Conquering Fears: With humble beginnings in SAMIS, Aghababyan explores all possibilities

by Sedra Ammar and Shahd Rashid

An empowered woman, an alumna who is molded by challenges to be the best version of herself, and a SAMISian who knows how to look back at where she came from…

It is evident that Ms. Arpine Aghababyan, batch 2014 graduate of SAMIS, embodies these qualities. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business from the American University of Armenia and currently completing a master’s degree in Management from SKEMA Business School (School of Knowledge Economy and Management) in France. She shares this success with SAMIS which helped her hone the needed skills and instill values that helped her overcome the endeavors she had faced along her journey.

Ms. Aghababyan has developed 21st-century skills through the help of her teachers who pushed her to make every effort in her academic life. She particularly mentioned Teacher Jasmine, Teacher Sheila, and Teacher Sallie who have aided her throughout her academic journey. With English being used as the medium of communication in school, she developed fluency in the language which has become useful in her collegiate years.

Despite all the challenges she has faced in the academe, she got to enjoy the whole journey by going out of her comfort zone. She explored new things by joining different extracurricular activities in events such as ESM week, athletics in Sportsfest, cultural activities on Foundation Day, as well as, Arabic week, despite her limited ability to communicate in Arabic.

More than the academic success she has achieved, she came to realize that it is all the values she got from these experiences that matter the most. The hospitality and support of the SAMIS community towards her made her feel accepted and worthy of respect which helped her build up her self-confidence and self-worth. She believes that respect and appreciation for others are the essential values that SAMIS has taught her to become a person with a well-built character. With all the experiences she got from SAMIS, Ms Arpine was able to effortlessly relate and communicate with other people. This has served as a foundation to further hone her skills and abilities toward achieving her bachelor’s degree and now, completing her master’s degree in France. Her enhanced organizational and communication skills made her land different jobs: Customer Service in Zvartnots International Airport of Armenia in 2016, Digital Marketing

Specialist in 2019-2021, Project Management at Smartgatevc in JulySeptember 2021, Risk Manager at Betconstrat in February-July 2019, Business Math Teaching Associate from August 2021 to December 2021. Grateful as she always is to SAMIS for having achieved milestones in her life, Ms. Arpine Aghababyan leaves a message to all SAMISians. That