ARF Badanegan Brings Armenian Youth Together Through Quiz Bowl

On Saturday November 5th, the ARF Western Region Badanees held their annual Quiz Bowl. Hosted in the city of Glendale by it’s Badanegan and AYF members, the event drew in over 180 participants. Verginie Toulumian, an AYF member and judge said of the event, “this is a great opportunity for the Badanees to not only see each other and make friends, but more importantly to engage in their history.”

Badanees from all across Southern California including the cities of Pasadena, La Cresenta, Glendale, Burbank, Montebello, South Valley, North Valley, Orange County and South Bay practiced and studied for months to prepare for the event. Paul Iskajyan, a Badanee from Montebello states, “we had weeks of educational and presentations to prepare for the event, we did study a lot, but we were with friends and we all looked forward to competing.”

The questions for the quiz bowl were centered around the formation of the first and second Republics of Armenia. Questions such as “Who were the four Prime Minister during Armenia’s first Republic?” and “What do the colors on the Armenian flag represent?” were asked. After almost three hours of competition and interaction the winners were announced.  The first, second, and third placed winners were Burbank, Pasadena, and North Valley respectively.

Palig Kodjanian, member of the Glendale Badanegan Committee and judge for the event stated, “the winning chapters answered 59, 58, and 56 questions out of 60 correctly, highlighting the impressive depth and wealth of knowledge the Badanees contained.” Kevork Baghdasarian, a competing Badanee said, “it was really fun and I can’t wait till next year!”

Through events such as the Quiz Bowl, the ARF Badanegan brings Armenian youth together to interact, engage, and build an appreciation for their history.
The Badanegan chapters also held their trophy ceremony for the Olympics they participated in a month ago. They will also be holding their annual Badanegan camp on the 17th, 18th , and 19th of February.