Assembly Student Program Alumnae Tamar O'Brien Barsamian and Susanna Kharatyan Inspire the Next Generation of Armenian American Leaders at Celebration of Service

Tamar O'Brien Barsamian and Susanna Kharatyan address guests at the

Armenian Assembly Celebration of Service in Boston

Boston, MA - As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) used its Celebration of Service gala in Boston on June 6, 2026, to spotlight the generation that will carry Armenian American advocacy into the nation's next 250 years. Two alumnae of the Assembly's student programs - Tamar O'Brien Barsamian and Susanna Kharatyan - took the stage at the Artists for Humanity EpiCenter to speak about the programs that shaped them, before a sold-out audience honoring six Assembly leaders for more than 25 years of service each.

For more than five decades, the Assembly has invested in training the next generation of civic-minded leaders. More than 1,200 students have participated in Assembly internships since 1977, through the Terjenian-Thomas Assembly Internship Program in Washington, D.C. and the Yerevan Internship Program in Armenia, with placements on Capitol Hill and beyond. Alumni include public officials, attorneys, physicians, journalists, and community leaders across the country - among them, as O'Brien Barsamian noted in her remarks, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice Gabrielle Wolohojian, the highest-ranking Armenian American judge in the United States and the first Armenian American woman to serve on a state supreme court.

Terjenian-Thomas Internship Program alumna Tamar O'Brien Barsamian delivers remarks

Tamar O'Brien Barsamian, a 2018 alumna of the Terjenian-Thomas Internship Program and a third-year law student at the University of Maine School of Law who previously spent five years at POLITICO as a Senior Product Manager, spoke of representing "the great-grandchildren of genocide survivors" and of the caliber of the interns who helped propel her career in media and law.

"My favorite quote, and one you are likely familiar with, is: they tried to bury us - they didn't know we were seeds. To all of the honorees: you are not seeds. You have created an entire root system. And while you may not see the fruits of the fully blossomed tree, or the shade it provides in your lifetime, future generations will know and feel the impact of your unbelievable legacy," said O'Brien Barsamian.

Advocacy Summit Scholars: the 2024 class of 20 students (left) and the 2025 class of 80 scholars (right), pictured with Emmy Award-winning actor and producer Joe Manganiello, an Assembly Advocacy Summit special guest and activist

The program featured a video tribute to the Assembly's Advocacy Summit Scholars program, which brings Armenian American college students to Capitol Hill to engage directly in the Assembly's advocacy work. Launched in 2024 as a pilot class of just 20 students, the program quadrupled to 80 students in 2025 and reached 130 scholars in 2026.

Intern alumna and three-time Advocacy Summit Scholar

Susanna Kharatyan addresses guests

Susanna Kharatyan, a Terjenian-Thomas Internship Program alumna and three-time Advocacy Summit Scholar, embodies that growth. Born in the United States and raised in part in Armenia, she served as president of the Armenian Student Association at the University of Virginia, joined the pilot cohort of Advocacy Summit Scholars during her junior year, interned in a Virginia Congressional office through the Assembly, returned to the Summit as a senior and again this year with the New England cohort, and spoke to the Assembly's 2025 summer internship class in Armenia. She is now pursuing dual master's degrees at Harvard Divinity School and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

"At the heart of these efforts was a profound belief in young people - a trust in our generation, and a commitment to ensuring that we shared not only in the inheritance of this work, but in the responsibility of shaping both its present and its future," said Kharatyan. "Generation after generation, Armenians transform suffering into resilience, displacement into community, and memory into responsibility."

"We are the beneficiaries of an extraordinary legacy... That hope now rests in our hands. May it emerge from them stronger, brighter, and even more enduring than when it first reached us," she continued, thanking the honorees "for reminding us that one of our greatest inheritances is one another."

2026 Advocacy Summit Scholars pictured with Armenian Assembly

community members, advocates, board members, and staff

The next generation was a throughline throughout the evening. Assembly Life Trustee Anna Afeyan urged the community "to allow the next generation enough room to lead, not only participate," while Ambassador Edward Djerejian, in a video message, called building the next generation of civic-minded leaders a core Assembly priority: "We need more Armenian Americans to enter public service - elected, appointed, civil service, foreign service - because it counts."

"One of our highest priorities is to ensure that young Armenian Americans are equipped with the knowledge and confidence to take leadership," said Assembly Co-Chair Oscar Tatosian in his closing remarks. "The future of our community depends on what we are building today - and on who we prepare to lead tomorrow."

Dozens of intern alumni and Advocacy Summit Scholars in the audience were asked to rise and be recognized during the program - a visible reminder that the Assembly's greatest legacy is the leaders it trains.

Support the Next Generation of Armenian-American Leaders

America's 250th anniversary is a moment to celebrate what Armenian Americans have contributed to this country and to invest in what they will contribute next.

Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a strictly non-partisan, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

###

NR # 2026-27