Milena, First Grader

Milena’s favorite subject at school is math. She is a first grader attending the Khoren and Shooshanig  Avedisian School. Coming to school every day is a joy for her.

Her father, a deliveryman, suffers from severe joint pain and is unable to fully provide for the family of seven who all live in a partially built one floor home, which is in need of extensive renovations.  Her mother is unemployed and is the primary caretaker of the children and grandparents.

Constructed in the impoverished sector of Yerevan (Malatya-Sepastya), the School provides free education to 368 students in grades 1-11 and 50 kindergarteners. In June 2017 the School will be graduating its first class of eleventh graders bound for University or other higher education.Over the years, the school has won multiple academic awards, a testament to its excellence in education.  Noteworthy recent accomplishments include: four students placing second in the 10th Chess Olympiad for Armenian schoolchildren, essay of Zaven Antonyan (9th grade) was selected and sent to the Universal Postal Union in a competition of essays titled Write a letter to you at the age of 45 and the Avedisian School hosting a European Youth Parliament session.