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  • Glendale: Armenian clubs convene for a feast

    Glendale News Press, CA
    Jan 4 2008


    Armenian clubs convene for a feast

    Early celebration of Armenia's Jan. 6 Christmas coincides with their
    aim to thank area educators.

    By Angela Hokanson

    At a celebration filled with homemade food, gifts of library books
    and many thank-yous, Armenian students and parents expressed their
    appreciation for Glendale educators at an event Thursday that doubled
    as an early celebration of Armenian Christmas.

    It was the first time the Armenian clubs from four Glendale Unified
    School District high schools, as well as the Armenian Parents Club
    >From Crescenta Valley High School, met to hold this holiday
    appreciation event, said board of education president Greg Krikorian.

    The students wanted to thank the administrators at their schools for
    supporting their Armenian student clubs, said Talin Haroutonian, 18,
    co-president of the Armenian Club at Crescenta Valley High with his
    sister, Sarin.

    `This would never be possible without the help of the
    administration,' Sarin said.

    Vahik Satoorian, president of the Davidian/Mariamian Educational
    Foundation, thanked the school district for offering Armenian
    language classes and supporting the large number of Armenian students
    in Glendale public schools.

    `For us as Armenians, it's very important to stay Armenians,'
    Satoorian said.

    Parents from the Armenian Parents Club at Crescenta Valley High
    School prepared a feast of Middle Eastern dishes for the high school
    principals, assistant principals, district administrators and
    counselors.

    Arranged as a buffet were dishes like fesenjan, a stew made with
    walnuts and pomegranate juice; and gormesabzi, a beef dish seasoned
    with herbs, said Adrienne Moradkhanian, president of the Armenian
    Parents Club at Crescenta Valley High. advertisement


    The dishes come from Armenia and other places in the Middle East,
    Moradkhanian said.

    `Some of us, we come from Iran, some of us, we come from Lebanon,'
    she said.

    The parents made the time-consuming dishes to thank school district
    officials and to share their culture, said Ani Eskandarian, a parent
    in the Crescenta Valley High Armenian Parents Club.

    `First, we enjoy eating. And we enjoy seeing people eating,'
    Eskandarian said.

    Michele Doll and Cuauhtemoc Avila, two of the Glendale High School
    administrators, showed their appreciation by cleaning their plates.

    `We had their kebab and the rice and the tabouleh,' Doll said.

    `I would go back for seconds.'

    Fourth- and fifth-graders from Balboa Elementary School sang `Silent
    Night' in English, as well as two traditional songs in Armenian, and
    students from the Armenian Clubs at Glendale, Clark Magnet, Hoover
    and Crescenta Valley high schools presented several books on Armenian
    history and culture to the principals of their schools.

    The clubs had purchased the books to augment their school libraries.

    `It's heartwarming to see the students give back to the community,'
    Krikorian said.

    Medea Kalognomos, a board member with the Committee for Armenian
    Students in Public Schools, said it was important for students to
    occasionally step back and recognize the schools they attend.

    Armenian Christmas is celebrated on Jan. 6 because it is the original
    calendar date of the birth of Christ until the Romans moved the date
    to coincide with a pagan holiday on Dec. 25, said Henrietta
    Movsessian, a senior at Glendale High School and the student
    representative on the board of education.
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