by Alin K. Gregorian
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Saturday, November 16, was all about numbers for St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary School (SSAES) in Watertown — and what good numbers they were, too. On that night, about 500 people from across the community came together to celebrate the school’s 40th anniversary, while paying tribute to the recently-retired principal, Houry Boyamian, who had led the school for 35 years, while raising $500,000.
SSAES is the only Armenian day school in New England. It is also the first Armenian school to be accredited by the Association of Independent Schools of New England (AISNE).
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The gala at the Hyatt Regency featured as guest speaker Dr. Mary Papazian. Serving as mistress of ceremonies was Kristina Ayanian, a member of the class of 2008, Miss Universe Armenia 2023 and an executive producer and reporter at Nasdaq. Vocalist Angelina Nazarian, a former contestant on the television singing competition “The Voice” and a current student at the Berklee College of Music, performed three songs, in English, French and Armenian, to the delight of the audience.
Principal Houry Boyamian poses with some current and former staff members of SSAES (Candid Memories Studio photo)
The theme of coming together of the community was front and center, and one spelled out by the Very Rev. Hrant Tahanian, the new pastor of St. Stephen’s Armenian Church in Watertown.
After Tahanian offered the invocation prayer, he said, “We celebrate the past, in the person of our principal emerita, Digin Houry Boyamian. We thank you for keeping the citadel bright for three and a half decades. … And we map out our future in its physical expansion, so we together can continue to develop and shape Armenian minds.”
Tahanian paid tribute to fellow members of the clergy who were present for the celebration and praised “a unique form of Armenian cooperation.”
Rev. Antranig Baljian (Candid Memories Studio photo)
“We have representatives from all the ‘sides’ and all the denominations who assist St. Stephen’s,” he said. He named Rev. Stephan Baljian of St. Gregory’s Armenian Apostolic Church of Merrimack Valley, Very Rev. Ghazar Bedrossian of Holy Cross Armenian Catholic Church and Pastor Avedis Boynerian of the Evangelical church, as well as Rev. Arakel Aljalian of St. James Armenian Church of Watertown, which is a Diocese church.
Tahanian thanked Aljalian for his support for the school throughout the years, including by “sending his children here.”
“Unity does not necessitate uniformity. If anything, uniformity is the enemy of unity. Societies that have been completes monotonous, usually stemming from a heavy hand, have not lasted very long,” he said. “The wealth of perspectives and knowledge” add to the whole of community, while Armenians “remain unwavering and united on our inalienable rights.”
New Principal
SSAES Principal Dr. Garine Palandjian paid tribute to her predecessor while looking toward a brighter future.
“Our students are joyful every day and SSAES is truly a labor of love. The school has blossomed over the past four decades into more than just an educational institution; it has become the cherished place where students are nurtured, where Armenian heritage thrives, where values are instilled and friendships are made that last a lifetime,” she noted.
Palandjian said that over the next five years, the administration plans to build on this foundation and increase instructional opportunities for students.
“We will nurture this distinctive blend of academic rigor, Armenian-American cultural education and joy to ensure that every student thrives in a supportive and inspiring environment,” she added.
Indeed, she said, serving as principal of an Armenian school is much more than a “nine-to-five job.” She said, “It’s a commitment to our ancestors who kept the Armenian faith and spirit alive for so many centuries. It is our responsibility to ensure the continued success of our school so that their sacrifices were not made in vein.”
She also paid tribute to the school’s annual class trip to Armenia, which started two decades ago, taking students also to Karabakh (Artsakh) (before 2020), noting that the trip changes the students forever.
She addressed the alumni: “You all make us so proud as many of you have taken leadership roles both locally and globally.”
Palandjian then invited Boyamian to the stage, where she presented her with a commendation from the Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs for her services.
An unscheduled speaker was Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, who presented Boyamian with a citation from Gov. Maura Healey, congratulating her for being “a pillar of the Armenian community,” a recognition from Sen. Edward Markey, congratulating her on her 35 years of service, as well as from his own office, congratulating her for “instill[ing] a deep-rooted pride for our Armenian heritage and decades of students that” have become leaders of the community.
“Digin Boyamian has been more than just a great principal, a great leader, a great mentor, a great example; she has been a great supporter of other Armenian issues,” he said, paying tribute to her and her husband, Avedis Boyamian, for supporting so many others in the community.
Referring to the honoree, keynote speaker Papazian, mistress of ceremonies Kristina Ayanian, and singer Nazarian, Koutoujian said, “I see a strong thread of powerful, intelligent, passionate, amazing Armenian women.”
Tribute to Armenian Education
In her keynote address, Papazian paid tribute to Armenian education in the US, as well as St. Stephen’s in particular.
The school “represents a commitment by this community to its young people,” she said.
Papazian is the executive vice president of the Association of the Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, and is the former president of San Jose State University and Southern Connecticut State University.
Armenians have recognized the importance of education for a very long time, she said, “and never more poignantly than after the tragedy of the Armenian Genocide, which nearly destroyed our people. Some of the first institutions that were established during the first Republic of Armenia … when Yerevan province was overcome by refugees and extraordinary poverty, were schools and universities,” including Yerevan State University in 1919 and the Armenian State Pedagogical University in 1922.
She then spoke about her family setting in California after surviving family members of both her parents fled the Armenian Highlands, as victims of the Armenian pogroms of the 1890s and the Armenian Genocide.
She added that the Armenian community in the diaspora will fade away unless it maintains ties to the Armenian state.
Alumni attending the banquet (Candid Memories Studio photo)
“The Republic of Armenia is all we have at present and we should do everything in our power to make it a contemporary homeland, one that our children can embrace,” she said.
Papazian, who also serves as a chair of the Advisory Board of the Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (FAST), praised the value of Armenian education, as she herself is a graduate of the Ferrahian School in Encino, the first Armenian day school in the US, where her mother taught for 30 years.
She paid tribute to the young students and the Armenian people: “As Movses of Khoren wrote, we are a small people, but we have done many things worthy of being remembered. Of course, he meant small in number, not in stature, intelligence or determination.”
Fr. Antranig Baljian, the recently retired pastor of St. Stephen’s Armenian Church, then introduced the honoree, paying her a personal and heartfelt tribute, reflecting their longtime friendship and collaboration.
Boyamian is the daughter of Karnig Panian, the vice president of Beirut’s famed Nshan Palandjian Jemaran (an Armenian lycée). “Following in the footsteps of her father, an orphan of the Armenian Genocide who overcame much adversity to become a beloved and distinguished professor and vice principal,” Baljian said, “Digin Houry has led the school for the past 35 years with great passion, determination and commitment, providing the best possible educational opportunities to Armenian children residing in the greater Boston community.”
“Her greatest sense of achievement and fulfillment arises from the fact that St. Stephen’s graduates continue to be active in the Armenian community and many have gone on to top colleges and universities and have become successful leaders in their field,” Baljian said.
“I have known Digin Houry for 30 of her 35 years as our school’s principal,” he said. “I have witnessed a truly impressive and devoted educator and community leader who has had a truly amazing tenure. Her job has not been an easy one, yet no matter how serious a difficulty she was dealing with, she would come to school every day with her dazzling smile on her face and a fierce inner determination to overcome whatever obstacles the day may present.”
He then praised her husband, Avedis, and their children Ani, Taline and Stepan and their spouses.
“As we’ve worked together all these years, so we retire together,” he said.
A Beloved Principal
Boyamian and her young family were recent arrivals in the 1980s from Beirut and as a trained pharmacist, she was able to work. However, a few years after the school was founded, in 1984, one of the founders, Yervant Krafian, approached her to take over the school. She took a leap of faith and agreed, going back to school for a master’s degree in education from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
“Since its founding, St. Stephen’s has been an essential part of the greater Boston Armenian community, serving a student body that represents a cross section” of the community, she said.
She spoke about her late father, whose memoir, Goodbye Antoura, she helped put together. “He believed the only way for the Armenian people to avoid total annihilation was to keep our language and culture alive through education. He fulfilled his calling by dedicating 40 years of his life to educating generations of Armenians in Lebanon. I have tried to follow in his footsteps.”
She added that Armenian education is “more important than ever.”
She paid tribute to her colleagues, teachers, volunteers and members of the community and praised her successor, Palandjian: “She is leading the school with energy and enthusiasm. I wish her success in her mission to advance the school. I invite you all to stand by her and support her endeavors.”
She also thanked her husband, Avedis, for his support, adding, “To my children and grandchildren, you are my hope for the future.”
Boyamian was gifted a captain’s chair from the organizing committee, with her name on it. In addition, it was announced her portrait would be installed at the school.
New Building
Michael Guzelian, the chairman of the board of SSAES, spoke next, praising the school’s low student-to-teacher ratio and academic standards. He said the school is incorporating modern technology, such as 3-D printers for students. “We’ve had over 1,000 students pass through our doors at St. Stephen’s. Our alumni have gone on to attend some of the best secondary schools, colleges, universities and they have become cultural ambassadors and leaders of the Armenian community both in the diaspora and Armenia,” he said.
Enrollment in grades 1-5 is increasing, he said, with more Kindergarteners staying for higher grades. This year, there are 26 first graders.
“We are outgrowing our space at the ACEC,” he said. “We are at capacity.”
A “purpose-built” school is necessary, he said. To wild applause, Guzelian said that two buildings surrounding its current sites, the Armenian Cultural and Educational Center, which is home to the school’s K-5 grades, and the Afeyan Building housing the pre-school, have been purchased, and that a new building will be constructed for the K-5 students. “We will go from 9,000 square feet in the ACEC to 24,000 square feet in this new building,” he added. “This expansion is needed to meet our school growth, meet up to date state requirements and our expanded programs.”
Committee Chair Nicole Babikian Hajjar asked the members of her committee to stand up before she announced the amount raised by the program. “I think we can call this a success,” Hajjar announced to applause.
The mother of three SSAES graduates, she recalled her first meeting with Boyamian. “I was immediately sold and I never looked back,” she said. “Over my years of interaction with her, I have always been amazed by her extraordinary work ethic, with her grace and elegance, both inside and out.”
“I want to reiterate how privileged we are to have St. Stephen’s in our backyard. We cannot take this privilege for granted. … Now that our language and heritage are endangered, it is our collective responsibility to take on the challenge and build together a strong future to this little gem in our community. Your school, my school, our school.”
Also speaking was Prelate Archbishop Anoushavan Tanielian, who said to the honoree, “I bow to you.”
When reached after the event, Boyamian said, “I was delighted to see so many of our alumni, teachers, parents, supporters and friends of the school. There was joy, excitement and hope in the air; hope for a bright future for our school. I was deeply touched by the outpouring expressions of love and appreciation.”
Avedis and Houry Boyamian (Candid Memories Studio photo)
She added that for now, she is throwing herself into other efforts toward Genocide recognition, including serving as chair of the Armenian National Education Committee of the Eastern Prelacy, and being elected to serve on the board of the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, as well as planning to make presentations to GenEd (Genocide Education Project) for public school teachers. In addition, she said she is working on publishing the rest of her father’s works.
Said Babikian Hajjar after the event, “It was an honor to lead this well-deserved celebration. The overwhelming support from the community, especially the strong presence of alumni, was truly inspiring. It’s a testament to the School’s enduring impact and Digin Houry’s extraordinary legacy. We successfully raised over half a million dollars — an achievement that reflects the collective dedication and generosity of everyone involved.”
