By Taniel Koushakjian
FLArmenians Managing Editor

Instead of taking the summer off, five South Florida Armenian students are working in a variety of industries to advance their careers. From finance to international relations to law, Florida’s Armenian American youth are growing fast and branching out across America.

Mariam Grigoryan

Mariam Grigoryan, a Boca Raton native and senior at the University of Florida (UF), is currently a legal intern in the Broward County Public Defender office in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Under the director of Public Defender Howard Finkelstein Grigoryan’s work will focus on indigent defense. Grigoryan looks to graduate with a double major in Political Science and Criminology, as well as a minor in Business Administration. She plans to attend law school in the fall of 2015.

Gevork Sarkisian

Boca Raton resident and Queens, New York native, Gevork Sarkisian, is also pursuing his career in the legal field. A second year law student at Nova Southeastern University (NSU), Sarkisian is currently interning with the law firm Kanner and Pintaluga, P.A. in Delray Beach, Florida. Sarkisian received his B.A. in Criminal Justice from Florida Atlantic University (FAU). Following his internship, Sarkisian plans to visit Washington, DC to “explore new opportunities in the legal field,” he said.

Carine Kazandjian

Palm Beach County native Carine Kazandjian, a communications major and commercial music minor at FAU, is spending her summer interning with Clear Channel Media and Entertainment Company in West Palm Beach, Florida. The FAU junior has a passion for music and has even released a few songs of her own, available on ITunes. “I am gaining so much knowledge working with the different departments whether it is radio or promotions. The music industry is mainly what I want my future in and this internship is giving me the opportunity to learn more and more each day,” Kazandjian said.

Sarine Kazandjian

Meanwhile, her twin sister, Sarine Kazandjian, is currently interning at Morgan Stanley’s Palm Beach Gardens office. A finance major with a minor focus in entrepreneurship, Kazandjian is a junior at the University of Florida.

Florida International University (FIU) junior Gevorg Shahbazyan is currently an intern in the office of the Nagorno Karabakh Representative in Washington, DC as a participant in the Armenian Assembly of America’s Terjenian-Thomas Summer Internship Program, the first student internship program offered by an Armenian organization in America. Recently, Shabazyan worked with his fellow students and FIU faculty to have the flags of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh raised in the school’s atrium. Hailing from Yerevan, Armenia, Shahbazyan studies international relations and hopes to continue his studies in graduate school and someday be a diplomat.

Gevorg Shahbazyan with Nagorno Karabakh Representative Robert Avetisyan

These young, bright, rising stars of the South Florida Armenian American community are sure to impress their friends and colleagues, while representing our community proudly in all their endeavors.