About Us
Hamaynk was founded in 2026 by the inaugural cohort of NAASR’s NextGen Summer Program developed and taught by Dr. Lisa Gulesserian:
Siran Arakelian, Edmon Arzunyan, Mané Arzunyan, Vanessa Atakian, Meliné Demirjian, John Esserian, Aleks Hovhannisyan, Narineh Mardiros, Patil Mardiros, and David Oganesian.
Our Story
As part of the Armenian youth, we have been dissatisfied by existing methods for finding appealing local events as well as the limited number of such opportunities. Our frustration was attested by the findings of the Armenian Diaspora Survey which stated that 37% of survey respondents “claimed lack of events interesting to the youth.”
With Hamaynk, we seek to collect, curate, and categorize Armenian events in New England and filter them by your interests, age group, and more. Additionally, we provide ideas and resources to encourage Armenians in our community to host their own events.
Name & Mascot
We chose the name Hamaynk because it means “community” in Armenian. Through this website, we strive to connect Armenian youth in New England.
Our mascot Arin (Արին) is a welcome swallow (ծիծեռնակ), which is a notable animal in Armenian culture that represents hope and renewal.
Future Plans
We plan to expand Hamanyk to the rest of the United States so that we can connect more Armenians in the diaspora. Additionally, we hope to create a user-friendly app version of Hamanyk, with user notifications and an automated approval system.