SOAR - San Antonio/Austin Chapter
SOAR-San Antonio became part of the SOAR family in January 2012 and expanded to include Austin in September 2013. SOAR-San Antonio/Austin was SOAR’s first Chapter in the Southwest. While there is a small Armenian community in San Antonio, they have been organized for more than four decades, galvanized, in part, by the Armenian Church of San Antonio that was founded in 1967. The Armenian community of Austin is relatively young. It is, however, growing rapidly with about 200 Armenian families living there presently. The community has the Armenian Church of Austin, the Armenian Club at the University, and an Armenian language school.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Varduhi Pellikka
President
Varduhi Pellikka was born and raised in Yerevan, Armenia. She graduated from the university as an English language teacher and interpreter in Yerevan. Moving to Finland in 2001, she lived there for ten years, then living in China for six months and California for ten months. Varduhi has been living in Austin for two years and loving it.
Varduhi speaks Armenian, English, Russian and Finnish fluently and understand a bit French and Spanish. She has many relatives and friends living in Armenia and is proud to let everyone know about her heritage and culture.
With a myriad of work experience in offices, IT companies, corporate gyms, and front desks in diverse and multicultural environments her work background includes project coordinator, software testing engineer jobs in Finland, a fitness instructor in gyms and corporate companies in the US, and she has taught in luxurious resorts fitness classes around the world for more than nine years. Varduhi also has more than three years experience in retail stores as a sales leader and assistant manager. She loves working as a team, creating positive environments, listening and understanding the needs of the team and customers so they can reach goals together.
Varduhi believes we can change the world by each of us doing our best and being kind and caring. She loves her country and is happy to help in small ways no matter the distance.
Thomas Glaser
Thomas William Glaser earned his Bachelor of Arts degrees in government and English at Texas Christian University, in Ft. Worth, Texas, in 1974, his Master of International management at the Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management in Glendale, Arizona, in 1975, his Master of Arts in U.S. history at Florida International University in Miami, Florida, in 2008.
Thomas recently retired from a 20+ year career with Miami-Dade County Public Schools. While in Florida, he taught 11th and 12th grade social studies at Mater Academy Charter High School, as well as being an adjunct professor at Florida International University, and an adjunct professor of English and History at Barry University and Nova Southeastern University. Thomas was a member of the Florida Education Commissioner’s Task Force on Holocaust Education and of the Miami Beach Holocaust Memorial Education Board, and a director of the Miami-Dade Council for the Social Studies and the Florida Council for the Social Studies. He has presented on the Holocaust, the Holodomor, and the Armenian genocide at local, state, national, and international professional conferences. His time teaching in Noyemberian and Kapan, Armenia, in 2009 has given him a deep commitment to the people of Armenia.
Thomas has recently relocated to New Braunfels, Texas, and is active with collector clubs in Texas and elsewhere and has regained his commission in the Texas State Guard, where he is the Personnel Services Officer at HQ, Texas State Guard..
Ani Hakimian
Ani is Armenian-American and a native Texan. She is a recent graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied Anthropology. Currently, Ani works in Cultural Resource Management as a Field Archaeologist, where she contributes to the preservation of cultural heritage. Ani is excited to be a part of the San Antonio/Austin chapter and to be involved in the Armenian community.