Hovnanian School Participates in Commemoration Events

"The Armenian Weekly", Volume 74, No. 18, May 3, 2007

NEW MILFORD, N.J.—The Hovnanian School students and alumni commemorated the 93rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide with different activities on April 24. Early in the day, all students went outside and planted flowers in the front garden of the school building as a memorial of the victims.

At 10:30 a.m., students from grades 4-7 and their teachers visited the Armenian Home in Emerson. From several blocks away they marched to there in an orderly fashion, symbolically reenacting the 1915 marches. Before entering, they participated in a religious ceremony at the genocide monument outside the home, officiated by Rev. Fr. Diran Bohajian, pastor of the St. Leon’s Armenian Church in Fair Lawn, and Rev. Fr. Hovnan Bozoian, pastor of the Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Church in Ridgefield.

At the conclusion of the services, everyone placed flowers at the monument. Inside the home, after the blessing of the madagh and messages from the clergy, the students offered the residents a short program of recitations, songs, and dances. Their performance was greatly appreciated both by the residents of the home, as well as the guests.

In the afternoon, 4-7th graders attended the genocide commemoration organized by the Knights of Vartan and held at the Hackensack Court Memorial.

In the evening, the Hovnanian Alumni Academy students participated in the genocide remembrance program held at the Sts. Vartanantz Church. Their slideshow work, titled “Denial in Progress,” featured a carefully researched and presented collection of material about the ongoing denial campaign of the Turkish government. The slideshow was well received by the audience, which packed the hall.