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“If you want to make the world a better place, you must be willing to make difficult decisions and accept responsibility for those decisions, and you cannot be afraid to face the setbacks and recover from them.” These words by Ruben Vardanyan were quoted by Alice Petrossian — a donor to the Armenian Educational Foundation (AEF) and an international education consultant — during the AEF’s 75th anniversary gala held in Beverly Hills. She invited Veronika Zonabend, Ruben Vardanyan’s wife and Chair of the UWC Dilijan Board, to accept the Armenian Educational Foundation’s Educational Visionaries Award, which is presented to individuals with a visionary outlook on the future of education.
“Ruben Vardanyan and Veronika Zonabend spent their whole life making the world a better place. Regrettably, September marks the second year that Ruben is being unjustly held in a Baku prison, by the Azerbaijani dictator, Aliyev. We pray that Ruben will be released in time, that we may celebrate our next Day of Scholarship event in Yerevan,” emphasized Alice Petrossian.
She noted that Ruben Vardanyan and Veronika Zonabend dreamed of bringing international education excellence to Armenia, and in 2014, they did just that in a small Armenian town, by establishing the United World College Dilijan, better known as UWCD. It currently has over 220 students from 87 different countries, “a true model of what the globe could be in peace.”
Veronika Zonabend, who was present at the event, said she was honored to receive such a prestigious award. “Of course, I prefer we stand here together. It was Ruben's passion and love for the idea of change in Armenia that first inspired me to do the same.”
She said that she considers herself Armenian by choice and noted that Armenians around the world have remained united in part thanks to the intergenerational transmission of knowledge. “Education and shared values are the invisible threads that connect us no matter how far apart we may live. Whatever you do in life, you must do it with heart and love, for that is the one thing no one can ever take from you. And now, as Ruben endures the loss of his freedom under cruel and unjust circumstances, his very life has become a testament to his unwavering belief in a better world — one built on knowledge, education, and the strength of community. Now more than ever, we must stand together in the face of change, striving to bring stability to the world by passing on our knowledge and the lessons of our experience to the next generation, for it is they who will guide us out of the uncertainty of tomorrow.”
Since 1950, the Armenian Educational Foundation (AEF) has been committed to providing financial support to students and educational institutions worldwide. AEF initially focused on assisting Armenian schools in the diaspora, particularly in Greece, Syria and Lebanon, before expanding its mission to support Armenian communities in the U.S., and later shifting its focus to Armenia, Artsakh, and Javakhk after Armenia’s independence.
