Empowering the Armenian Youth Through Technology

California’s San Gabriel Valley is home to over 200,000 Armenians. In fact, in Glendale alone, Armenians inhabit over 40% of the city's population. And while they find solace in a place where they can maintain a sense of identity, this feeling is juxtaposed with the staggering numbers that riddle their beloved homeland with political and social unrest.

Approximately 90,000 Armenians have been displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, a landlocked and disputed territory bordering southern Armenia and Azerbajian. Nearly one in four businesses in Nagorno-Karabakh have either partially or totally suspended operations; in 2022 economic losses in Nagorno-Karabakh are estimated at $190 million, equal to a quarter of its GDP; and, 120 days of a blockade has led Armenians in the region limited access of necessities.

The Armenian youth, the children of these immigrants, face the challenge of balancing assimilation into American culture while maintaining their Armenian heritage. While their parents and grandparents gather over Armenian coffee and reminisce on old memories, the younger generation fosters new connections to the homeland through technological pursuits. They are inspired by a new mission: to use their creative and technological talents to build a better Armenia, specifically in response to the current humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.

For, Nyra Tatoulian, 18, from Glendale, her Armenian faith and culture is central to everything she does.

As a senior at Crescenta Valley High School, Tatoulian has centered her high school career around architecture, animation, and design. Tatoulian proudly educates her peers and the greater Glendale community about her ancestry through her artistic works.

“Rather than giving others history lessons about our past, I want to show them Armenian beauty through art as much as I can," said Tatoulian.

Tatoulian spends four hours designing, prototyping, and building her projects every Saturday at the AGBU Innovation Studio, an Armenian academic center and technological incubator.

The bright-yellow walled and open-spaced studio is buzzing with Armenian music mixed with the sound of 3D printers creating Armenian cathedral models. At 10 a.m., 12 students, aged 13-18, make their way inside the center, collect their tools, and march into their studio for their class.

The center offers a plethora of classes in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and art. The mentors’ goal is to bridge STEAM education with Armenian culture.

On Saturdays, instructors teach Game Design and Living Architecture courses. The students are fully immersed in their coding projects in the game design studio, with their eyes fixed intently on their laptop screens. Meanwhile, in the living architecture studio, students gather around communal tables covered with long, sketching paper and draw out their ideas for community spaces that spotlight the natural land within Armenian villages.

Tatoulian glues her mock-up building onto a cardboard base and takes it into the staging room to take photos for her portfolio.

Her model below, “Հայաստանի Գիտահեղուկի Կենտրոն” translates to “Armenian Knowledge Center” and is an Armenian internet cafe, that seemingly integrates indoor and outdoor spaces. The café’s architecture includes floor-to-ceiling windows and a wall comprising the intricate designs of two traditional Armenian carpets.

Her works create a harmonious blend of modern designs and Armenian motifs.

Tatoulian’s work aligns with the mission of AGBU Innovation Studios.

The Armenian symbolism serve as an example of how tradition and modern technology can co-exist and complement each other.

Nare Avagyan, from Glendale, the center’s director, spends one-on-one time with every student to better understand their creative interests and how they want incorporate Armenian elements into their projects. She challenges the students to be solution-oriented and push past their set boundaries. “At Innovation Studios FAIL stands for ‘first attempt in learning’. We’re building a community of innovators and we want to develop a system for them to stay in touch and continuously exchange ideas."

Avagyan explained that each student has a different Armenian background. Some, she said, have attended American schools their whole lives and haven’t had the chance to connect with their Armenian roots. Others, have recently immigrated to the United States and joined AGBU Innovation Studios on a scholarship.

The center, which began in 2021, mirrors TUMO Center for Creative Technologies found in Yerevan, Armenia that was established in 2011. In a similar fashion, the TUMO center is an educational program for Armenian students interested in technology and design. Since 2011, Tumo has established nine centers across Armenia, Lebanon, Albania, France, and Russia.

The recent war on the Republic of Nagarno Karabakh in September 2022 and the current blockade have increased anxiety for the Armenian diaspora, especially for the Armenian youth.

Political conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been ongoing since the end of the Soviet Union. Recent escalation has centered around the contested territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh contained an Armenian ethnic majority and declared independence from Azerbaijan in 1991. However, the region was left in constant territorial disputes between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis without international recognition. In 2020, Azerbaijan set forth six weeks of attacks and annexed parts of Nagorno-Karabakh before a peace treaty was signed by both parties to end the war.

Since then, Azerbaijan has violated the peace treaty by attacking southern Armenia and enforcing a blockade on the Lachin Corridor, the only road between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. This road is a lifeline responsible for distributing food, medical supplies, and other items to the Armenian people Nagorno-Karabakh.

Gas and electricity supplies have been disrupted for over three months, schools have closed, and families have gone without food and water.