Scholarships
2024 Winners
Lori Kullahian
SCHOLARSHIP WINNER
Lori was born and raised in Burnaby, BC, in what may be called a fanatic Armenian family. Growing up, she was active within the Vancouver and greater Canadian Armenian community, showcasing her love for Armenian culture and music very early on. At a very young age, Lori discovered her passion for music and piano, and has since won countless awards and earned her Fellowship from the British Columbia Conservatory of Music. As a musician, performance has been a very big part of her life, from as young as the age of three, when she first appeared on the Vancouver Armenian Variety Show. More recently, she has performed with Samvel Yervinyan, world-renowned violinist, and for his holiness Aram the 1st while in Lebanon. She uses these skills and talents to give back to her Armenian community, where she spent all her Sundays for many years volunteering to play piano for church mass and at various other events. She is also an active executive member of AYF Vancouver chapter and has been for almost 10 years. In her educational pursuits, Lori is now entering her second year at the University of British Columbia, in the Bachelor of Internationa Economics program. Through this major, she hopes to eventually pursue Law school with a joint Master’s in business administration, hopefully becoming a lawyer in the long term.
Lorig Korajian
SCHOLARSHIP WINNER
Lorig is a well-known member of the Armenian community. As an alumna of the International Baccalaureate Diploma program, she moved to Ottawa to pursue a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations and World Politics, along with a minor in Business, at Carleton University. There, she holds a spot on the Dean’s List in recognition of her academic excellence. Being raised in BC, Lorig is an alumna of Vancouver’s ARS Araz Armenian School, Soghomon Tehlirian Badanegan Chapter, Homenetmen Girls’Volleyball team, Sassoon Dance Camp, and the Armenian Variety Show. She is currently active in the Armenian Youth Federation and the St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church Choir. Aspiring for a career in international law, Lorig is no stranger to advocacy. For the 108th Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, she spoke at the Legislative Assembly of BC where she shared a touching family history of the journey of her great-grandfather. As an advocate for the Armenian cause in her school community, Lorig and her friends organized a bake sale fundraiser in which they raised $2,000 for displaced families in Artsakh during the 2020 war. This past summer, Lorig was a counsellor at the Armenian Relief Society’s annual day camp, Camp Javakhk where she helped lead daily educational initiatives on Armenian culture, song, and dance for Georgian-Armenian youth. Upon moving to Ottawa, she eagerly continued her community contributions. Lorig is an intern with the Armenian National Committee of Canada and helped re-establish the Armenian Students’ Association of Ottawa through her executive position. During the school year, Lorig also works alongside the Armenian Cultural Association of Ottawa's Ararat Armenian School where she teaches Western Armenian reading, writing, spelling, grammar, and history to children aged 4-12 every Sunday. While home for the summer, Lorig has taken on an initiative with her Armenian peers to translate an online dictionary of the Artsakh dialect to preserve over 25,000 indigenous terms. Additionally, she has been chosen as the Canadian participant for the Armenian National Committee of America’s Leo Sarkissian Internship in Washington, DC. Through this internship, Lorig will immerse herself in the American political system, advocating for truth and justice regarding the Armenian Genocide, freedom for Artsakh, and working towards a prosperous and united Armenian homeland.
Ari Cholakian
EDUCATIONAL AWARD WINNER
Ari was born in Syria and immigrated to Canada in when he was in grade 5. His deep curiosity allowed him to excel throughout his time in school. He regularly participates in major physics and engineering competitions alongside teammates, and volunteers at the school lab where he repairs and maintains apparatus. In his free time, Ari loves searching for Armenian translations to scientific terms in 19th centurybooks, taking photos of planets and deep sky objects, and developing videogames. This year, Ari completed his first year in the engineering program at UBC, where he succeeded academically and joined the UBC Orbit design team, where he works on critical systems of a satellite going to space. He will be continuing his studies at UBC in the Engineering Physics program, where he will learn fundamental physics alongside the engineering skills necessary to be able to innovate for a better world.
Suren Ghazaryan
EDUCATIONAL AWARD WINNER
Suren is a first year Computer Science student at UBC. With academic determination and a passion for computer science, he is pursuing his major program to become a highly skilled professional. Outside of university, Suren is an active and a proud member of Armenian community at BC. He performed a piano repertoire at the 55th Anniversary of ACA of BC last year. Suren continues to perform on the piano as well as compose original compositions. Besides music, he is also an Arena International Master at chess. Suren became the U1900 BC Chess Champion in 2022 and is also currently teaching the game of kings at St. Vartan Apostolic Church school to young Armenians. With strong dedication to provide and support his community, he continues his path to becoming successful.
Alexandra Javadyan
EDUCATIONAL AWARD WINNER
Alexandra (Sasha) was born and raised in Canada. Throughout her life, she has been a very active member of the artistic and trampoline gymnastics community; from competing for 11 years, to now coaching the next generation of gymnasts. Academically, however, her interests could not be more different. Sasha has spent countless hours doing art in high school and has recently fallen in love with mathematics. She will take this passion for both subjects into post-secondary as she plans to study Architecture at BCIT this coming fall.
Lara Mnatsakanian
EDUCATIONAL AWARD WINNER
Lara is a Canadian born Armenian and recent graduate of Carson Graham Secondary International Baccalaureate Program. She has excelled academically, graduating in the top 10% of her class and is an avid member of her community, supporting both her school and local members of her community through her volunteer work, such as working with the North Shore Neighborhood House. Some of her achievements in school include receiving Star Student awards in both grade 11 and 12 for her excellent work ethic and commitment to organizing school activities. Lara will attend Simon Frasier University starting in the fall of 2024, where she will study Political Science for her undergraduate degree. Her aspirations in the future are to attend law school at the University of Toronto and become a lawyer.
Steven Sahakyan
EDUCATIONAL AWARD WINNER
Arshak Zakaryan
COMMUNITY AWARD
I am Arshak Zakaryan, an international student at UBC from Armenia. I study Economics and International Relations. I graduated from Ayb High School in Yerevan in 2021 and got admitted to UBC, where I began my studies in January 2022. During my time here at UBC, I have been actively involved with the Annual Giving Office as a fundraiser and later also as a supervisor, overseeing a team of over 30 students raising funds for various UBC programs. Recently, I have also taken on the initiative to reinstate the Armenian Student Association at UBC. I am happy to share that our club will soon be formally constituted and prepared to host exciting events. We can’t wait to welcome you all!
I am 17, turning 18 in October. During the winter, you can find me snowboarding on Mt. Seymour, as well as working as a traffic attendant. During the summer, I spend my time camping, playing sports with my friends, and looking for a new adventure every day. My passion is music. I play guitar, bass, guitar, drums, and bass clarinet. After high school, I'm pursuing carpentry at BCIT. I want to help people by bringing their dreams to reality. I care for everyone around me, trying to achieve greatness for them and myself. I can't wait to start my passion, and to build my first home.