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Victoria Garcias/Contributing Writer
Victoria Garcias//FIUSM
When other students see Gevorg Shahbazyan’s name, they typically ask him where he’s from.
“I tell them Armenia, but sometimes they confuse it with Romania and they don’t know about the country, culture, history or anything,” he said. “It was kind of my responsibility to show them as much as I can.”
But the junior international relations major is no longer one of the University’s few Armenian ambassadors.
On March 11, the Graham Center hung not only an Armenian flag, but also an Artsakh flag in the FIU Atrium.
“There were several Armenians here at FIU but they had some difficulties trying to get the flag displayed,” Shahbazyan said.
It was a month-long process for him to get the flag in GC.
Carlos F. Carrasco, the senior director of business and finance and Ruth Hamilton, executive director of student affairs, fulfilled Shahbazyan’s request.
Carrasco operated the lift in Thursday’s hanging of the flag.
“It felt really nice to see the flag displayed next to many others,” Shahbazyan said. “It showed respect, equality and that all nations, be it small or big, old or new, rich or poor, have the same rights.”
Hamilton has even convinced Shahbazyan to start an Armenian club on campus.
“I’m going to get some Armenian fellow students, but I want the club to be not just Armenians, but also Americans to introduce the culture to FIU Panthers,” he said.
– news@fiusm.com
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