YEREVAN and NEW YORK — “Do your best when fulfilling anything; live having self-respect and remember that failure is not defeat yet; moreover, it is a lesson for not stumbling on your path ahead” said Dr. Vartan Gregorian in his address to the Avedisian School students and Teachers. Gregorian, Aurora Global Humanitarian Award co-founder and Selection Committee member, and president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, visited the AMAA Khoren and Avedisian School in Yerevan on October 23 accompanied by School Benefactors Edward and Pamela Avedisian.
After giving a brief overview of his respectable scientific and public path in the past, Gregorian answered the audience’s diverse questions, such as his views on school, education, philanthropy, and volunteering. Some of the questions were about his Armenian childhood and family and his ties with the Homeland.
“You owe it to yourself to make Armenia become the strongest country in education, banking, new technologies, medical and other priority areas. So, whatever you do in life, do your best. Live in self-respect; accept any failure not as a defeat but as a lesson on your path. Learn and enjoy the opportunities you have. And, remember that the future of the Armenian people is in your hands,” added Gregorian.
As a result of this year’s Aurora Awards organizers’ selections, three of the volunteers chosen to assist the Ceremony represented Avedisian School – two twelfth graders Gohar Varderesyan and Aleksander Mnatsakanyan, and alumna Milena Galstyan, who performed their volunteer work with excellence.