Every year, alumni of the St. Sahag St. Mesrop Armenian Saturday School of Toronto visit their historical homeland under the sponsorship of the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church. Throughout the past six years, alumni have had the chance to see all that they have read and heard about in their history textbooks. This year, 10 alumni are in Armenia.

Based in Toronto, the St. Sahag St. Mesrop Armenian Saturday School is a school with the mission to educate generations of Armenians by transmitting knowledge about the Armenian identity and national traditions. Although the students attend the school on Saturdays, Armenian language and literature teacher Lusin Mangasarian says the teachers are able to awaken the spirit of Armenians in the children and help them preserve the Armenian language.

The school always organizes events to preserve the Armenian spirit abroad and present the triumphant and bloody pages of the history of the Armenian people correctly. According to Mangasarian, the students know the history of the Armenian Genocide very well.

This year ceremonies commemorating the Armenian Genocide were held in many countries around the world, and this Armenian school of Canada also organized events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide. On April 24, ceremonies were conducted in Georgetown where the first 109 Armenian orphans took refuge after having escaped the Armenian Genocide.

The alumni have been in Armenia for the past nine days. Under the sponsorship of the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church, the alumni visit the homeland to see all that they have only seen and heard about in textbooks. These ten alumni are visiting the homeland for the first time ever.

Taking into consideration the experience of previous years, the Armenian language and literature teacher is certain that the alumni will always remember their days in Armenia and that these visits can become a guarantee for them to settle in the homeland.