October 8, 2011, Yerevan, Ayb High School

Your Excellency, the President of the Republic of Armenia, reverend bishops and clergy, distinguished members of the “Ayb” Club, honored guests:

 Today, October 8, is Holy Translators Day. On this day we honor Sts. Mesrop and Sahak and their students. With their blessing and intercession, we gather today for the opening ceremony of the first component of the Ayb Educational Hub - the Ayb High School. We have set high goals for ourselves. To create an environment that brings together under one roof the quintessential aspects of our common cultural heritage and values around which Armenian life must evolve in the 21st century.

One day, you will see here on this 7 hectare campus a chapel, a middle school, a grade school, a media arts center, and an open-air museum. By the end of the year, we expect the master plan, currently under development by a team at Harvard University, so that we can move forward with the tenders for the architectural design and construction of the rest of the campus.

In 2006, when the founders of this program gathered at David Yang’s home in Moscow, we probably did not imagine what a grand project we were embarking on. We envisioned an educational center for the development of the talent and energy of the Armenian people equal to the needs of our times. Today, six years later it has become a reality upon two pillars of achievement:
 
1) The Ayb Educational Club has brought together a veritable movement for high quality Armenian education, espoused by dedicated and accomplished individuals who have invested their time and resources to make this a reality.

2) The Ayb Educational Foundation has undertaken numerous significant programs in recent years, becoming a leader in Armenian education. Partnering with some of the world’s leading educational institutions and most prominent scholars, we have established up-to-date educational environment in various Armenian schools, equal to the challenges of the 21st century, through model tenders, bringing the latest educational technologies to Armenia. We have kindled the love of knowledge in the hearts of our students. Participants in our programs have gone on to study at the world’s leading universities. We have restored the existential connection between schools and excellence in science, arts, and culture. We have reestablished the tradition of societal participation and trust in education.

Today, we are opening one school, where everything is new. The Ayb School teaches more than 50 subjects, with the leading textbooks and curricula from around the world, adapted for our students’ needs, employing cutting edge technology.

Students enrolled in our school have demonstrated their ability and commitment to education. To teach these exceptional students, we have gathered a faculty of bright, talented and experienced specialists, not only from Armenia, but also from abroad, in the best tradition of Armenian education, which over the centuries has espoused excellence. We have survived as a nation on the strength of our education and values, and we owe that to our schools, which have brought together the best and the brightest over the centuries. Of the 45 faculty members at our school, 20 have doctorates or beyond, 2 are decorated artists, 7 are working on their doctoral dissertations. They have written more than 500 books, textbooks, and scientific articles.

Ayb sets a new standard and model for education for our entire nation world-wide. We must assure that talented people are involved in our schools and that they share and pass along some of their talent and insight to the next generation. This is the only way that we can succeed in global competition and secure our future for centuries to come.

Ayb is not just an exceptional school. Rather, it is a laboratory for new educational technologies and methods that aspires to raise the level of education throughout Armenia. Our fruitful collaboration with the RA Ministry of Education and Science inspires hope that the innovations at Ayb will soon be available to students in all Armenian schools promoting a qualitatively new educational system. Ayb educational model is not limited to Armenia. There is need for it in the Diaspora as well. A new generation needs to be connected to Armenian culture and values. Armenian school graduates must be equipped to present Armenian culture to the world and to be ambassadors for Armenian culture throughout the world. We already have requests for schools on the Ayb model from various countries, and in the not too distant future, we envision a worldwide network of Ayb schools.

The Ayb School is the result of fruitful collaboration of many people. More than 45 individuals and organizations have worked together to build this school. The community behind this school is a national treasure and assurance of the continuity of this undertaking. It demonstrates once again that we are able to come together for the sake of our children’s future.

Construction on this school began 10 months ago, when we received the necessary permits through the good offices of this country’s leader. And now you are here to witness the opening of this magnificent facility.

Let us give thanks to our forebears, who transmitted to us our alphabet and writing, making education the basis for our national identity.

Let us give thanks to those, who today understand the value of education and the power of education to transform lives and are ready to dedicate themselves and their resources to this work.
 
Here we wish to express our deepest gratitude to the President of the Republic of Armenia Serge Sargsyan, who believed in this project and supported it throughout. Our great thanks to the benefactors, architects, builders, teachers, students and all those, whose work and dedication have made this dream a reality. Finally, we humbly acknowledge our debt to our nation, for having the stamina to survive a difficult journey, endowing us with a rich cultural heritage and spiritual gifts and entrusting us with this exceptionally important mission.