Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Student brings Armenian heritage to light

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Student brings Armenian heritage to light

    Branford Review, CT
    March 1 2005

    Student brings Armenian heritage to light
    By: John Rook, Staff Writer03/01/2005

    BRANFORD - At the beginning of every year, Branford High School holds
    its annual "parade of nations," a celebration of the different ethnic
    backgrounds of each student in the school. One by one, the flags of
    various nations are brought before the student body, later to be
    displayed in the student cafeteria for all to see. It is a way,
    officials claim, to encourage students to embrace cultural diversity
    and to explore their own heritage.
    But every year, for four years, when the flags have been paraded by,
    one student has felt a little left out. Senior Charlotte Coulter, 18,
    has watched as each flag, with their brilliant colors and unique
    symbols, has been hung in the cafeteria with honor and pride. All the
    flags of her peers. All the flags, except hers.
    Coulter's ethnic background is Armenian, less common among her
    classmates than, say, Irish heritage, and thus lost in the litany of
    nations represented in the display. For four years, Coulter has dealt
    with that omission. This year, however, the senior decided to do
    something about it.
    On Feb.18, Coulter added her family's flag to the school display as
    the senior presented the school with the Armenian flag, to be hung
    along side the other symbols of her classmates heritage. The flag
    presentation was a part of Coulter's senior exhibit, where Coulter
    focused on Armenian history and how it has been covered by the world
    media over the years.
    "I wanted to explore my own heritage and educate other people about
    it," said Coulter. "I knew something about my background, but I
    really wanted to focus on something specific and see how that
    information has evolved."
    BHS history teacher James Patella, who has worked with Coulter in
    Model Congress, applauded her for her dedication in bringing to light
    a little known culture that is rarely studied by most students.
    "She is one of our best," said Patella. "She approached this like she
    does everything else. She is just one of the most genuine, good
    people you will meet."
    Assistant Principle David Maloney also praised Coulter and her
    presentation. Maloney, who organizes the parade each year, stated
    that the event had become an emotional one for many students, who
    could be found crying when their flag passed by.
    "We are absolutely thrilled. She chose to research this and she did a
    remarkable job. This display is a symbolic representation of all the
    ethnic backgrounds of the High School community. We don't want the
    students to give up their heritage when they come through the doors,
    we want them to embrace it," said Maloney.
    Specifically, Coulter focused on the media coverage of the Armenian
    genocide of 1915. On April 24, 1915, commemorated worldwide by
    Armenians as Genocide Memorial Day, hundreds of Armenian leaders were
    murdered in Istanbul after being summoned and gathered by the "Young
    Turks" government, hell bent on extinguishing the Armenian race.
    Thousands of Armenians were raped, starved, dehydrated, murdered and
    kidnapped along "death marches," orchestrated by Turkish officials.
    In total, more than 6,000 Armenians were killed.
    What amazed the senior most, when researching the project, was how
    little was now known about the tragedy that affected millions of
    people.
    "For my grandparents' generation, this was common knowledge," said
    Coulter. "Everyone knew something about it because it received a lot
    of coverage. Now, however, I was shocked to learn how few people know
    about this time in history. I was amazed how much information had
    been lost over the years."
    That, for Coulter, made researching, and eventually presenting her
    findings to her classmates all the more important. It proved to the
    senior that much of history could not be found in history text books,
    but rather could be uncovered by hard work.
    Though Coulter will not have the opportunity to see her flag paraded
    before the school at the beginning of next year, she will see it
    displayed everyday in the cafeteria. That, in itself, was worth the
    project
    "Just to know that it is up there, hanging up there, is a nice
    feeling," said Coulter. "I feel a lot of pride when I think about that."



    __________________________________
    Do you Yahoo!?
    Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more.
    http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250
Working...
X