Seniors (L-R) Athena Baghdassarian, Sevana Baghdoyan, Harout Poghosyan, Sonia Darakjian and Irene Frias with Supt. Brian McDonald)
Parev means hello. That is the first word Superintendent Brian McDonald said last week when he addressed the audience of the second graduating class of the Armenian Academy at Blair High School in the Pasadena Unified School District.
By Jennifer Hall Lee
It was Thursday, the day before the official graduation ceremony for Blair High School and on this day the PUSD staff, friends and family were gathered in the rotunda of the Blair Middle School quad for the Last Bell Ceremony for the Blair High School Armenian Academy seniors.
On this day five seniors, all dressed in black and white, were going to be graduating with both the Blair International Baccalaureate diploma and as graduates of the Armenian Academy at Blair, which is two years old.
The day was beautiful. A light breeze blew the leaves of the red Japanese maple tree growing at the center of the rotunda, and three different lengths of fabric depicting the colors of the flag of Armenia adorned the columns.
The Blair Armenian Academy is a creation of the PUSD Superintendent and community members from the AGBU Vatche & Tamar Manoukian High. The Superintendent said “It has been three years since we sat down to try to find a way to bring this Armenian Academy program to our district” and he continued to say that “one of the key ingredients is that we kept an open mind.”
Maro Yacoubian, the Chair of the Armenian Academy Advisory Board for Blair Middle and High School led us through the Academy’s many accomplishments: enrolling students from 17 different cities, (and the enrollment will double next year); partnering with the Armenian Tree Project; and the Armenian Academy Choir joining the growing list of choirs within the PUSD, and this is the first year for the International Baccalaureate Armenian Literature course (the only other such course is in Armenia).
Dr. McDonald acknowledged the hard work of Dr. Elizabeth Blanco the PUSD Chief Academic Officer “she did the heavy lifting” and Blair Principal, Mr. Ibarra’s tireless effort to make sure the academy was supported.
In his warm remarks to the seniors he said, “You are pioneers. Think about what you’ve accomplished here. Think about the foundation that you laid for students who will follow you in the upcoming years. We are depending on you to go forth and do great things in the world.”
Loud applause erupted at the special thank you to the beloved Armenian Academy director and teacher, Mr. Norayr Daduryan who has been an important partner on the Armenian Academy team. He addressed the seniors in Armenian.
The ringing of the last bell, “vercheen zank” is an Armenian tradition. It symbolizes the end of one chapter and the start of the next.
The last bell was rung for the seniors and they were on their way.
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