Memorial Walkway for Armenian Genocide created in Arizona

13/4/2012

PanARMENIAN.Net – Noubar Armen Manoogian, 17, of Scottsdale, Arizona, has become the first Boy Scout of Armenian descent to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout in the state of Arizona.
According to a press release provided by St. Apkar Armenian Apostolic Church, the completed project was approved by the Grand Canyon Council and the rank of Eagle was conferred on April 12, 2012 at the Eagle Board of Review. Nationally, the Eagle Scout rank is achieved by only 5% of the boys that enter Boy Scouts.

For his project, Noubar created a Memorial Walkway for the Armenian Genocide, which is the first of its kind in the United States. The walkway is bordered with the words “Martyred For Our Faith In These Places, Here We Worship Still”. The 68-foot long, 5-foot wide concrete path has stamped into it 113 names of towns where the Armenian Genocides of 1896 and 1915 occurred. It is located at St. Apkar Armenian Apostolic Church, 8849 East Cholla Street, in Scottsdale.

The Armenian Genocide Memorial Walkway took 320 man hours to complete. After many stages of planning, fundraising, work and approvals, it was completed over three weekends in January of this year. The purpose of an Eagle Project is for a Boy Scout to show leadership in the planning and execution of a service project that is the culmination of his years of training in the Scouts. Noubar led the dedicated Boy Scouts from his Troop 869, and also from Scottsdale’s Troop 411, in the execution of his project.

2012 is the 100th Anniversary of the Eagle Scout rank. Noubar’s Eagle rank patch will be a special centennial edition that will only be conferred on those scouts who achieve Eagle in 2012. The Armenian Genocide Memorial Walkway will be blessed on Sunday, April 22nd, 2012 by Rev. Fr. Zacharia Saribekyan.

The blessing will take place after the church services when the congregation follows the priest in a vigil Tapor for the Genocide Martyrs. The Primate of the Western Diocese, Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, will lead a short ceremony at the Memorial Walkway when he visits the St. Apkar Parish May 3 to 5 for the Annual General Assembly of the Western Diocese. It is being held this year in Arizona for the first time in its 85 year history.

Noubar Manoogian is the son of Dn. Berj and Victoria Manoogian and the brother of Rossleen. He has been in scouting since age 6 as a Tiger Scout, then as a Cub Scout when he earned every Arrow Point and the St. Gregory Religious Medal for Cub Scouts from the Eastern Diocese. As a Boy Scout, he has earned 51 Merit Badges and the St. Vartan Religious Medal for Boy Scouts, and he is a member of the Boy Scout Honor Fraternity, the Order of the Arrow. He has been an Ordained Acolyte of the Armenian Apostolic Church since age 8 and is currently the Junior Executive for the Hye-Ways Group and a member of the ACYO.

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