School Supply Project

In 6th grade, we began volunteering for the Armenian Educational Foundation(AEF), a nonprofit organization since 1950 committed to educational projects. Since 2007, AEF School Supply Project (SSP)  has shipped and distributed school supplies and backpacks to over 20,000 students K-12 students in village schools in Armenia, Artsakh, and Javakhk. 

For the past 11 years, this project was completed solely by AEF members, however, in 2018 the project underwent significant changes under our leadership. We felt strongly that our classmates at Chamlian Middle School in Glendale would benefit from the experience as well. By extending this opportunity to our classmates, we believed it would give other students an understanding of the struggles facing children in Armenia who are unable to afford the most basic supplies necessary to facilitate their learning.  

As project managers, our responsibilities included purchasing and inventorying supplies. Managing, recruiting , training, student volunteers, and motivating a 31-member student team to work collaboratively to meet deadlines.  Under our leadership and through aggressive fundraising, the program has increased the number of backpacks each year, 330 backpacks (2018), 350 (2019), and 470 (2020).