21-year-old Goharik Grigoryan was born and raised in Gyumri. She recalls how, when she was younger, thinking about her future profession, she could not make up her mind about becoming an actress, a lawyer, or a doctor. However, she says she never doubted her abilities and knew clearly that whatever she does, she will like and enjoy it. It took her some years to understand that education is the profession of her heart. In the meantime, an exciting journey awaited her…
“In 10th grade, when I was thinking about my future profession, I chose the economics stream because it included both humanities and natural sciences subjects. Subsequently, economics became a foundation for me making a definite selection,” Goharik recalls.
In school, Goharik was particularly interested in marketing.
“Marketing and business are disciplines of the future, which also leave room for creativity. I think that’s what attracted me. I decided to apply to the Management Department of the French University of Armenia, specializing in marketing.”
Parallel to the professional quest, Goharik volunteered in different organizations since age 15, including among other things as a kindergarten assistant, a French language club moderator, an event organizer.
The second semester at university coincided with the COVID pandemic and long and hard months of lockdown, forcing Goharik to return to Gyumri. At that time, she joined the ReStart Gyumri Center for Initiatives and implemented a number of projects with them.
“We had lots of interactions especially in Armenia’s northern provinces, with young people living in remote communities. After two and half years of various projects implemented among the youth, I realized that education was my mission. I think most of our country’s problems can be overcome if more members of our society are educated and conscious. I decided to focus my energy on doing something useful for young people. I have never regretted studying marketing and business in university, because they really help me today in developing strategies and long-term plans for the education sector,” she says.
She says many young people living in remote communities simply do not know what opportunities exist and are available to them, as well.
“I once went to a village with just 25 households, including nine young people, three of whom had already decided to follow in the footsteps of their fathers by traveling abroad as labor migrants. One of the village girls had never even been to Yerevan. At that time, I realized that my primary mission is to help and share information on these young people, my peers, about the world and about opportunities available to them.”
With this very idea in mind, Goharik and a few of her allies created a non-governmental organization called Professional Orientation Center, which helps and guides young people in selecting a profession.
Goharik says volunteering and interactions with community youth were a great opportunity of self-discovery for her. She confesses that volunteering quickly becomes ‘addictive,” as nothing compares with the pleasure one derives from doing good, helping, selflessly putting smiles on people’s faces.
As part of her volunteering, Goharik initiated a campaign called From Volunteering to Opportunity. It united socially-active young people that came together and shared their experience and knowledge of participation in international programs or education opportunities. From the start of the campaign, when 60 young people participated, the number of the group’s participants, who are eager to volunteer, has now risen to 5,100.
Goharik says that she has encountered numerous stereotypes during this time, but has also seen them crumble in the face of young people’s resistance. In many cases, especially girls living in remote communities were not allowed to travel to Gyumri or Yerevan to take part in the discussions.
“One cannot accuse the parents, either, because they grew up in an environment where the unknown is associated with danger. However, I am certain this can change. I have seen it change. After participating in one or two seminars, those children’s parents would find me in the social media, make friends, and try to understand the reason behind their children’s interest or enthusiasm, and when an atmosphere of trust was created, those barriers disappeared. In this sense, we need to work with not only the adolescents, but also their parents, and we need to be persistent,” she says with confidence.
At the end of her studies, Goharik chose the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports for her internship. She says her decision caught almost everyone in a surprise: how will she be able to apply her marketing knowledge and skills in the education sector? She was, however, adamant.
“When I started my internship, I initiated a study in the education field, because the research tools are the same in business and all other sectors. My only goal was to research the market and understand how Armenian education could be ‘sold’ to young people living in post-Soviet states, the Middle East, or a number of other countries. Although the research was not too profound, I made a number of exciting discoveries that can really make our education attractive for many young people,” Goharik tells.
Parallel to this, this young lady has managed to participate in a number of international projects and to become the Armenia country representative for several of them or a member of their board. The list includes the Network of Young European Ambassadors, the Erasmus Student Network Yerevan, the EU4Youth Alumni Network. Goharik is also a graduate of the Local Democracy School.
She now works in the Yerevan office of the CASA Foundation as a project coordinator, where she implements the Youth Inclusion and Participation project jointly with the UNHCR office. The project is currently focusing on our young fellow Armenians forcibly displaced from Artsakh.
“Through various tools of formal and informal education, as swiftly as possible, and without any traumas, we are trying to integrate these young people in the new environment, for example by creating informal education platforms, conducting regular meetings in our office, and organizing a youth camp, as well,” she says.
In the near future, relying on the capacity of the Professional Orientation Center NGO, Goharik plans to develop a brief guide through which successful young people will try to mentor young men and women living in remote communities for several months, steering them towards attractive opportunities.
In spite of valuing self-education, Goharik has not forgotten about formal education. She is now thinking of continuing her education abroad, specifically in education governance. The first step has been taken: Goharik will soon travel to France to participate in a long-term internship program. She will study informal education and intercultural communication, with a view to bringing the international experience to Armenia in the future.
She admits that what she has so far achieved is not too little, but is insufficient for her and for society. She says in order to achieve her goals, she will need to continue her learning and self-education, and to gain experience, because she wants to be worthy of the change that she will certainly bring about.