The Ayb Quarterly Report summarizes events from April to June 2015. It details meetings between Armenian and Russian IT companies hosted by the Ayb Club, as well as a workshop for Armenian startups led by Russian experts. It also discusses the election of new members to the Ayb Educational Foundation Board of Trustees. Finally, it provides statistics on student admissions and performances at competitions for Ayb School and Dilijan Central School.
2. The annual summit of the Russian Association of Computer and IT Enterprises (АПКИТ) started off with an
event at Ayb School. At the initiative of the Ayb Club, a meeting between representatives of leading Armenian and
Russian IT companies was held, aimed at presenting the technological potential of Armenia and promoting the
dialogue between Armenian and Russian companies. 12 Armenian companies and over 60 representatives and
CEOs of top Russian IT companies, such as 1C, Fujitsu, Yandex, Samsung, Dell, Acer, IBM, Siemens, took part in
the event. Watch the news items by the National Television of Armenia and the “Armenia” TV Channel.
3. The Ayb Club and the Luys Foundation jointly organized a three-day workshop-training for Armenian start-up
companies led by top specialists of the Russian Venture Company (РВК). 32 start-ups participated in the training.
President and chancellor of the Moscow Technological Institute Grigory Bubnov was the special guest of the event.
4. The Ayb Club Executive Board Full Session (the first of the two in this year) was held. 18 Ayb Club members, as
well as other Ayb community members took part in the traditional three-day events. Two Ayb Club Board meetings
were held, during which the following important issues were discussed: new members of the School Board of
Trustees, reforms in the admission procedures of Ayb Elementary School, establishment of the national song and
dance academy as a means for preserving and promoting our national identity, etc.
5. Within the framework of the Ayb Club Executive Board Full Session, another significant event was held. The third
generation of Ayb graduates – another 63 students – got involved in the Ayb Mentorship Program and found their
mentors. From now on, these bright personalities will have their senior advisers represented by Ayb Club members,
who will support by word, deed, and personal experience.
6. Among the three-day events, Ayb community members visited St. Mesrop Mashtots Church in Oshakan to
participate in the liturgy of the Holy Translators’ feast, as well as Dilijan Central School to see the newly constructed
facilities of another Ayb School. Nearly 60 members of the community had a wonderful day in the picturesque
nature’s lap, enjoying each others’ company, delicious Armenian food, national dance and music.
7. During the mentioned three-day events, the shooting of a new film about Ayb got underway. A team of professionals
from a known Russian media company works on the film, which will be released in the fall of this year.
8. New members of the Board of Trustees of the Ayb Educational Foundation were elected.
The newly elected Board of Trustees will function until June 9, 2017.
David Pakhchanian, chairman (Russia) Ashot Mkrtchyan (Russia)
Aram Pakhchanian (Armenia) Karo Sargsyan (Russia)
Areg Zakoyan (Russia) Sargis Badalyan (Russia)
9. It’s been the 7th year in Armenia and the 5th year in Artsakh that Ayb has organized the Kangaroo international math
competition. Over 44500 students from 1065 schools participated in the contest this year. This is a record in the
Armenian history of this world-known school competition.
10. The Armenian winners of Kangaroo 2015 were announced during a press conference at the Ministry of Education
and Science of Armenia. Here they are (from left to right):
Artashes Gyoletsyan, 6th form, Yerevan
Sergey Nersisyan, 10th form, Yerevan
Erik Melikyan, 5th form, Vanadzor (Kangaroo two-time winner)
Seryozha Danielyan, 6th form, Gyumri (Kangaro three-time winner, absent that day)
Watch the news item here.
11. 9 teams from 6 cities of Armenia – Ararat, Gyumri, Hrazdan, Vanadzor, Charentsavan and Yerevan – participated
in the 5th All Armenian Tournament for Young Chemists. Proton from Hrazdan took the top spot. Eureka from
Vanadzor, Adrenalin from Gyumri and Heratsi from Yerevan came 2nd, 3rd and 4th, respectively.
12. Within the framework of the National Program for Educational Excellence (NPEE), new trainings for 15 senior
teachers were held. To this effect, experts from the UCL Institute of Education visited us 3 times during the reporting
period.
Negotiations with the Cambridge University on the international recognition of the Araratian Baccalaureate are
underway.
The new revised version of NPEE was developed and presented to the Ministry of Education and Science of
Armenia.
13. Ayb organized a special workshop for teachers with the aim of helping them to use the LEGO® Education
technologies in teaching engineering, IT, robotics, physics, and math. Some 180 teachers from 90 schools of
5 cities of Armenia took part in the workshop. Watch the news item here.
This workshop was the first step towards paving the necessary ground in Armenia for organizing the national stage
of the World Robots Olympiad starting next year.
14. The construction of the two fablabs, one at Ayb Learning Hub and one at Dilijan Central School, comes to an end.
The technical equipment and furnishing will take another month. The opening of the fablabs is scheduled for
October 2015.
15. The construction of Ayb Middle School’s new building is underway. It will meet the learning requirements of 180
students from 5th to 9th grades. It’s a four-storey building with the general area of 4200 square meters. The opening
of the new Ayb School building is scheduled for September 2016.
16. The beta version of the Ayb Educational Foundation website is up at www.ayb.am. It is mainly aimed at promoting
Ayb’s fundraising efforts. The final edition of the website will be launched in the fall.
17. On April 1, Ayb School hosted the first of the series of AGBU Talks held within the framework of AGBU's 88th
General Assembly. The topic of the panel discussion was “Human Capital in Armenia and the Diaspora.” Over 200
guests, mainly AGBU members from Armenia and abroad, participated in the event.
18. Minister of Defense of Republic of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan paid a visit to Ayb School. The minister awarded 2
students for their remarkable academic achievements, and 4 teachers and Director Aram Pakhchanian for their
commitment and great contribution to educating a new generation.
19. The Easter at Ayb festival with the participation of Ayb School, Tsaghkunk Open School and Dilijan Central School
was organized at Ayb School. The educational department of Ayb School set up an Idea Fair where 20 subject
projects were presented.
20. 6 Ayb School students were awarded 1st class diplomas at the national (republican) phase of school subject
Olympiads. In total, 23 Ayb students were awarded diplomas in 10 subjects. With this benchmark, Ayb School
ranked among the leaders.
1st class 6 students
2nd class 8 students
3rd class 9 students
21. Ayb School 12th graders Hasmik Avagyan and Martin Mirakyan, prizewinners of the national (republican) phase of
subject Olympiads, qualified for the International Olympiads of Biology and Informatics, respectively.
22. 2 Ayb School students, 12th graders Hasmik Avagyan and Mary-Alice Minasyan, became prizewinners of the 21st
annual University of Toronto National Biology Competition. They ranked 6th among 4122 participants of 289
schools from every corner of the world.
23. 4 Ayb School students were among the prizewinners
in the High Standard interregional school Olympiad of
the Higher School of Economics National Research
University, Russia.
Moreover, Martin Mirakyan was the only student
among his peers to get a diploma in Informatics.
Martin also ranked 10th in the individual event of the
Armenian University Olympiad in Informatics.
He was also awarded the Annual Educational Award
of the RA President in IT sphere.
24. Ayb High School student Artur Mirzoyan’s (11th grade)
poem entitled “Book of Mockery” was published on the
website of Granish Armenian literary club.
Artur was awarded 1st class diploma in the city phase
of the national Olympiad in Armenian Literature
this year.
25. Ayb High School student
Stephanie Gevorgyan (11th grade) served as
speaker at the 4th annual TEDxKids@Yerevan.
23 speakers, aged 8 to18, from Yerevan and the
Armenian regions participated in the event.
26. During the last semester, the Ayb High School robotics team constructed:
• another line-tracking robot,
• 1 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV),
• 4 vertical takeoff UAVs,
• 1 plant watering robot.
The team is going to participate in a couple of international competitions before the year is out.
27. The Ayb School choir appears on big stages. First, the choir performed at a concert dedicated to the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and held at the Alexander Spendiarian National Academic Theater of
Opera and Ballet of Armenia. And then in May, the choir performed with the same program in 3 cities of France –
at the Culture Center in Bapaume, in a church in Touquet, and in the UNESCO office in Paris.
28. A huge exhibition of art works by students of Ayb School (high, middle and elementary), Dilijan Central School
and Tsaghkunk Open School was organized at Ayb School. The works were created within the framework of the
courses of graphic design, photography, puppet theatre, batik, etc.
In total, the art works of Ayb School students included 60 paintings, 45 graphic designs and 50 photographs.
Dilijan Central School presented 39 art works.
29. Ayb Elementary School organized a summer school for its students in June and July. The summer program
comprised 3 phases. The duration of each phase was 2 weeks.
30. 63 graduate students, the third generation of Ayb School, bid farewell to the beloved school.
The year-end events included the traditional Last Bell and the Annual Summary Concert introducing the results of all
the performing art classes.
31. The most spectacular event among the series of the Ayb School third generation’s year-end events was the solemn
Commencement Ceremony. Parents, teachers, staff members, Board of Trustees, Ayb Club members,
benefactors, and donors were all there to witness the exciting and moving moments of the graduation ceremony.
The full video of the event will be soon available on our YouTube channel. For now, please enjoy the sincere and
inspiring commencement speech of Chairman of Ayb Founders’ Board David Yang addressed to Ayb graduates
here (Armenian subtitles) or here (English subtitles).
32. The Ayb School graduates entered the following local and international universities:
University of California, Berkeley, USA
University of California, San Diego, USA
University of California, Davis, USA
Dalian University of Technology, China
Aix Marseille University, France
The Higher School of Economics National Research University, Russia
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia
Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Russia
American University of Armenia
French University of Armenia
National Engineering University of Armenia
Yerevan State Medical University
Yerevan State University
Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University, etc.
33. The results of international exams of our 12th graders are impressive (more than half of the graduating students took
the exams). The average scores are: for SAT subject tests – 746 out of 800, for TOEFL – 98 out of 120.
34. Fast facts about this year’s Ayb School admission:
High School: 66 applicants for 37 places
Middle School: 23 applicants for 15 places
Elementary School: 71 applicants for 40 places
Out of 92 admitted students, 84 are from Yerevan, 8 are from RA regions, 13 are not Armenian citizens, 40 are
males and 52 are females.
35. Fast facts about this year’s Dilijan Central School admission:
Elementary School: 76 applicants for 14 places
Middle School: 29 applicants for 14 places
Out of 28 admitted students, 3 are from Yerevan, 25 are from RA regions, 2 are not Armenian citizens, 14 are males
and 14 are females. Only 5 of 28 admitted students are children of RA Central Bank staff members.
36. A multilateral discussion aimed at promoting the development of the city of Dilijan was held at Dilijan Central School.
Representatives from IDeA Foundation, Ayb Educational Foundation, the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies,
UNICEF Armenia, Dilijan International School, Dilijan Central School, RA Central Bank and Dilijan Municipality
participated in the discussion.
37. On April 1, a Fool’s Day event was organized at Dilijan Central School. Students had fun and laughed on the
language blunders taken out from their essays. We would like to sum up our report with some of the funny lapses.
He generously lied his friend.
Before the shoes he took off his bag.
Mum turned the omelet for it not to boil over.
Hadji Agha was a carefully man.
The name of the granddaughter of the grandfather of the uncle of my neighbor is Manoushak.