“John M. Carras” Kindergarten celebrated its 10 years of operation with a very moving ceremony on Thursday, June 20, 2024. The Director of the Kindergarten, Ms. Tatiana Gouskou, welcomed all the guests and expressed her sincere thanks to the administration of the School for entrusting her with the beginning of this model Kindergarten globally.

As Ms. Gouskou said, the goal of all was to create a safe family environment that is distinguished for its excellent pedagogical and educational completeness, as well as its excellent infrastructure, organization, and staffing. A pre-school center that applies the most modern educational approaches, with innovation, a stimulating educational environment and the cultivation of skills such as critical thinking, communication, cooperation, and creativity for children, with play as the main focus.

Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic-American Educational Foundation, Ms. Annika Papantoniou, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mr. George Antoniadis, and Athens College President, Professor Spiros N. Pollalis, delivered welcoming remarks. Special thanks were expressed to the former Chairmen of the Board of Directors Charalambos Vellis and Alexandros Samaras who envisioned and created the Kindergarten as well as to the donors Ms. Fotini Livanou and Alexandra Voureka-Petala, for this unique gift to the College in memory of their father John M. Carras. Thanks to their generosity, new horizons will soon be opened in creation and innovation with the expansion of the Kindergarten and the "Charalambos Vellis" building, which is already under construction on the Psychico campus.

Alexandros Samaras, under whose presidency this new school unit of the Hellenic American Educational Foundation was inaugurated, spoke about a model educational center for preschoolers that also stands out for its architecture. In September 2013, Mr. Samaras' office undertook pro bono the architectural design and construction supervision of the project, which was completed 14 months later.  As Mr. Samaras pointed out, the Kindergarten is a model for sustainable architecture and in its very first year of operation it was awarded the highest distinction of Platinum Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (Platinum LEED) by the Green Building Council of the United States. It is the first building in Greece and the first school building outside the United States to receive this highest recognition for its energy and environmental design.

The protagonists of the musical part of the festive event were the young students who graduated this year from the Kindergarten as well as students who just finished Grade 9 and who were the first to attend the Kindergarten in 2014-2015. The children remembered and shared moments spent at this School and sang favorite tunes together, accompanied by teachers and students of the Athens College Conservatory.

The event was accompanied by the unique exhibition "10 years - 10  milestones" of the "J.M. Carras" Kindergarten which reflected the course and development of the 10 years of the School. Each section of the exhibition presented original works of artists and works of the Kindergarten students. From 2014 until today, dozens of renowned Greek artists such as Alexandra Athanasiadi, Kostas Paniaras, Alexandra Tsoukala, Maria Filopoulou, Aphroditi Liti, Manolis Charos as well as actors and singers such as Konstantinos Markoulakis and Phoebus Delivorias visited the Kindergarten and inspired our students to create.

After a successful 10-year journey we wish a very Happy Birthday to our Kindergarten! From its beginning until today, a decisive role in its success has been played primarily by the high-quality teachers who staff it, as well as by the students who come and go every day with joy, leaving their own mark on the School, and also by their parents who from the very first moment entrusted the education of their children from this early age to the College. We thank them all very much and hope that the coming years will be even better!