On February 16th, 2022, the group was able to get to know each other a little better through a fun activity. The interns were put into pairs and assigned different roles by the ANCA-WR Interim Executive Director, Verginie Touloumian and had the opportunity to practice their negotiation skills… Read more: Intern Sara Ohannessian Discusses the 4th and 5th Week of the Internship Program

Intern Mane Berikyan Recaps her first two weeks Lecture #1: Aram Hamparian On February 2nd, 2022, we were joined by ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian for a lecture on Armenian-American lobbying in the United States. Mr. Hamparian began by outlining the history of the Armenian-American lobby, beginning with… Read more: Intern Mane Berikyan Recaps her first two weeks

Celine Abrahamian On November 16, 2021, the start of the ninth week of the program, ANCA-WR Government Affairs Coordinators Edward Barsoumian and Ruben Karapetian joined our zoom to lead a training day. A few hours prior, Azerbaijan launched its largest attack on Armenia since last year, killing 15… Read more: ANCA-WR Fall 2021: Week 9-10

ANCA-WR Fall 2021: Week 7 and 8 Noris Serobyan ANCA WR Fall interns began week 7 by diving into the priceless cultural heritage of the Armenian people. As an opening to the week, the interns had the honor to welcome the mastermind behind Storydoc productions and the filmmaker… Read more: ANCA-WR Fall 2021: Week 7-8

Nare Nazaryan Tuesday, October 19, 2021: Dickran Khodanian The first meeting we had this week was a lecture from Mr. Dickran Khodanian, the former Communication Coordinator at the ANCA-Western Region. He attended California State University of Northridge, with a Bachelor’s degree in History and Armenian Studies, before receiving… Read more: ANCA-WR Fall 2021: Week 6-7

ANCA-WR Fall 2021: Week 4-5 Jibid Melkonian On Tuesday, October 5, the ANCA-WR interns met with a director of a prominent human rights organization, where they discussed several armed conflicts and the human rights situation around the world.  On Friday, October 8, interns had the privilege of meeting… Read more: ANCA-WR Fall 2021: Week 4-5

Michael Davtyan The Fall 2021 interns began their program with a group orientation on the first week via Zoom. We met the ANCA-WR staff Alex Galitsky, Armen Sahakyan, Edward Barsoumian, and Ruben Karapetian who pitched us their projects and what each intern would expect if assigned to their… Read more: ANCA-WR Fall 2021: Week 1-3

Lily Yeremyan Monday, August 9, 2021: Raffi Bedrosyan We started this week with a lecture from Mr. Raffi Bedrosyan. A civil engineer, writer, concert pianist, and philanthropist are just a few things that describe Bedrosyan. Born and raised in Istanbul, Bedrosyan presented about the Hidden Armenians in Turkey.… Read more: ANCA-WR Summer 2021: Week 9

Melanie Kasparian For this week, the ANCA-WR interns had the opportunity to meet with several inspiring lecturers who shared their insight and experiences in various avenues of advocacy work, from digital news producing to serving in government.  August 2: Sareen Habeshian Our first lecturer of the week was… Read more: ANCA-WR Summer 2021: Week 8

Sarineh Khatchikian We began Week 6 with a lecture by Shaunt Kevork, the Co-chair of the ANCA Professional Network. As a UCLA graduate with a background in chemical engineering, Shaunt shared with us his experiences with and recommendations for professional networking. The interns were first presented with an… Read more: ANCA-WR Summer 2021: Week 7

ANCA-WR Fall 2021: Week 2 Jibid Melkonian To start off the second week of the program, on Tuesday, October 5, interns met with a director of a prominent human rights organization who explained the organization’s work on human rights in the United States and around the world.  … Read more: (no title)

Areen Tazian To start off the fourth week of the program, on Monday, June 12, interns met with Board Member and Treasurer of the ANCA Western Region, Hermineh Pakhanians, who lectured about the incredible efforts of Near East Relief over the course of the Armenian Genocide, and the… Read more: ANCA-WR Summer 2021: Week 5

Arpine Kilinyan Tuesday July 6, 2021: Elizabeth Chouldjian Today, we met the Communications Director of the ANCA Washington DC Office, Elizabeth Chouldjian. We started off with introducing ourselves and sharing our expectations from the internship program. Interns demonstrated interest in running for a government position, in which we… Read more: ANCA-WR Summer 2021: Week 4

Victoria Topalian Monday, June 28 2021: Ara Khatchatourian, Editor of AsbarezOur week started off with a presentation from the editor of Asbarez, Ara Khatchatourian. He started off by explaining to us how the ANCA and Asbarez connect and what role they play with one another. The ANCA uses… Read more: ANCA-WR Summer 2021: Week 3

Vahe Krikorian On June 21, 2021, the first day of our second week for the internship, our speaker for the day was Dickran Khodanian the former communications director for ANCA Western Region. The Lecture focused on the Armenians of Javakhk, Georgia. We talked about the region’s early and… Read more: ANCA-WR Summer 2021: Week 2

Sirarpi Muradian Monday, June 14, 2021: First Day of our Internship Program Our very first daily meeting with all of the interns and staff members took place on June 13, 2021. The interns all introduced themselves and their backgrounds. Although we come from different places, we all care… Read more: ANCA-WR Summer 2021: Week 1

BY: Ruben Karapetian University of California, Berkeley: Political Science – Comparative Politics Our final week of the ANCA WR Internship began with a long awaited presentation by the WR’s own Communications Director, Alex Galitsky. Galitsky’s presentation described to the interns the multifaceted aspects of the ANCA’s communications strategy… Read more: ANCA-WR Internship Program Week 11

BY: Martin Makaryan UCLA, Political Science The tenth week of ANCA Western Region’s Summer Internship program was full of interesting meetings and lectures, great tweets aimed at uncovering the heinous nature and some of the countless wrongdoings of the Aliyev regime in Azerbaijan, as well as fun and… Read more: ANCA-WR Internship Program Week 10

BY: Mena Keshishzadeh UC Berkeley, Political Science Week 9 kicked off with ANCA-WR Board Member Gev Iskajyan’s lecture focused on elections and candidate endorsements. Iskajyan’s presentation allowed the interns to get a better understanding of the inner workings of a campaign and how priorities are set. He also… Read more: ANCA-WR Internship Program Week 9

BY: Kyle Hacopian University of California, Los Angeles Political Science & International Relations This past Monday the interns welcomed Nana Shakhnazaryan along with Anahit Aharonian and Federico Hairabedian of South America as guest speakers. Each of the guests presented extensively on their respective experiences and works. Nana’s presentation… Read more: ANCA-WR Internship Program Week 8