In 2005, KZV established a sister school relationship with a small village school in Armenia. The relationship was established on the occasion of the first trip of KZV students, faculty and parents to Armenia.

Our sister school is located in Oshagan, Armenia, an agricultural village some 30 miles from the capital city, Yerevan. Oshagan has a population of approximately 5,000 and is well known as the resting place of MesrobMashdots, the creator of the Armenian alphabet. Our sister school is one of two schools in Oshagan. The school is named after Pailag Papkenian, a beloved former teacher who was killed in 1995 fighting for freedom in Artsakh. Very similar to KZV, the PailagPapkenianSchool has approximately 120 students in grades Pre-K through 8.

The KZV school trip of 2005 was the inaugural visit that established our sister school relationship. Since then, KZV groups have visited in 2006 and 2008. Prior to the visit in 2008, KZV students corresponded with sister school students as pen pals. It was very exciting for all to watch the San Francisco and Oshagan “pen pals” meet face to face after having corresponded for several months. With each visit, students, faculty and parents from both schools have been humbled by the emotion and joy of the coming together of two groups of Armenians from very different lands.

Quickly after the first visit in 2005, a small group of KZV parents came together to begin working on fundraising projects to assist our sister school. In 2006, we funded a new school library. We have also provided sports equipment, books, clothing, computers, printers and classroom supplies. Our biggest project to date was to fund a system to bring clean, running water to the school. This was completed in 2008. In the future we hope to raise funds for a new fence for our sister school as well as to explore a teacher exchange program.