Koghb is located in the Tavush region in the northeast of Armenia. Densely covered with lush forest, the region is bordered by Georgia and Azerbaijan. Not so coincidentally, it also happens to be the site for the newest TUMO Center, of which the groundbreaking ceremony recently took place.
Dreams of opening the center were made a reality through the partnership with the Koghb Foundation, help from Ucom and Mission Enfance, and generous contributions from Argentinian philanthropists Boghos Egsertsian, Grigor Simsiroghlu and Nshan Devedjyan. But TUMO Koghb is the kind of reality that can only come true by dreaming big…
The center will accommodate 600-1,000 teens from Koghb and the neighboring areas of Noyemberyan and Bertavan. Catering to so many teens from such a large area requires a considerable amount of space, because teens need nothing if not their space. Good thing that’s all taken care of! The design for the TUMO Koghb center includes workshop rooms, a self-learning platform, recording studio, cinema and open-air terrace for athletic and leisurely activities.
As with all TUMO centers, TUMO Koghb will be free of charge and open to all students ages 12-18, allow them to explore all our focus areas and complementary skills, ranging from web development and filmmaking to robotics and 3D modeling. They’ll also get to learn from our seasoned staff during the workshops and industry pros who’ll come from all over just to teach them. TUMO Koghb will also accommodate soldiers from the nearby army base as part of the TUMO Army program. But you already know all this, we’re on center five already. This is old news.
The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by President Serj Sargsyan, TUMO founder Sam Simonian, TUMO CEO Marie Lou Papazian, Koghb Foundation President Armen Parseghyan, Tavush Governor Hovik Abovyan and representatives from local schools and the army base.
But by far the most excited of the bunch were the future TUMOians who came to witness the start of what will soon be their own center. 14-year old Ani Martirosyan has got two things on her mind – animation and robots. (Probably because they go so well together, but that’s merely conjecture on our part.) “I have two dreams that I can’t wait to work on at TUMO Koghb. I want to create my own animation and bring all the characters to life and also design robots that can serve in the military.”
These dreams, and those of the other future TUMOians, found a home that day. All the teens present wrote their hopes and dreams on pieces of paper which they then placed in a box. That box was placed in the ground where the foundations of the TUMO Koghb center will be built – meaning the foundation of the center will be built directly on the hopes and dreams of the community’s teens!