On Schools, Girls, Boys and … My Chess Champion Teacher (Summer 2015)

YARP hello from Isabelle! Today I will be writing about schools for all of you to read but especially for my third grade teacher at Thoreau School in Concord, Mary Gallagher, who has requested that I write about schools.

We will actually be talking about one specific school. As many of you may know, my grandmother, Susanna Ohanyan, is a founding principal of this school. The name of this school is Ohanyan School. Ohanyan School is from 1^st to 12^th grade.  Today we only will be talking about the summer school at Ohanyan which I attend very year. Here’s their website: Ohanyan School.

In our summer school we study the following subjects. In the morning we usually have Lego club or math. Then we have Russian or English, chess, drawing, history/story time or art, and last but definitely not least, Armenia’s main language, Armenian. In Lego we usually make whatever we want or the teacher tells us what to make. One time I made a boat and even the boys thought it was better than what they can do (in our class the boys think they can make better boats and cars than girls.)  In math the teacher gives us math problems that are age appropriate. In Russian we have to talk only in Russian, in which I am not very good. In English class I am the best student. In chess we usually have races. In Armenian, I am fluent in speaking but not that good in reading.

In Armenia the children are like children anywhere else. In summer vacation the children are playing all day long. One problem is that some of the boys think that they are better than the girls. I think that is totally wrong because men and women, boys and girls should all be equal.

In general boys naturally grow more muscles than girls which means boys might be physically stronger than girls. That does not mean that only they should take the lead. I am just glad than nowadays gender does not matter. What I mean by that is that women can become anything boys can become. Women can fly to space as well as men can fly into space. Women can vote and they can become Presidents. They can go to the best universities.

Some of the strongest scientists are women. Margaret Mead was a famous anthropologist. Marie Curie created the X-ray machine that now saves lives. Rosa Parks helped African-Americans to get more rights and equality in the US. In Armenia, there are many famous women chess players that won championships. For example, my chess teacher at Ohanyan Summer School is a chess champion! We call her Ms. Vati.

In conclusion, I like coming to Armenian summer school at Ohanyan and I hope more Armenian children living in different countries will join us next summer! Here are some photos from my Ohanyan Summer school from this year!