St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary School (SSAES) and Preschool offers a challenging, bilingual Armenian and English curriculum. Our teachers individualize their classrooms to meet each child’s styles, academic levels, and interests. The curriculum has been designed to educate the whole child, and students are encouraged to reach their full potential in all areas. As students move up to Kindergarten through fifth grade, the core curriculum subjects are taught in English, with Armenian class daily.
At the elementary level (K-5), Armenian language, history, religion, and culture are taught in Armenian, with an emphasis on creating awareness of and instilling an appreciation for Armenian heritage and identity. As a culmination of their years of study at SSAES, the two-week Armenia Trip will remain with the 5th-grade graduating class their entire lives and shape them in ways yet to be discovered.
Armenian Bilingualism in America: Preserving Language & Identity is a 2018 documentary, written and filmed by two Class of 2007 St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary School (SSAES) alumni: Nairi Krafian and Shant Marokhian. The film explores what an Armenian education means to the individual students who experienced it, the educators who taught it, as well as to the larger community both American and Armenian that benefit from the preservation of a native language, history, culture, and identity. SSAES alumni discuss how their bilingual education impacted their lives and continues to inform their futures.