Shirakatsy Lyceum International Scientific-Educational Complex awards their King Constantine Medal to Hasmik Tadevosyan

Posted: 18 July 2023

Shirakatsy Lyceum’s King Constantine Medal was awarded to Sixth Grade student Hasmik Tadevosyan for inspiring a spirit of sustainable service within her school community.

Hasmik started a school initiative to collect plastic bottle caps to recycle in order to help the environment as well as people in need of wheelchairs. She started this initiative in Grade Four as part of her Primary Years Programme (PYP) Exhibition.

“…We were supposed to conduct an inquiry in an issue and suggest actions as part of our PYP exhibition. At that time, I was thinking about recycling as a solution to environmental issues, and my mentor and I found information about Develop Armenia NGO on Facebook and I decided to take part” explains Hasmik.

Develop Armenia is a non-profit foundation, dedicated to supporting disadvantaged individuals and communities in the Republic of Armenia by providing essential supplies, relief goods and developmental aid. They raise vital funds through recycling plastic caps, when recycled, one tonne of plastic bottle caps yields around $250 allowing them to buy one new wheelchair.

Recognising the important impact Develop Armenia is making, Hasmik focused on creating an effective communication strategy to help mobilise the communities that the organisation works with. She encouraged staff and students to write their names on their bottle cap collection bags so that she could identify them and recognise their support and efforts.

“In my emails I listed all participants’ names and attached photos of our activities. This especially motivated primary school students, who want to see their names included in the list of major donations.”

Unfortunately, Hasmik was unable to collect enough bottle caps in time for her PYP exhibition. However, her hard work did not stop there.

“With rough estimations, we have already collected enough caps for about 10 wheelchairs. In addition, during the recent war in Artsakh with our collected caps Develop Armenia has purchased couple of bandages and artificial legs for soldiers.” Says Hasmik.

Although Hasmik has spearheaded this project, she humbly recognises that the collective efforts from the school have made the wheelchair donations possible “… now, my effort is not much here as many people are very active and they are enthusiastic in helping me with this project, that’s why we can collect enough bottle caps. I’m very thankful to them.”

This wonderful initiative has helped the environment by reducing the amount of harmful plastic going to landfill, and by re-purposing existing plastics it also reduces the carbon footprint of producing new wheelchairs.

“For over two years, Hasmik has mobilized the whole school community including primary, middle, and high school students, parents and staff to take action. She has also engaged others outside the school network to join the cause.” Says Ilona Hovasapyan Shirakatsy’s RS Rep “Her enthusiasm and example inspired many people, and for that reason we are delighted to have awarded her this prestigious medal.”

Hasmik is still driving the bottle caps collection initiative forward and says, “with the help of students, parents, staff and many other people, I will continue this work for the sake of the environment and helping people in need. After my graduation, I’m planning to hand over this project to younger students. I hope by that time I will frequently visit my school to provide my collected caps and also to monitor the project progress.”