ENCINO–A brick laying ceremony–marking the start of construction for an added facility at Ferrahian Armenian school was held immediately after church services on July 30–headed by Western Prelate Bishop Moushegh Mardirossian who led a procession from the church to the site of the new building.
Bishop Mardirossian was joined by the former and current pastor of the Holy Martyrs Armenian church in officiating a ground blessing ceremony. Present among the community members were representatives of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Rosdom chapter–the Homenetmen Massis chapter–the Armenian Relief Society Anahid chapter–members of the Hamazkayine–as well as representatives from the Armenian-American Council on Aging and the Compatriotic Union of Ourfa.
After welcoming remarks to the capacity crowd gathered at the site–Master of Ceremonies Khatchig Titizian invited leaders of the aforementioned organizations to lay the first bricks of the project–signaling the start of the construction of the new Ferrahian facility.
First to lay the bricks were founding principal of Ferrahian Gabriel Injejikian and the current principal of the school Marzbed Margossian. Joining them were benefactor Charlie Ghalian.
Following the brick laying ceremony–the attendees gathered at Avedissian Hall for a brief program–outlining the importance of the school to the Armenian-American community.
The program began with a flag ceremony by the Homenetmen Massis chapter scout troop members.
Titizian welcomed the community members to the ceremony and recounted that in the 1950s–Injejikian had brainstormed about establishing a day school in the United States. Titizian made special mention of Mattheus Ferrahian–due to whose generous donation the current school facility was constructed. Also mentioned in the introductory remarks were the generous contribution by Kevork Avedissian.
Ferrahian students presented a cultural program–based on works by Shavarsh Nartouni and Daniel Varoujan–after the distribution of blessed Madagh–which was sponsored by Harutiun Kamarian.
The ARS Anahid chapter also received honorable mention for its contribution toward the building project.
In his remarks–Injejikian outlined the important role of Armenian schools in the life of the Armenian-American community–and raised the imperative to build more schools in California–since–currently–only 10 percent of the Armenian population attend Armenian schools.
Ferrahian principal Marzbed Margossian outlined the school’s expansion plans–following which–Rev. Vartan Arakelian also addressed the crowd.
In his closing remarks–Bishop Mardirossian called on the community to utilize the project to renew its commitment toward the mission of the school.