Los Angeles, CA – The Armenian National Committee of America — Western Region (ANCA-WR) announced its participants for the 2007 Leo Sarkisian Internship (LSI) Program. They will be joining fellow participants from the eastern United States as well as Canada and Europe for the eight week program in Washington, D.C. The 2007 LSI session begins June 18th.

A program with over two decades of history, the ANCA Leo Sarkisian Internship Program provides student leaders and activists an opportunity to participate in an intensive program designed to give them the tools necessary to effectively advance issues of concern to the Armenian American community on the federal, state and local level.

The 2007 LSI Program participants from the western United States are Alex Der Alexanian, Shant Hagopian, Dzovak Kazandjian, and Chris Yemenidjian.

Der Alexanian, a business major at California State University, Fullerton and Orange County resident has dedicated numerous hours volunteering with the On Track Mentorship program for at risk youth. In addition to his ANC activism, he also currently serves as the Orange County AYF’s social committee chairman.

Hagopian is a political science major that will be matriculating at the University of California, Berkeley this autumn. Aside from his work with the West San Fernando Valley ANC, he has served as a senator with the student government at Los Angeles’ Pierce College and interned with California State Assembly Member Fran Pavley.

Kazandjian is an English and Sociology double-major at the University of California, Irvine. She currently serves on the executive committee for the South Bay ANC. She has also interned with the Asbarez daily newspaper and Orange County Register.

Yemenidjian is a Political Science and English double-major at El Camino College who will be attending the University of California, Berkeley in the autumn. He recently completed the ANCA-WR’s Internship-Externship Program where he specialized in community and government affairs. He currently serves as the South Bay ANC chairman. He has been and continues to be actively involved with the South Bay AYF and Homenetmen, having served as chairmen for both organizations. He is also the chairman of the United Human Rights Council.

Since October 2006, ANCA-WR staff, board members, and former interns have delivered presentations on college campuses throughout California and reached out beyond to other Western Region states introducing students to the ANCA and informing them about the ANCA Leo Sarkisian Internship Program.

“We are happy to send these young advocates to our nation’s capital,” noted Haig Hovsepian, ANCA-WR Community Relations Director and IEP Coordinator. “These individuals have volunteered with our local or regional offices so their experience in Washington, D.C. this summer will provide them with a new and important perspective on our grassroots organization.”

The Armenian National Committee of America is the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots political organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.

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