Hamazkayin hosts Petag, a Western Armenian immersion camp

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Children from across the country logged onto Zoom this summer with community leaders from the Hamazkayin-Eastern Region to learn and play in Western Armenian at Petag Virtual Camp.

Petag is a unique immersion summer camp where Armenian youth ages 10-14 learn Western Armenian through fun interactive workshops, games, mealtime and playtime.

It was an amazing two weeks of learning, drawing, experimenting and talking Armenian. We felt immense joy and pride to meet wonderful and smart young Armenian children who want to put in the effort to speak and learn Armenian. During Petag virtual camp, we made new friends and met old ones.

Petag Virtual Camp was held from August 9-13 from 9am-11:30 am EST and August 16-20 from 9am-11:30 am PST. Both weeks of Petag had the same program in order to accommodate children in different time zones. Participants joined from the United States, Canada, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.

Every day Lorig Baronian opened the Zoom session by greeting the participants and introducing the five workshop leaders. Nareg Mesrobian joined the camp from Lebanon and entertained participants with games, presentations about Hamazkayin Forum and discussions about climate change and architecture around the world. Maral Massoyan Keshishian from New Jersey taught the children how to draw ostriches while explaining their characteristics. Dzovinar Hamakordzian from Detroit taught camp members about David of Sassoun, Sartarabad and the We Are Our Mountains monument through a knowledge game on Kahoot and honed their vocabulary through riddles. Ani Tchaghlasian from New Jersey led a cooking workshop, where participants prepared yummy desserts and a traditional Armenian cheese sandwich and learned about Lavash bread and different types of Armenian fruits. Dr. Shoghag Panjarian from Philadelphia led the science workshop with science experiments. Gali Jackmakjian joined from Washington DC to help with breakout sessions.

Months of meetings, planning and two weeks of virtual camp went by too fast. It was our pleasure to spend time and get to know our future generation. They are full of potential, and we hope to see them grow to be proud Armenians, to speak Armenian whenever they can and contribute to their communities.

Hamazkayin is planning for an in-person Petag Camp next year at Saint Raphaela Center in Haverford, Pennsylvania.