funds this year are:

Aram Babikyan, son of Jirair and Carol Babikyan of Belmont, MA, a junior at
the University of Massachusetts studying business administration. He has
been active in both ACYOA Jrs. and Srs. at his home parish, the St. James
Church of Watertown, MA. A Sunday School graduate, he then served as an
assistant teacher.

Alexa Diranian, daughter of Richard Diranian and Karen Kazanjian Diranian of
Arlington, MA, a sophomore at Providence College studying psychology. She
has been chair of the ACYOA at the St. James church in Watertown, MA, and
also its parish Sunday and School, where she has served as assistant to the
superintendent. She has also worked as a counselor for St. Vartan Camp. On
campus, she has been involved in the campus ministry programs.

Natalie Jamian, daughter of Gregory and Sandra Jamian of Bloomfield, MI, a
freshman at Michigan State University studying science. A former chair of
the ACYOA chapter at her home parish, the St. John Church of Southfield, MI,
she has attended the St. Nersess Seminary Summer Conferences. She has also
been a volunteer at the parish’s summer day camp and at the Midwest Hye
Camp.

Andrew Kayserian, son of Tamar and Hampar Kayserian of Flushing, NY, a
sophomore at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute studying biomedical
engineering. A Sunday School teacher at his home parish, the Church of the
Holy Martyrs in Bayside, NY, he has also led extracurricular activities at
the Diocesan Khrimian Lyceum program.

Jacqueline Kazarian, daughter of Michele Kazarian and Kenneth Kazarian of
Rumford, RI, a sophomore at Barnard College of Columbia University studying
Latin and Greek. She has volunteered at the Nubarashen Orphanage in
Armenia. She also has taught Sunday School and been active in the ACYOA at
her home parish of Sts. Sahag and Mesrob in Providence, RI.

Arousiag Markarian, daughter of Siranoush Markarian of Forest Hills, NY, a
junior at the City College of New York studying biomedical science. She has
been a class representative for the American Medical Students Association
and has been active in Armenian youth programs and has performed as a
soloist in local Armenian churches. She also volunteered with the Land and
Culture Organization and served as a youth delegate representing the
Republic of Armenia at a youth meeting organized by the United Nations.

Matthew McGann, son of John and Linda McGann of Fairfield, CT, a sophomore
at Stonehill College in North Easton, MA, studying communications. A Sunday
School graduate, he is also an acolyte at his home parish, the Church of the
Holy Ascension in Trumbull, CT. He has also been a member of his parish’s
junior and regular choir and has been co-chairman of its ACYOA chapter.

Ani Nalbandian, daughter of Fr. Untzag and Yn. Setta Nalbandian, a sophomore
at the College of Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, studying in a pre-med
program. She has been an organist for her home parish of the Church of the
Holy Ascension in Trumbull, CT, and has studied through junior choir
leadership development program of the Association of Armenian Church Choirs
of America (AACCA). She has been an ACYOA delegate and co-chair of her
parish’s ACYOA Jrs. She has also taught in her parish’s Armenian School.

Margo Voskanian, daughter of Gevorg and Parkoohi Voskanian of Marlboro, MA,
a sophomore at the University of Massachusetts studying biology. She has
taught Sunday School at her home parish, the Church of the Holy Translators
in Framingham, MA, and has been a leader of her parish’s ACYOA. This spring
she participated in the Diocese’s "Alternative Spring Break," through which
college students traveled to southern states to build homes through Habitat
for Humanity. She is co-chair of the Armenian Club at her school.

Marianna Zargarian, daughter of Benjamin Zargarian of Fair Lawn, NJ, a
freshman at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey studying
speech-language pathology. An acolyte, she is also a Sunday and Armenian
School graduate from her home parish of St. Leon Church in Fair Lawn, NJ.
She is also a member of her parish’s basketball team, ACYOA Jrs. and choir.
She is also part of the Antranig Armenian Dance Ensemble.

— 7/28/06