Watertown’s Natalie Tenekedzhyan earns Tough Choices in History Book Award and Hartunian scholarship

2026-02-20 - 16:04

WATERTOWN, Mass. — Natalie Tenekedzhyan of Watertown High School has been selected by the school’s guidance department as the recipient of the Tough Choices in History Book Award and Tough Choices in History Rev. Vartan Hartunian Scholarship. She was recognized for her exemplary high school academic record, successful completion of her first college semester and an award-winning essay based on the memoir Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, written by Rev. Abraham Hartunian and translated by his son, Rev. Vartan Hartunian. The account chronicles the survival of a people and family from the 1915-1922 Armenian Genocide, beginning in Marash and concluding with the burning of Smyrna. Tenekedzhyan graduated with honors from Watertown High School in June 2025 and is currently pursuing a bachelor of science in premedical health studies at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, class of 2029. She is the daughter of Vardan Tenekedzhyan and Siranush Melkonyan Tenekedzhyan, formerly of Gyumri; granddaughter of Oganes and Vardui Tenekedzhyan and Gyulnarochka and the late Avik Melkonyan; and sister to Vardui Izabell Tenekedzhyan. The Tough Choices in History Award and the Tough Choices in History Rev. Vartan Hartunian Scholarship are merit-based and open to all Watertown High School seniors, without regard to race, color, creed, religion or national origin. Applications are available through the school’s guidance department. The required reading for the essay component, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, is available for purchase at the National Association of Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), in Belmont and the Armenian Museum in Watertown, and is also freely accessible through public libraries across Massachusetts.