Nairi Mnatsakanyan is a serious 17-year-old from Dalarik. “He is one of the best students,” the local school deputy headmaster says. “Nairi is one of those smart and bright teens that know their purpose and do their best to achieve it.” However, Nairi thinks that he hasn’t always been like that, “COAF and its extra-curricular activities have made me the way I am.”

Nairi was just 10 when he was enrolled in the COAF and US Embassy English Access Microscholarship Program. Then he joined Aflatoun, a social and financial education project by COAF. Later, he started attending TUMO, a center for creative technologies. He was successful in whatever he tried. “What I like most is the debate club that COAF launched at our school. I didn’t think I was good at talking but it turned out I could do that as well. We learnt to discuss opposing points, started taking part in debate contests. We even took prizes at national debate contests.”

Nairi has decided to become an IT expert. “If it weren’t for COAF, I wouldn’t be so confident and wouldn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. Now I definitely know I will major in information technologies. I would love to become a famous programmer and study abroad but I will never lose touch with my village. I plan to help my community as much as I can.”

And he already does it – by sharing his knowledge in IT and math with local school children. “Nairi is confident but very modest,” a teacher says, “He is like a raw diamond that COAF has put into a beautiful frame.”