Love for Erebuni school in Belmont

Published: Saturday May 14, 2011

After a full week of school, sports, and extra-curricular activities, most kids just want to wake up and watch cartoons all Saturday morning. That's not the case for more than 70 students of the Erebuni Armenian School in Belmont. These kids wake up bright and early every single Saturday to go to school, and not by force. Students happily admit they look forward to Armenian school every week, which they say has much more to offer than a typical, boring classroom.

For Phillip Petrossian, going to Armenian school is all about being a part of the community. "It's a good environment here where we get to learn about our Armenian language and culture, but we're also able to get together with all of our Armenian friends and it's a lot of fun."

According to principal, Armine Medzorian, the Erebuni School takes pride in the fact that they offer their students a very hands-on approach to learning. I caught up with some of the students doing an arts and crafts project in preparing for the Easter holiday. Medzorian says, "We teach our students the Armenian traditions and holidays in engaging and interactive ways. For Zatik, we showed the students what a traditional Armenian Easter table looks like, by spreading an Easter table, where the parents, teachers and children celebrated Easter together." Each classroom also exhibited their Easter Projects on the table. The bright spring colors on display were resonant of the smiles and laughter spreading throughout the room of ecstatic students, parents and teachers who had all gathered for the festivities.

"There isn't a single thing I could complain about," said a beaming Marine Mkhitaryan-Noble. "There's always something entertaining going on here for the kids, they always have activities and most importantly the work they do here is amazing. The teachers are wonderful." Noble says her daughter, Sophia, is only half Armenian. "The reason I bring my daughter to this school is for the education. We speak English at home, but here at the school she speaks Armenian. She has Armenian friends, and she looks forward to coming here every week to spend quality time with them and to speak Armenian with them."

Nelli Harutyunyan, who teaches the third grade, has been working at the school for 10 years. "The language is so important. Our kids must speak Armenian. We as a people must maintain our language and here at Erebuni we try to instill that in our students." The language is taught in the Eastern dialect of the Armenian language, which Medzorian says makes the Erebuni School unique. "We are in touch with the Ministry of Education in Armenia to obtain the latest didactic and educational materials. We live in times when the ties between the Diaspora and Armenia are very strong. The knowledge of Eastern Armenian is getting critical, no matter if you are western-speaking or eastern."

All of the Erebuni teachers have a background in education, and they are all natives of Armenian, some having been teachers there for many years. Naira Arsenyan teaches the sixth grade. "What we are doing here with our students is keeping our Armenian traditions alive, and passing them down to the next generation. I really love kids and I'm happy to be able to pass down my knowledge to them."

For students like Eva Medzorian, the teachers' enthusiasm and passion for teaching is what really allows the students to come together at Erebuni as one community. "The school is so great. It's such a fun environment, and we're all part of such a loving and welcoming community here. More than that we're like a family and I love that our teachers are such a big part of that. I can tell they really like teaching us." Her friend Elaine Hovsepian agrees. "What I love about this school is there are just warm hearts everywhere." As everyone gathers around the Easter table, nothing is more obviously on display.

At Erebuni, the Armenian language and culture are taught not only in the classroom but also through music, dance, poetry, games and theatre. This year, the school also started "Zangakner," a performing arts group in which children are able to participate and learn many traditional and modern Armenian songs and dance. The school is constantly planning fun events and fundraisers for the Armenian community. On May 14th, the "Zankagner" group will perform at the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Armenia hosted by the Erebuni School. All are invited to attend the free event to be held at 6pm in the Holy Cross Armenian Church in Belmont.

Erebuni Armenian School continues to grow. Currently located at Plymouth Congregational Church in Belmont, school hours are from 10am to 12:45pm each Saturday from September to June. To learn more about the school, visit their website www.erebunischool.org, or simply stop by. Their doors and hearts are always open and they're looking to enroll new students to be a part of their community.

Satenik Karapetyan
Student at Emerson College