Ralph and Savey Tufenkian
GLENDALE—The Armenian Educational Foundation’s Board of Directors and Scholarship Committee are pleased to announce the 2022 to 2023 Richard R. Tufenkian Scholarship Award recipients. Three $3,000 scholarships have been awarded to Armenian undergraduate students at accredited United States colleges or Universities. To qualify for this scholarship, students had to be of Armenian descent, have a minimum 3.0 GPA, show financial need, and be actively involved in the Armenian community.
In total, 50 applications were received for the Richard R. Tufenkian Scholarship. The committee diligently reviewed and selected the following three students.
Grigory Artazyan (San Francisco, CA)
Grigori Artazyan, was born and raised in Yerevan, Armenia 2002. He attended Phys Math high school in Armenia, where the curriculum is deeply based on Physics and Mathematics. Grigory is actively involved in Armenian community. He has been awarded as; the Most Active Volunteer of The Year – Armenian Volunteer Bank NGO. Grigory immigrated to the United States alone; to complete his studies while his parents stayed back in Armenia. He is a Sophomore student at the Minerva University majoring in Data Science and Statistics Major with a Minor in Artificial Intelligence with a 3.7 GPA.
Georgi has participated in numerous volunteering projects and activities including; a summer internship with the Camp Counselor: 3D Modeling Teaching Assistant, TUMO Center for Creative Technologies and coding interactive storytelling chatbots with Stanford and Berkeley University graduates, and conducting research about the Armenian Astrophysical Observatory. Grigory believes that the future of Armenia is strongly connected to its tech industry. “Armenia may lack natural resources such as oil and favorable geopolitical realities, it can be compensated through its human capital. Armenia’s economy should be driven by high technology and fueled by a high-level academic system. While this sounds more like a dream at this point, I am committed to contributing my best and ensuring that this dream becomes a reality”.
Grigori Balasanyan (Glendale, CA)
Grigori Balasanyan was born in Yerevan, Armenia. He graduated from Burbank High School with a 3.7 GPA. Grigori currently is a freshman at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, majoring in Composition. Grigoris achievements include 1st Degree Laureate, IX “Renaissance” International Music, and a Certificate of Merit, 40th Annual Festival of Young Composer.
Grigori is actively involved in the Arminian community. One of the most outstanding contributions to Armenina cultural heritage is his composition of the first children’s ballet of the Armenian music history called “The Bald Hedgehog”. Recorded by the Armenian State Symphonic Orchestra, conductor Sergey Smbatyan under the patronage off the former First Lady of Armenian Nouneh Sarkissian. Grigoris’ long-term goal is to become a world known Armenian composer and use his voice to advocate for Armenian on International platforms.
Mardanyan, Hayk (Washington, DC)
Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Hayk Mardanyan is a rising senior at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities with a 4.0 GPA. Hayk is pursuing his Bachelor’s degree in Science in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics (double-major), with minors in Computer Science and Statistics. The list of his academic achievements includes Recipient of the Global Excellence Scholarship at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Member of The National Society of Academic Excellence.
Hayks’ involvement in the Armenian community includes volunteering on Armenian Wikipedia, where he edits articles in Armenian, creates new ones, and translates content from the English and Russian versions of Wikipedia into Armenian. Hayk has already published two articles in prominent undergraduate academic journals, one of them being about the growth of the Armenian economy in 2017-2019. Hayk mentions that in the long run, he intends to return to Armenia and teach economics to pass on his knowledge of economics to young Armenians; while at the same time working in the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Armenia as an economic researcher.
The Richard R. Tufenkian Scholarship Fund was established by Ralph and Savey Tufenkian in memory of their son Richard. The $230,000 endowed fund has provided over $518,000 in scholarships since 1991. Currently, $14,000 in scholarships are awarded each year, including five full tuition scholarships for students attending public universities in Armenia.
AEF is most thankful to the Tufenkian Family for their commitment to helping Armenians globally through their philanthropy, unconditional love, and continued support of the education and advancement of Armenian youth in the United States and abroad.
As AEF looks with optimism toward the future, it hopes to be of even greater assistance to students of Armenian parentage pursuing higher education, as well as to continue providing financial help to institutions in Armenia, the United States and around the world.
Congratulations to the 2022 to 2023 Richard R. Tufenkian Scholarship Recipients.
The Armenian Educational Foundation is a non-profit organization, established in 1950, with the aim to render financial assistance to Armenian educational institutions, and to provide financial assistance to students of Armenian parentage.
To learn more about AEF and its programs please visit the website.