GOOD NEWS

Ara Tekian, professor and associate dean of international education at the College of Medicine, is among recipients of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. The award is given to those who “have made it their mission to share with those less fortunate their knowledge, courage and compassion, while maintaining the traditions of their ethnic heritage as they uphold the ideals and spirit of America,” according to the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations, the group that gives the award.

Past recipients include six U.S. presidents, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Frank Sinatra, Elie Wiesel and Rosa Parks.

The 2017 awardees, who were honored May 13 in New York City, include astronaut Buzz Aldrin, cardiologist Annapoorna Kini and CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria.

Tekian was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He received his doctorate in neuroscience from the American University in Beirut in 1981 and earned a master’s in health professions education at UIC in 1983.

“This was a very unique degree at the time, and UIC was one of the only universities in the world to offer it,” Tekian said.

He returned to the Middle East that year and became the founding director of the medical education department at King Saud University College of Medicine in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He later consulted for the World Health Organization and the Ministries of Health and Education to ensure that medical schools in the Middle East were adequately preparing their students to provide care in their respective countries.

In 1990, with the civil war still ongoing in his native Lebanon, Tekian left the Middle East and moved to the U.S.

Tekian joined UIC in 1992 as a visiting assistant professor of medical education and was instrumental in building UIC’s international programs. Since then, he has consulted in more than 45 countries and helped establish more than a dozen medical education departments or centers.

“When I moved to the U.S., I knew that I wanted to do everything I could to help the Lebanese and Armenian communities that I joined here in America,” he said. “When you have a shared history with people, and when you are an immigrant yourself, you have a very strong desire to help your people.”

For Tekian, that desire took the form of assisting Armenian and Lebanese students seeking to further their medical education in this country. To them and their families, he became known as “the Contact Person.” His extensive contacts at universities in the U.S., the Middle East and Europe helped him direct students to educational opportunities in graduate and post-graduate work. He established the UIC College of Medicine’s International Medical Education Program in 2009.

“Dr. Tekian put UIC on the map in terms of medical education,” said Robert Barish, vice chancellor for health affairs. “He is one of the main reasons why we are known as innovators in medical education around the world.”

Tekian has been widely involved in the Armenian and Lebanese communities in Chicago and throughout the U.S. and holds many leadership roles. He has been active in the Armenian General Benevolent Union Chicago Chapter for the past two decades and served as chair of its Saturday School from 1994 to 2005. He has also served as president of the regional chapter of the alumni association of the American University of Beirut from 1997 to 2001, and president of its North American chapter from 2002 to 2004. Tekian served as president of the division of education in the professions of the American Educational Research Association from 2009 to 2012.

He is currently one of the 100 Pillars of the American University of Armenia, having donated generously to fund student scholarships. He has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support Armenian and Lebanese communities recovering from disasters, including the 1988 earthquake in Armenia.

Other awards include the 2012 Association for the Study of Medical Education Gold Medal Award, one of the most prestigious awards in medical education. In 2014, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Armenian American Medical Society, and in 2015 he was named Faculty of the Year by the UIC department of medical education.

https://news.uic.edu...is-island-award

The schoolgirls of Vahan Tekeyan Basic School in Karbi village of Armenia’s Aragatsotn Province have developed a mobile application which enables its users to learn the language of signs and freely interact with people with hearing loss The app is called “Armenian sign language”, which was created within Technovation program.

The program gave an opportunity to the Armenian schoolgirls aged 10-18 to develop mobile applications on the six topics – environmental protection, poverty, peace, equality, education and health.

“The “Armenian sign language” is a bilingual educational app. Everyone without age limitations can make use of the application, learning the language of signs and interacting with those who suffer hearing damage,” one of the schoolgirls of Karbi village Svetlana Davtyan said in an interview with Panorama.am.

The schoolchildren from No. 2 School of Ashtarak have developed an application aimed at raising the children’s awareness on internet safety. “The app features advices, hotline and help sections. Our target group is the children. But the adults can also use the app,” Ashtarak schoolgirl Tereza Tumanyan said.

To note, within the 12 weeks of the program, the groups of the schoolgirls involving up to 5 members, have studied one of the six topics in line with the objectives of the Sustainable Development, considered the issue in the context of their communities and developed a mobile application aimed at settling that issue through acquiring relevant skills.

The competition featured 36 teams from Armenia’s regions, with 22 of them qualified for the semi-final round. The jury chose 6 teams as winners from the semi-final. The groups represented Karbi Basic School, No. 2 School of Ashtarak, Yerevan No. 2, 92 and 123 Schools and Anania Shirakatsy Lyceum.

The teams have developed their applications with the App Inventor program by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Today, on the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, the applications developed by the schoolchildren were presented at the UN Office in Armenia, with the winning teams receiving awards.
 

http://www.panorama....irl-app/1778764

By Contributor on June 6, 2017 in Youth

 

 

 

 

BELMONT, Mass. (The Belmontonian)—Her first name means “sweet” in Armenian and in the state finals of the multi-event pentathlon held June 1, Belmont High junior track star Anoush Krafian strung together a quintet of top-flight results that produced the sweetest of outcomes—a Massachusetts state championship.

Krafian at the 2016 AYF Olympics (Photo: Tamar Kanarian)

At Bridgewater State University, the long-time standout track performer – she still co-holds the state middle school high jump record—beat her rivals and destroying the previous five-event top mark set last year by a whopping 215 points as she posted 3,243 points. Fellow Junior Natalie Marshall of Newton North (3,195 points) and Tewksbury High Senior Lauren Polimeno (3,184) finished second and third while the defending champion, Hopkinton junior Caitlyn Halloran, came in fourth.

Krafian’s total is the fifth-best mark set by a high school athlete in the U.S. so far this outdoor season.

The 11th-grader was leading the competition after four events with the championship on the line with Krafian facing her most challenging event, the 800 meters. Tewksbury’s Polimeno and Halloran of Hopkinton (who defeated Krafian in the Division 3 championships last week) were expected to complete the race in about 2 minutes and 20 seconds, more than 18 seconds in front of the Belmont track star’s best time of 2:38.37 set last week, a gap that could have seen Krafian fall from first to third – or worse.

But Krafian came through spectacularly, setting a new personal record by eight seconds, 2:30.07, negating Polimeno (2:19.96) and Halloran (2:20.60) own best times over the distance.

In addition to the 800, Krafian also achieved her best marks in the shot put (26 feet 5.5-inches), and high jumped over five feet (5-feet, 3.25 inches) while long jumping 16 feet, 5.75 inches.

Krafian started the day in her best event, the 100-meter hurdles, finishing first in 15.04 second, obliterating the old mark by nearly a full second while garnering 836 points, the highest individual event total by any athlete on Thursday.

Krafian will be seeking more state championships this weekend. On Saturday, she will return to Bridgewater to compete in the individual long jump and the 100 hurdles where she is a co-favorite with senior Madelyn Sessler of Plymouth South and Kristen Hohenstein of Chelmsford.

Krafian—a member of the Armenian Youth Federation – Youth Organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (AYF-YORF) Greater Boston “Nejdeh” chapter—is currently in contention for the most outstanding performance award at the all-state championships. Voting is currently open at http://ma.milesplit....es#pd_a_9762062.

http://armenianweekl...ate-pentathlon/

Bermuda’s ball hockey team is currently in the Czech Republic taking part in the World Ball Hockey Championships, and are wearing Bermuda shorts during their time away from the sport, as they showcase traditional Bermudian attire in that part of the world.

The team has won two games so far against France and Lebanon, however lost to Great Britain, Hong Kong, and earlier today were narrowly defeated by Armenia, who won by a score of 3-2.

http://bernews.com/2...czech-republic/

By The Landmark | on June 21, 2017
Rebecca Humphrey

A picture of Samuel Sevian at the Chicago Open. BETSY DYNAKO ZACATE PHOTO

Holden’s Sam Sevian made history last week.

On June 19,  the 16-year-old became the youngest person to ever win the Continental Championship, an international chess tournament held in Medellin, Colombia. The win solidified his spot at the next FIDE (The World Chess Federation) World Cup in September.

“I was confident that I would do well,” Sam said in an interview with the organizer of the event, The Colombian Federation of Chess (Federación Colombiana de Ajedrez), after his win.“My goal was to get into the World Cup, which is the top six spots.”

After 11 rounds, the event ended in an eight-way tie for first, with Sevian earning Gold on tie-breaks.

According to the US Chess Federation, Sam was the “eighth seed in a field of 258 players, probably the largest Continental Championship ever.”  It was likely the strongest Continental Championship, with many Grandmasters (the highest title a chess player can attain) and International Masters (strong chess players) in attendance.

Sam, who started playing chess at the age of 5 with his dad, Armen Sevian, became a Master at 10 and the youngest-ever U.S. chess Grandmaster at 13.

Armen said he is very excited for Sam as this will be the second time he has qualified for the World Cup. The first time was two years ago when Sam placed 5th in the U.S. Championships. Sam had a lower rating at the time and was beat by a top notch player, said Armen.

Although he doesn’t know who his World Cup opponent will be yet, Sam plans to give it his best shot, he told The Colombian Federation of Chess.

As far as training goes, Armen said Sam basically has a schedule much like that of a professional athlete. Between Sam’s intense training, he is homeschooled and receives his class certifications online, said Armen.

As part of The Kasparov Chess Foundation’s Young Stars — Team USA, an organization dedicated to helping develop several American chess prodigies from across the US, Sam receives special training “every once in awhile” that can be up to 6 to 7 hours a day at his home in Holden, said Armen. He also trains by himself.

When it comes time to travel to tournaments, it is usually a “whole family affair,” said Armen, adding that he uses most of his vacation time for tournaments. When his daughter and wife aren’t able to make it, his wife is usually watching the competitions online tracking chess movements.

When Sam makes a move that “isn’t good,” Armen expects a call, he said with a laugh.

Although Sam pretty much lives and breaths chess, he is also passionate about sports, added Armen. “Hockey is his favorite,” he said, adding that Sam is particularly skilled at remembering sports stats.

Armen, along with the rest of the Sevian family are looking forward to September when Sam competes in The Chess World Cup 2017 in Batumi, Georgia, located on the coast of the Black Sea. It is a 128-player single-elimination tournament.

Until then, he will be training.

http://www.thelandma...l-championship/

Silver medalist of the Olympic Games Armenian weightlifter Simon Martirosyan was named 2017 Junior World Champion. In the +105kg weight class competition Martirosyan showed a double-event of 426kg -  the result that allowed him to grab the title.

As the National Olympic Committee of Armenia reports, the Armenian athlete showed the best result in both exercises, scoring 191kg in snatch and 235kg – in clean and jerk.

Martirosyan was about to set a record in clean and jerk and just narrowly failed to hold 246kg above his head.

To recap, Armenian athletes conquered one gold and two bronze medals at the 2017 Junior World Champion in Tokyo, Japan. Earlier Sona Petroyan (70kg) and Samvel Gasparyan (105kg) grabbed bronze medals.

http://www.panorama....hampion/1797760

World Open major international chess tournament is over in Philadelphia, U.S. 216 chess players, including 33 GMs, took part in the tournament.

As the Chess Federation of Armenia told Panorama.am, Armenian GM Tigran Petrosian achieved great success at the tournament. The Armenian player gained 7.5 out of 9 points and became the sole winner of World Open chess tournament. 

http://www.panorama....ld-Open/1803588