A taste of China: when food brings cultures together 29 July 2020 By Nane Vardanyan, Photos by: Tigran Melkonyan 3 min read Summer is high time to improve culinary skills and improvise in the kitchen! Hayk Hakhinyan, 11, a COAF SMART Chinese program student from Odzun village, Lori Province, prepared a Chinese-style dim sum for…
COAFians master the art of anchoring 24 June 2020 By Nane Vardanyan, Photos by: Tigran Melkonyan 2 min read Since early spring, we have had multiple occasions to convene with our students, beneficiaries, and online community digitally. Our virtual events have included: INSTALIVE series on Instagram Live (talks with famous and successful professionals), Online SMARTConnects on…
Once upon a chocolate 21 May 2020 By Nane Vardanyan, Photos by: Tigran Melkonyan 3 min read Chocolate is the universal language of love. People all over the world fall in love with it at a young age. That love seems to never really fade. On May 15, we had a very delicious and sweet…
Dreaming with daring Armenian women 13 March 2020 By Nane Vardanyan Photos by: Knar Babayan 4 min read Some people grow up having role models, some people grow up not desiring to be like someone else and reshuffle their deck to have better outcomes. In all cases, we meet people who inspire us and make…
The backstage life of a front stage actor 26 February 2020 By Nane Vardanyan, Photos by: Knar Babayan 3 min read “How often do you go to the theater?” asks Narek Duryan. “There are no theaters for us to attend,” a response comes from the audience… Unfortunately, rural communities in Armenia are mostly devoid of…
The long and narrow letters of the country of mountains 19 February 2020 By Nane Vardanyan, Photos by: Knar Babayan 2 min read Stop for a moment and think of how often you use a pen and paper to take notes, write a thank-you card, a letter to someone, or to just mark down a…
Yoga in Debet? Absolutely! 5 February 2020 By Nane Vardanyan, Photos by: Knar Babayan 2 min read It took us about 2 hours to reach Debet through lofty and picturesque hills and mountains of Armenia. The weather was so nice that we spent some time outside enjoying the view, talking to each other, and taking…
Old and new stories from Mark Grigorian 24 January 2020 By Nane Vardanyan, Photos by: Knar Babayan 2 min read Welcome to the first SMARTConnects of 2020. This time our guest was Mark Grigorian, a longtime BBC Russian Channel reporter and the former Executive Director of Public Radio of Armenia. Mark was at SMARTConnects to…
The Lawyer that turned into a Motion Graphics Artist 10 January 2020 By Nane Vardanyan, Photos by: Knar Babayan 2 min read Meet Davit Gyumishyan, a French University graduate with a Law degree and… a successful specialist in 2D and 3D animation, video production and editing. He is the founder and Managing Director of Self…
Saving the world through culture 13 December 2019 By Tatevik Oganessian, Photos by: Knar Babayan 2 min read “Beauty will save the world…” Almost all of our COAF SMART Center Russian language students were familiar with the famous line that comes from Dostoevsky’s novel. However, the line was paraphrased for them when they came to…
