Dear parishioners and friends of Greek School Portland,

When you will be reading these lines, three months of operation of the Digital Greek School Portland will be completed. This period has been a particularly challenging one. However, we managed to turn the challenges into opportunities, which enriched the school’s program enormously. We could not achieve that without the Greek School team that works untiringly and quietly for the common purpose, inspired by the Greek filotimo, giving their best and expecting nothing in return, but the progress of the school and the Community.

It was not easy to proceed to this social distancing new era, using distance learning. In this challenge, our academic advisors, Louiza Kondilis, Eva Prionas and Katerina Chiotis were always there to offer their expertise. They helped us effectively to build a cohesive online curriculum using an interactive digital platform, while upgrading the traditional teaching methods and tools.

What is more, distance learning allowed us to bring on board two more native and highly experienced Greek language teachers. At this moment we have three native Greek language teachers, Sofia Iosifidi, Maria Anagnostidou and Christos Monohir, who guarantee the high educational level of our school.

We also had to deal with practical issues: how our students could get their books and art material. So, we chose two Sundays to distribute the material; this gave us the joy to meet in person, while keeping the social distance, with our students and their parents. The art material, built and classified by Irini Karanicas, our art teacher, proved to be the highlight of each lesson. Our students are excited to open their weekly envelope and do the activity with their teacher.

Additionally, we had to inform people about the existence, the program and the news of our Greek School, because we say yes to social distancing but no to isolation. In this framework, Thomas Spathas volunteered to build, and to constantly update, our very first website and Nick Vettas created and manages our social media. Moreover, Catherine Chachas arranges reliably our zoom links and platform.

All the above could never be accomplished without the financial contribution from the Endowment Fund and the unconditional support of Isidoros Garyfalakis.

The best advocates of the school are our students and parents, who have been responding enthusiastically from the very first moment and keep supporting the school and cooperating wonderfully.

To all these wonderful people, our Greek School Portland says a big ‘‘Τhank you! ’’

Happy 2021!
Theodora Nakou - Director
info@greekschoolportland.com