hi everyone so this picture was taken on
2011 I met this girl at kindergarten and
we’ve been friends ever since we made
our lunch together we wanted to graduate
together and wanted to travel
women decided hope you were going to her
far from and honestly you might’ve had
some plans for what combination to
however in 2012 because of the war all
the girls in this picture left I stayed
in our post and it was a very lonely
summer for me all my friends had left
and all our dreams and went down the
drain with it at first I didn’t want to
go to school because I was going to be
alone there and I was never a fan of
waking up early as a kid I remember
saying I wish something would happen to
my school whether to bring down or just
blow up so I wouldn’t have to go I mean
who doesn’t say that I’m not the only
one so but don’t get me wrong I loved my
school it’s where I spent all my days
it’s where I met my first crush all my
friends and it’s where my parents
graduated from and I wanted to graduate
from there too
these are the stairs that I wanted to
stand on on my last high school year and
graduate I wanted to take my diploma
exactly where my father took it from so
my plan of graduation had two parts my
friends at my school however my friends
left and then this happened so my plan
was completely destroyed in 2012 after
this happened we started our school year
in a different school in a different
neighborhood which was relatively safer
than ours and I I had no friends there
all the students I knew all the students
but I was never close friends to them I
went into class and I saw that the 50
students that we usually be there were
cut down by half and they
only few students there and I realized
that I had something in common with
these students all their friends left –
and they were alone – and naturally
shared pain brings people together and
our loneliness are the tough times and
our shared pain brought us together and
the students who were just people
sitting next to me in class
day after day situation after situation
became a second family to me so now I
taught forward life goes on and we made
new plans with each other this time our
plans were going to university together
we wanted to become biochemist but we
just had to get really good grades on
our exams however something happened
something that entirely changed my plans
during 2012 like when the war first
started my facebook filters filled with
news pages that posted names of people
who had been injured or had been killed
because of the bombings sometimes this
list would have pictures of the names to
giving faces to these people made it
really sad and heartburn chamber and
seeing these names every day though is
getting longer and longer every day was
really hard for me however it was June
17 of 2014 when an explosion happened in
a neighborhood close to my grandparents
and uncle’s house now my grandparents
have passed away a very long time ago
however seta who was my mother’s cousin
and lived with them since she was a kid
lived with them so said I have become
like a mother to my mom and uncle and
grandmother to me and my cousins and
when the explosion happened seta and my
uncle went to the window to check out
what happened rule number one during
this situation is to stay away from the
windows I guess they ignored their that
room and as they were standing under
window checking out what happened
another explosion happened and missed I
fell right across the building of ours
the pieces of that we said bounced back
and one of them immediately hit set died
her head I don’t want to go into details
but she passed away immediately because
physics and my uncle who was standing
next to her was okay nothing happened to
him
my sister and cousin were both a witness
to what happened the next day when I
went to Facebook the list of names of
the name of someone so close to my heart
and I realized that this is not moving
and like all the names that I’ve seen
those were human too and they had their
own family reality hit me so hard and I
learned that we don’t know what
something feels like until we really
experience it I mean people look at me
and they don’t want this story and there
are people who have had it worse than I
have so back to my graduation which I
clearly care about so my graduation was
two weeks after Sarah’s death and what
was supposed to be one of the happiest
moments of my life just wasn’t
I still remember standing in small
auditorium instead of the stairs that I
wanted to and I still remember the look
on the people’s face in the audience the
mixed emotions on their face I saw a
mother who had recently lost her husband
but did not want to miss her son’s
graduation I saw a grandmother who had
lost a son but wanted to be there for
her granddaughter I looked around and I
saw my friends the ones that had already
become my second family
and unquestionably the strongest
teenagers I’ve ever known and I realized
that in that moment looking at my
friends that I had something to be
grateful for a ray of sunshine in that
dark day we didn’t have the graduation
we wished for nor the one who deserve
but the school made it look like we did
they photoshopped a picture and God
bless Photoshop and seeing that our
school board had hope gave us hope and
that made us look forward to the future
so on a brighter note each and every one
of us are now University students and we
have the chance to graduate again
although I won’t be graduating from
where I wanted to I will be graduating
from the UA which has become a second
home to me and I think that’s the
greatest thing that ever happened and
I’m gonna make that a milestone worth
mentioning so I guess set as that was
like the last straw for us it was the
reason we came to Armenia we need a
change and I mean what better place to
change that to come to Armenia however
the change was bigger than I expected
since what was supposed to be a
one-month vacation turned into an
unplanned emigration
I love Armenia don’t get me wrong I love
Armenia but people need to understand
that although Armenia is my home sorry
Syria I was born and raised there and I
was forced to leave it I’ve always
wanted to come to Armenia and I admit I
have a slight obsession with Ararat you
can just ask my friend and I’ve always
dreamt of seeing Colorado but I wanted
to do it when I decided to and not when
I was forced to
at first when I came to Armenia my
childhood some of my childhood friends
the girls and the first pictures were
here and everything was fine we hung out
a lot and then we drifted apart people
change people grow apart and I learned
that I wish like if I could go back I
would tell myself to take do not take
anything for granted not my school which
I wished would blow up I wish I didn’t
and not my school days nor my friends to
enjoy every moment I had with them the
ironic thing is that I came here and I
became friends with other people but my
childhood friends slowly drifted apart
but some of them who are
miles away sand oceans away I’m still
friends with them and we’re planning a
reunion soon and our world domination
plans not might work this time
so careful and I would like to say that
although who had taken so much from me
it took loved ones sonship a home a
country plans and dreams it also taught
me a few lessons I’ve learnt to always
be kind because look at the person
sitting next to you you really don’t
know what’s going on in their lives and
even if they tell you there’s this part
that’s always hidden I’ve learned to
always be kind because people are going
through worse than I am
I’ve learned to always appreciate what I
have because I saw people who lost much
much more than I did I learned to not go
with the flow but to lead the flow
because well there’s nothing we can do
to change the past but there is so much
you can do to change the future and
after living in the water war torn
country for a few years I can say that I
found the silver lining in work whether
it’s coming here seeing Colorado
insanities making this amazing friends
finding a second second home graduating
soon or standing here and giving this
speech thank you very much [Applause]
2011 I met this girl at kindergarten and
we’ve been friends ever since we made
our lunch together we wanted to graduate
together and wanted to travel
women decided hope you were going to her
far from and honestly you might’ve had
some plans for what combination to
however in 2012 because of the war all
the girls in this picture left I stayed
in our post and it was a very lonely
summer for me all my friends had left
and all our dreams and went down the
drain with it at first I didn’t want to
go to school because I was going to be
alone there and I was never a fan of
waking up early as a kid I remember
saying I wish something would happen to
my school whether to bring down or just
blow up so I wouldn’t have to go I mean
who doesn’t say that I’m not the only
one so but don’t get me wrong I loved my
school it’s where I spent all my days
it’s where I met my first crush all my
friends and it’s where my parents
graduated from and I wanted to graduate
from there too
these are the stairs that I wanted to
stand on on my last high school year and
graduate I wanted to take my diploma
exactly where my father took it from so
my plan of graduation had two parts my
friends at my school however my friends
left and then this happened so my plan
was completely destroyed in 2012 after
this happened we started our school year
in a different school in a different
neighborhood which was relatively safer
than ours and I I had no friends there
all the students I knew all the students
but I was never close friends to them I
went into class and I saw that the 50
students that we usually be there were
cut down by half and they
only few students there and I realized
that I had something in common with
these students all their friends left –
and they were alone – and naturally
shared pain brings people together and
our loneliness are the tough times and
our shared pain brought us together and
the students who were just people
sitting next to me in class
day after day situation after situation
became a second family to me so now I
taught forward life goes on and we made
new plans with each other this time our
plans were going to university together
we wanted to become biochemist but we
just had to get really good grades on
our exams however something happened
something that entirely changed my plans
during 2012 like when the war first
started my facebook filters filled with
news pages that posted names of people
who had been injured or had been killed
because of the bombings sometimes this
list would have pictures of the names to
giving faces to these people made it
really sad and heartburn chamber and
seeing these names every day though is
getting longer and longer every day was
really hard for me however it was June
17 of 2014 when an explosion happened in
a neighborhood close to my grandparents
and uncle’s house now my grandparents
have passed away a very long time ago
however seta who was my mother’s cousin
and lived with them since she was a kid
lived with them so said I have become
like a mother to my mom and uncle and
grandmother to me and my cousins and
when the explosion happened seta and my
uncle went to the window to check out
what happened rule number one during
this situation is to stay away from the
windows I guess they ignored their that
room and as they were standing under
window checking out what happened
another explosion happened and missed I
fell right across the building of ours
the pieces of that we said bounced back
and one of them immediately hit set died
her head I don’t want to go into details
but she passed away immediately because
physics and my uncle who was standing
next to her was okay nothing happened to
him
my sister and cousin were both a witness
to what happened the next day when I
went to Facebook the list of names of
the name of someone so close to my heart
and I realized that this is not moving
and like all the names that I’ve seen
those were human too and they had their
own family reality hit me so hard and I
learned that we don’t know what
something feels like until we really
experience it I mean people look at me
and they don’t want this story and there
are people who have had it worse than I
have so back to my graduation which I
clearly care about so my graduation was
two weeks after Sarah’s death and what
was supposed to be one of the happiest
moments of my life just wasn’t
I still remember standing in small
auditorium instead of the stairs that I
wanted to and I still remember the look
on the people’s face in the audience the
mixed emotions on their face I saw a
mother who had recently lost her husband
but did not want to miss her son’s
graduation I saw a grandmother who had
lost a son but wanted to be there for
her granddaughter I looked around and I
saw my friends the ones that had already
become my second family
and unquestionably the strongest
teenagers I’ve ever known and I realized
that in that moment looking at my
friends that I had something to be
grateful for a ray of sunshine in that
dark day we didn’t have the graduation
we wished for nor the one who deserve
but the school made it look like we did
they photoshopped a picture and God
bless Photoshop and seeing that our
school board had hope gave us hope and
that made us look forward to the future
so on a brighter note each and every one
of us are now University students and we
have the chance to graduate again
although I won’t be graduating from
where I wanted to I will be graduating
from the UA which has become a second
home to me and I think that’s the
greatest thing that ever happened and
I’m gonna make that a milestone worth
mentioning so I guess set as that was
like the last straw for us it was the
reason we came to Armenia we need a
change and I mean what better place to
change that to come to Armenia however
the change was bigger than I expected
since what was supposed to be a
one-month vacation turned into an
unplanned emigration
I love Armenia don’t get me wrong I love
Armenia but people need to understand
that although Armenia is my home sorry
Syria I was born and raised there and I
was forced to leave it I’ve always
wanted to come to Armenia and I admit I
have a slight obsession with Ararat you
can just ask my friend and I’ve always
dreamt of seeing Colorado but I wanted
to do it when I decided to and not when
I was forced to
at first when I came to Armenia my
childhood some of my childhood friends
the girls and the first pictures were
here and everything was fine we hung out
a lot and then we drifted apart people
change people grow apart and I learned
that I wish like if I could go back I
would tell myself to take do not take
anything for granted not my school which
I wished would blow up I wish I didn’t
and not my school days nor my friends to
enjoy every moment I had with them the
ironic thing is that I came here and I
became friends with other people but my
childhood friends slowly drifted apart
but some of them who are
miles away sand oceans away I’m still
friends with them and we’re planning a
reunion soon and our world domination
plans not might work this time
so careful and I would like to say that
although who had taken so much from me
it took loved ones sonship a home a
country plans and dreams it also taught
me a few lessons I’ve learnt to always
be kind because look at the person
sitting next to you you really don’t
know what’s going on in their lives and
even if they tell you there’s this part
that’s always hidden I’ve learned to
always be kind because people are going
through worse than I am
I’ve learned to always appreciate what I
have because I saw people who lost much
much more than I did I learned to not go
with the flow but to lead the flow
because well there’s nothing we can do
to change the past but there is so much
you can do to change the future and
after living in the water war torn
country for a few years I can say that I
found the silver lining in work whether
it’s coming here seeing Colorado
insanities making this amazing friends
finding a second second home graduating
soon or standing here and giving this
speech thank you very much [Applause]
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