“Visual Armenia” team attended history classroom opening ceremony in Gyumri primary school N15

On May 22, President of the Manoogian Simone Foundation, philanthropist Christine Simone, the major donor of the “Visual Armenia” Development Foundation, along with the Executive Director Hovhannes Ghazaryan and several team members participated in the opening event dedicated of history classroom in the primary school N15 of Gyumri city, in Shirak province. 

The need for renovation of the classroom was triggered by the victory of the school team in the “Smart-Displays for WorldView Schools 2023” competition, when they appeared on the list of 40 winning projects. After that  a modern classroom environment, which would allow to fully utilize the “WorldView” interactive program with the smart-display and facilitating group work became obvious. 

Laura Grkikyan, history teacher of the school and mentor-teacher of “WorldView” program, has been investing all her efforts since the inception of the program to engage at best and reap the maximum benefits for the students and the school. She led the winning project team that eventually earned the smartboard for the school and initiated the renovation with Seda Hambardzumyan the principal of the school. “I myself also studied in this very classroom: I was sitting  on the 4th seat in the middle row. It is very symbolic for me that the classroom is turning into a history classroom, where we have all the conditions to organize a comprehensive and complete teaching process”, said Laura Grkikyan. 

The entire school was involved in the organization of the opening ceremony event, including performances of national songs, dances, poetry, slide show presentation dedicated to Armenian National Hero, philanthropist Alex Manoogian and of course, quizzes using the smart-display.

Hovhannes Ghazaryan, Executive Director of the Foundation, noted that the competition of smart-displays was important not only from the perspective of the award itself, but also in terms of the experience gained during the implementation of the project and a united teamwork. “We – as a foundation, have adopted a mission to contribute to shaping a competitive human capital.The development and future of our country will depend greatly on how you will learn. Education is the very value that makes us much stronger than any material possession. Christine Simone, granddaughter of philanthropist Alex Manoogian, daughter of Louis Simone, is also with us today, who continues the work of her family and contributes greatly to the activities of the Foundation, by vividly showing us that good education not only paves way for personal well-being, but also makes one useful for others”, said Hovhannes Ghazaryan while addressing the students.

Christine Simone, the major donor of the Foundation, couldn’t resist her emotions when sharing her feeling that her grandfather and mother would have loved to have been there to see the performances of the children and witness the kind of success such investments like the Smart Board and WorldView Program can bring to education.

“Both my grandparents and my mother really believed in trying to do the best, even though they did not have the education that we have these days, as my grandfather came from Smyrna and my mother only had a bit of college. But they strived for excellence, they worked hard, always learning, always asking questions and both of them, their hearts were in Armenia. 

And maybe Hovhannes Ghazaryan pushes you to be the future of Armenia, but it is not to pressure. What we want is for you through tools, through education to be stimulated. We want you to find your talents. You all have different talents. You all will find different things and try to be excellent at whatever your talent is. And if you do that, you will achieve great things for the country. This is what my mother and grandfather tried to do and they did it”, said the major donor of the Visual Armenia Development Foundation, the President of the Manoogian Simone Foundation, philanthropist Christine Simone when addressing the students in the opening ceremony of the renovated history classroom of  N15 main school of Gyumri, in Shirak province. 

Initiatives like these are yet another proof that the “WorldView” program triggers a chain of changes.