On Saturday, the 14th of November 2010, at 10:00 AM, the educational journalism students� group of the Armenian Catholic Mesrobian High School organized, in �Farajian� auditorium, a one-day seminar dealing with the subject �Let�s preserve together our traditional heritages as well as the national and spiritual values�.

The students who participated in this seminar were from 7th to 9th grade classes and were representing the Tarouhy-Hovaguimian School, Armenian Evangelical College, Vahan Tekeyan School, St. Hripsimiantz College, St. Agnes High School, Armenian Evangelical Peter and Elizabeth Torossian School, Armenian Evangelical Central High School, Kevork Harboyan Armenian Catholic High School, Armenian Evangelical Shamlian Tatigian Secondary School and Armenian Catholic Mesrobian High School.


After the Lebanese and Armenian national anthems, Tsoline Shahinian made a welcoming speech. And in the name of the students� group, Cynthia Arapguirian made a speech by saying that this seminar aims at creating among the Armenian students an enthusiastic and encouraging atmosphere with regard to the national values. Arapguirian affirmed that the Armenian students are obliged to preserve their cultural heritage.

After the special presentation given by Marina Kassis and Helena Yemenian, the participants along with Sako Gudjelian filled in a questionnaire treating of these subjects and the results will be published later on.


Then, the video tape introducing the ancient Armenian heritage was shown. After that, the first lecturer of the day Armen Urneshlian made a speech treating of a subject entitled �Our language guarantees our existence�. The lecturer talked first about the place occupied by the Armenian language among the other languages as well as its importance. After that he affirmed that the Armenian language is the fifth oldest language among the living languages. Urneshlian added by saying that each student masters the Armenian language and is in charge of its preservation with regard to its past and present history and must take action in this direction. Armen Urneshlian said �the rainbow is beautiful with its colors and we are one of its colors�.

Then, some pictures of precious stones relating to the Armenian culture were shown. The second subject of the seminar was entitled � The importance of preserving the spiritual values � of which treated Father Vartan Kazandjian who gave an illustrated presentation of the details that form the spiritual character of a person. Father Kazandjian emphasized that human beings must be patient when facing troubles because patience is also a spiritual value. Father Vartan Kazandjian said that the spiritual values are invisible and are intangible but they need mental nourishment in order to grow and to develop.


The lunch break was followed by teamwork. The students who were divided into five groups studied different themes and then they presented all these to all the participants.

The last lecturer of the seminar was Zakar Keshishian who treated of a subject entitled � How can the Armenian student preserve his values? �. He said that the atmosphere created by the seminar is encouraging and the work done by the organizers is appreciable. Zakar keshishian mentioned that the national identity is first of all a cultural aspect and the fatherland as well as being Armenian are fundamental values. He added by saying that the ties with the native country must be alive, healthy, conscious and studied. Keshishian said that the students must first have knowledge of their riches, appreciate all that by living it and introducing the foreigners to it.


After talking about the work done by Mesrobian students� group, Tsoline Shahinian ended her speech by saying that the seminar was aiming at gathering students from the Armenian schools around the national agenda and already the presence of many schools created that enthusiasm and realized the fixed aim. She added by saying that the students who participated in this seminar must transmit to the Armenian students their acquired knowledge as well as the atmosphere of the seminar. At the end of her speech, Tsoline Shahinian was thankful to all the school administrators who responded to the group�s invitation.

At the end of the seminar dedicated to the ancient Armenian values, the Armenian Catholic Mesrobian High School principal Gregoire Kaloust made the closing speech by saying that being an Armenian in itself is pride and happiness because the Armenians are people having a valuable history. Kaloust affirmed that during the seminar the collective work done by the gathered students coming from different schools is a positive and a good aspect and the seminar must not stop here but it must continue by transmitting the knowledge and the points of view to others.

At 5:00 PM in the afternoon, the one-day seminar ended in a lively and encouraging atmosphere.