Los Angeles, CA – The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region continued its campaign to reach out to college students and provide them with information about the many opportunities available for current students and recent graduates to be involved in the Armenian Cause. Representatives of the ANCA-WR have visited with a number of college and university Armenian Student Associations and will continue to visit all college campuses in the western United States that have a significant Armenian American student population. The main purpose of these visits and presentations is to promote internship and employment opportunities in the nation’s capital.

ANCA-WR Executive Director Ardashes Kassakhian recently visited with students at the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles and the California State Polytechnic University in Pomona to speak to them about Armenian American concerns in Washington, DC and the state levels. Similar visits have occurred in Northern California where the San Francisco-Bay Area ANC has been working with students from the University of California, Berkeley campus. During his presentations, Kassakhian emphasized the importance of having young Armenian Americans work and intern in Washington, DC. On Friday, November 12, Kassakhian visited Victor Valley College to speak to participants in the Model United Nations who were representing the Republic of Armenia. The ANCA was invited to the college by Victor Valley College student and former ANCA-WR intern Kevork Kazanjian.

“Working for the Armenian Cause on your college campuses is great and very important. But if you bring that same energy to Washington, DC, you will have a multiplier effect. You’ll be influencing people who run the world,” emphasized Kassakhian, echoing a point often made by the ANCA-WR.

The ANCA launched the Capital Gateway Program which is designed to give qualified college students and graduates an opportunity to explore various part-time internship and full-time job opportunities in the nation’s capital. Through the years, the ANCA has developed many relationships in and around Capitol Hill and identified a wide range of opportunities in the Washington, DC area. The ANCA Capital Gateway Program is designed to utilize these resources and contacts to help candidates identify and secure a permanent position or part-time internship that fits their interests and needs. The program also offers short-term housing to certain qualified applicants.

In addition to the Gateway Program, ANCA representatives are promoting the ANCA Leo Sarkisian Summer Internship program which is now in its 20th year. The Leo Sarkisian Summer Internship program provides student leaders and activists an opportunity to participate in an eight week intensive program designed to give them the tools necessary to effectively advance issues of concern to the Armenian American community on the federal, state and local level. This program requires a separate application process than the Gateway Program.

To find out when ANCA representatives will be visiting your campus or to apply to either the Capital Gateway Program or the Leo Sarkisian Summer Internship, contact the ANCA-WR regional headquarters at (818) 500-1918 or by email at ancawr@anca.org.