History

In the summer of 2002, Linda Khatchadrian met other US college students on a trip to Armenia and discovered that many belonged to Armenian Clubs. She started Villanova's first Armenian Club in September, 2002, naming it the Armenian Youth Organization (AYO) whose acronym is the Armenian word for "yes". After a quick search of the Villanova web, she found the word "Armenian" on Bob Jantzen's home page through mention of his wife Ani and in-laws, and Linda asked him to be the official advisor so she and her friends could get started.

Linda Khatchadrian, Niherie Miller and Manan Smbatian arranged its first official activity on November 19, 2002 by sponsoring a talk by Hilmar Kaiser, a historian specializing in German-Ottoman relations and the Armenian Genocide.  Hilmar is a brilliant speaker and the event was a great success, filling the CEER multimedia room with an attentive audience.

Left to Right: Linda Khatchadrian, Hilmar Kaiser, Niherie Miller, and Manan Smbatian

Like Linda and Manan, many of past and current AYO members have been graduates of the Armenian Sisters Academy, our neighbor just about a mile further west on County Line Road where it ends on their campus at the top of a long hill where it meets Upper Gulph Road in Radnor.

the second generation

In the fall of 2005 Sergei (Sergey) Nersesov arrived as a new professor in Mechanical Engineering, originally from Russia (Armenian-Georgian parents), who found Bob through mutual contacts and moved him to try to reinvigorate the club in the spring semester of 2006 under the leadership of Paul Sookiasian, with Sergei joining Bob as co-advisor. A Sunday night dinner was eventually agreed upon and held at Bob and Ani's house nearby campus on April 9, 2006, with about 8 student members, Sergei, Maral and Bob's in-laws, including food prep help from ani's mom Isgouhi.

In the fall of 2006 the first (very successful) annual Armenian Food Fest took place at the MLRC, with late night food prep in bob and ani's kitchen the night before.

the golden years

Haig Norian and Irina Zargarian took over leadership in the fall of 2007 when the second annual Armenian Food Fest took place in the MLRC, again with evening before prep in the bob and ani kitchen with many volunteers pitching in to help. Isgouhi and Barkev contributed the bucket of hummus, the grape leaf stuffing and the tabouleh prep, while Ani did the Armenian rice and chorak dough prep. Our assembly line rolled both grape leaves and chorak buns, with Irina in the kitchen doing eggplant. Haig ordered lahmajoun from Upper Darby and shish-kebob from another vendor. Again the event was a success, especially with other students of middle eastern origin. Music and some dancing took place.

In the spring of 2008 an Armenian Dance Show by the dance group Ararat was put on in the C-Center Cinema in collaboration with the Irish Dance Club and an Indian dance team of three really talented guys. Indian and Armenian food was served after the show at the West Dougherty Lounge.

Hilmar Kaiser made a return visit in April 2008 with a fascinating re-examination of the Armenian genocide, filmed and posted on Villanova's ITunes U. Sometime this academic year, a club dinner was held at the Moroccan restaurant at Haverford Rd and City Line Avenue.

In the fall of 2008 under Irina's leadership we held the third Armenian Food Festival in the West Dougherty Lounge with another fun food prep session the night before at bob and ani's kitchen (President Paul returned to help!). In spite of some last minute glitches causing us to start an hour late, we had a good time and an invited Armenian dance instructor led the braver participants in some Armenian folk dancing.

In March 2009 bob and ani hosted another fun club dinner at home, introducing Sergei's wife Maria. In April we sponsored a showing of the genocide film Screamers in the C-Center cinema.

At the end of April 2009, we (bob, ani, sergei, maria) had a farewell dinner with 3 of the group of dynamic graduating club members at Cedars in Philadelphia: Irina Zargarian, Allison Folker and Alene Avetian (Stephanie Rollo couldn't make it!).

In fall 2009 no critical mass of students was left to carry on this year. We still need to register the club for its eventual resurrection.

Past AYO Club Presidents

2002-2004?? Linda Katchadrian '04

2004-2005 ??

2005-2007 Paul Sookiasian '07

2007-2008 Haig Norian '08

2008-2009 Irina Zargarian '09

2008-2009 no critical mass