Tewksbury Memorial High School students learn about Armenian Genocide

Ara Jeknavorian and Tom Vartabedian, representatives from the Armenian Genocide Education Committee, spoke recently at Tewksbury Memorial High School on “The Forgotten Genocide: Armenia 1915-1923,” according to Lowell Sun.

Jeknavorian is a research scientist and independent consultant serving the concrete construction industry. In addition to his professional career, he is an ardent and passionate student of Armenian history and co-chairs the Armenian National Committee of the Merrimack Valley, a grass-roots advocacy group for the welfare of worldwide Armenian communities.

Vartabedian is an award-winning writer and photographer, and a regular contributor to numerous Armenian and non-Armenian newspapers and journals. He is an instructor at the St. Gregory Armenian School in North Andover, serves on the board of directors of Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives Inc., and is past chair of the Armenian Genocide Commemorative Committee of the Merrimack Valley.

Sophomores in Donna Boudreau-Hill’s World Studies class are currently studying World War I and the atrocities of the Armenian Genocide. They grasped at the words of Jeknavorian and Vartabedian to try to understand this tragedy.

Jeknavorian and Vartabedian left the TMHS library with three books related to the Armenian Genocide studies.