COMING BACK TO TRIPLE X

In 2006 Bro. Ara reconnected with Bro. John Gulugian, a Charter Member of the Orange County Triple X Chapter. It had been many years since Bro. Ara had been around Triple X and thanks to Bro. John he was reintroduced to the Fraternity.

As a young boy, Bro. Ara’s parents were active members of the Los Angeles and Orange County Chapters of the Triple X Fraternity. Bro. Ara still has memories of the hundreds of people who would gather for the picnics, the Brothers arguing over backgammon and Bro. Ara getting a chance to play with some of the children of the other Brothers.

In Bro. Ara’s teenage years he attended some of the Triple X parties hosted at Bro. Art Kazarian’s home in Anaheim but didn’t see much of the Fraternity in the years that followed.

In 2007 after attending several events and reconnecting with some of the families he missed, Bro. Ara applied to become a member of the Orange County Chapter of the Triple X Fraternity and was initiated in May of that year.

CHAPTER EXECUTIVE

In 2008 Bro. Ara held his first position on the Chapter Executive as Corresponding Secretary.

In 2011 Bro. Ara served as Recording Secretary.

In 2012 Bro. Ara was elected Master of the Orange County Chapter.

In 2023 Bro. Ara became a Charter Member of the San Gabriel Valley Chapter of the Triple X Fraternity. Having been an active member of several organizations in the San Gabriel Valley throughout his lifetime, Bro. Ara felt it important that he be there for the founding of the Triple X Fraternity’s newest Chapter.

In 2023 Bro. Ara also joined the Los Angeles Chapter of the Triple X Fraternity. After having attended Los Angeles Chapter Meetings for many years (just because he enjoyed so many of the Brothers), Bro. Ara finally formalized his membership.

GRAND CHAPTER

In 2019 Bro. Ara was selected as Grand Treasurer for the Fraternity. During his tenure Bro. Ara not only collected the Chapter Dues in record time, he also standardized much of the financial reporting for the Mid-Term and Annual Conventions.

Rather than focusing on just his term from 2019-2020, Bro. Ara went back to 2009 and created standardized reports for the years 2010-2018 so that the financials weren’t just available for his term, but were available for comparison over all the years for both financials and membership from 2010 through 2020.

To this day Bro. Ara continues to work with the Grand Treasurers to help maintain the standards created and to assist the Grand Treasurers and Grand Chapter in any way he can.

TRIPLE X ACTIVITIES

POT LUCK

In 2009, Bro. Ara began working with Bro. Kurken (Kirk) Kazarian and his lovely wife, Marge Kazarian on the Pot Luck event. Bro. Marge, as she was affectionately known, was in many ways the heart of the Orange County Chapter from its inception and continued to set a high bar with her expectations for others. Bro. Ara did his best to meet those expectations throughout the subsequent years but could never quite seem to measure up to Marge’s high standards!

To this day Bro. Ara continues to work on the Annual Pot Luck event with help from many of the Brothers and their families including Jon & Jackie Agajanian, John & Tracy Gulugian, Rob & Cynthia Tusan and many others.

The Pot Luck event has afforded Bro. Ara the opportunity to reconnect with many of the families he remembered from his childhood including the Kazarians, Gulugians, Chitjians, Jamgotchians, Hekimians, Garakians, Cholakians, Astors and Hartunians.

OC TREX PICNIC

Bro. Ara has been a regular fixture at the Orange County Triple X Picnic. First recruited by Marge Kazarian to help with the dessert table, Bro. Ara eventually worked selling tickets, drinks, serving food and acting as a runner between the chefs and the servers. Today you can usually find Bro. Ara grilling vegetables to go along with the delicious meats prepared by Bros. Kelly Astor, Larry Kaprielian, Don Kazarian, John Cholakian, Brent Melkesian & Brian Melkesian.

WWW.AASHOF.COM

In 2017 Past Grand Master Jack Kayajanian insisted that if the Armenian American Sports Hall of Fame was to continue, it needed a presence on the internet. Bro. Ara Malazian took up the challenge and created AASHOF.COM (Armenian American Sports Hall of Fame). Built from the ground up, the site pays homage to all of the inductees into the Armenian American Sports Hall of Fame and the site continues to be supported through the efforts of the Orange County Chapter of the Triple X Fraternity.

CONVENTIONS

Bro. Ara was in charge of the 2019 Convention Business Meeting in Orange County. In addition to working with the hotel on the menu, table layout and electrical setup, Bro. Ara also handled all of the audio visual for the meeting opting to purchase the equipment and set it up himself saving the Chapter 50% over the cost of renting the equipment from the hotel. The system worked so well, the meeting next door sent the hotel staff over to ask that the sound system be turned down a bit.

Bro. Ara is a familiar face to many who have attended the Annual Convention and Mid Term Meetings. Beginning with his term as Master in 2012, Bro. Ara has served as a delegate to both the Mid Term and Annual Convention meetings and you’ll see him as a delegate again this year!

SPECIAL CAUSES

Bro. Ara believes very strongly in the importance of youth and education. Whenever possible Bro. Ara has encouraged the Fraternity to support education in the donations that are made. From Armenian Schools to Armenian Language Programs to scholarships at the University of California at Irvine, Bro. Ara works to ensure that the Triple X Fraternity continues to make contributions to the future of Armenians in America as well as Armenians all over the world.