How did this 14-year-old student who was a rhythmic gymnast in Denmark become a Gyumri TUMOian?

Meet Anelia, who has mapped her road from Armenia to Denmark and back to Armenia, and is now a student at TUMO Gyumri. Anelia was 6 when she moved to Denmark with her family and she returned to Armenia when she was 11. During her 5 years in Denmark, Anelia became a rhythmic gymnast who was a national champion in Denmark.

“Of course it was difficult to adapt, but TUMO became my second home after I moved back.”

Anelia wants to explore whatever she can at TUMO: whether it’s programming, photography, animation, creative writing, web development or drawing, she likes all of the above and more!

Here, Anelia is at the creative writing workshop where she was interpreting paintings and writing stories about them.

The story Anelia wrote at a creative writing learning lab with Columbia University

“At TUMO, I realized that consistency is the key to success. It doesn’t matter what learning area you’ve chosen, you can achieve your goals if you’re consistent about them,” says Anelia.

^{Anelia’s graphic design project at Camp TUMO}

Besides this, Anelia is volunteering. She’s a part of the Social Media Marketing team at TeensLIVE, which is an informative platform for teens where she makes videos on trending topics.

Here, Anelia is filming an educational video on Papillomaviruses. “You come across so much misleading information on the internet and you never know which source to trust. By filming these videos, we’re trying to raise awareness among youth.”

Like many people her age, Anelia is in her self-discovery phase. She’s attending the Leaders Club at the KASA Swiss Humanitarian Foundation that’s helping her out with this. “The discussions we have here help me understand myself and others. I learned to communicate better and I think this is the first step to becoming a good leader.”

Recently, Anelia appeared on a BBC broadcast as part of a story about Armenia as the host country of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and talked about TUMO and her hometown.

Anelia hopes that the Armenia-Denmark-Armenia road will have other stops in the future. She’s relying on the lessons learnt at TUMO to help her succeed.