"The girls of our homeland must not be forgotten; they deserve to stand fierce as the Armenian mythological feminist warrior Nane..." Original illustration by Anahit of Erebuni
“The girls of our homeland must not be forgotten; they deserve to stand fierce as the Armenian mythological feminist warrior Nane…” Original illustration, used with permission, by Anahit of Erebuni
Sevana Panosian is an award-winning public school AP English teacher and master teacher through San Francisco State University’s Secondary Education program. She holds an MFA in writing, among other credentials. Reflecting on the need for trained educators in Armenian schools, she left public education and for a time served her local Armenian school in San Francisco as an instructional and outreach coordinator, as well as a middle school English instructor. Currently, she is pursuing other projects and writing.
Great article Sevana! Do you by any chance collaborate with Larisa Hovannisian of Teach for Armenia? If not happy to make the introduction. Ultimately, it will take incredible people like you and your husband moving to Armenia to increase the ranks of the talented change agents to get to a critical mass needed to transform the educational system. Fortunately there are entities like TUMO, Armat Labs, COAF, etc. that can all cone together and set and execute the agenda. It’s not a matter of funding. It’s a matter of enough competent, driven human beings like you to commit for a 5-10 year period and work in Armenia!
Hi Al, thank you for the post. Ultimately, it should not take moving to Armenia to do that. There are people in the diaspora quietly working and supporting the homeland – our friends at the ANCA and so many thousands of others. We cannot be helicopter parents to a country – it is not democratic, and it doesn’t achieve the ideal of a Democracy. It becomes a unilateral and reductive view to state that we should move to Armenia. That said, I do know the programs you mentioned and respect those who have moved there with their whole family to make positive and productive change. To go back and forth from the comfort of an American home is not always beneficial to the people of Armenia – although it has proven lucrative for many who have invested in Armenia. Thank you so much for what you do!
This is beautiful. Amazing work.
Great article Sevana! Do you by any chance collaborate with Larisa Hovannisian of Teach for Armenia? If not happy to make the introduction. Ultimately, it will take incredible people like you and your husband moving to Armenia to increase the ranks of the talented change agents to get to a critical mass needed to transform the educational system. Fortunately there are entities like TUMO, Armat Labs, COAF, etc. that can all cone together and set and execute the agenda. It’s not a matter of funding. It’s a matter of enough competent, driven human beings like you to commit for a 5-10 year period and work in Armenia!
Hi Al, thank you for the post. Ultimately, it should not take moving to Armenia to do that. There are people in the diaspora quietly working and supporting the homeland – our friends at the ANCA and so many thousands of others. We cannot be helicopter parents to a country – it is not democratic, and it doesn’t achieve the ideal of a Democracy. It becomes a unilateral and reductive view to state that we should move to Armenia. That said, I do know the programs you mentioned and respect those who have moved there with their whole family to make positive and productive change. To go back and forth from the comfort of an American home is not always beneficial to the people of Armenia – although it has proven lucrative for many who have invested in Armenia. Thank you so much for what you do!