By Marian Sahakyan With pride and bittersweet tears, the graduating classes at Allan F. Daily High School and Verdugo Academy celebrated their successes, during a cozy, touching ceremony in an auditorium at the First United Methodist Church, located across the streets from the schools, Tuesday afternoon. For many of the 84 graduating students, the milestone was the result of years of survival and strength. With a smaller student-teacher ratio, both schools are designed to serve students in need of extra guidance. In many ways, the schools provide a second chance for students who don’t do well in a traditional school…

By Lila Seidman Shant Sahakian, executive director of the forthcoming Armenian American Museum, has a knack for turning his passions into professional achievements — intentionally or not. When Sahakian was a student at Toll Middle School, a friend asked him if he could design a website for his father’s small business. Sahakian, then 14 years old, was coding and designing websites as a hobby. It sounded like fun, and he said “yes.” When his friend asked him what his rate was, Sahakian was puzzled. “I’m looking at him, and I’m like, ‘What do you mean? I’m happy to do it…

By Andrew J. Campa At the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, Roosevelt Middle School will be rebranded and open its doors as Roosevelt Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, or STEAM, Academy Magnet. After years of talks and preparation, the Glendale Unified school board unanimously voted to make the change during its meeting on May 7. “We have had a wonderful faculty and staff at Roosevelt, committed to making sure our students are committed to the best,” Roosevelt principal Kyle Bruich said. “This project started with our former principal Mary Mason [now the district’s executive director of elementary education]….

By Andrew J. Campa A nationwide search that produced 21 candidates from nine states ultimately resulted in Glendale Unified school board members selecting someone from their own backyard. Vivian Ekchian, who has worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District for 34 years, was officially voted in 5-0 Tuesday as the first female and first Armenian American superintendent in the position’s 106-year history for a district that’s made up of 32 schools and 26,000 students. Ekchian, who has lived in Glendale for 20 years, was born in Armenia and will head a district with students of Armenian descent making up…

By Andrew J. Campa A nearly yearlong discussion about how to involve Glendale Unified students in the city’s annual Gay Pride Month festivities took the forms of art and literature featured at Crescenta Valley High School’s art gallery on Monday afternoon. Forty-five pieces of artwork — including sculptures, paintings, drawings, poetry, statements and mixed media — represented student voices from several of the district’s elementary, middle and high schools. The art showcases the district’s participation in “glendaleOUT,” defined by organizers as, “a multivenue LGBTQIA-based event in collaboration with local chapters of Gay Straight Alliance in the Glendale Unified School District.”…