On Monday, March 27, 2023, Athena, the guide dog, joined her new guardian in a handover ceremony at our School’s IB Diploma Programme. Athena is the first dog to be acquired by a group of IB DP students as part of their CAS volunteer project.  She was purchased in the 2020-2021 academic year in collaboration with the non-profit Liberty Guide Dogs, and her handover took place after completing her training.

Liberty Guide Dogs was founded in 2018 by Yiannis Kondraros to acquire and train guide dogs suitable for helping people with total or partial vision loss. IB DP students have been involved with Liberty Guide Dogs via the CAS program since 2019 and regularly volunteer and complete their CAS Project in partnership with the organization. 

At the beginning of the ceremony, Yiannis Kondraros and other organization volunteers, including Yiannis Velissariou '21, spoke to our students and emphasized the need to be well-informed on issues of accessibility and the importance of volunteering in organizations such as Liberty Guide Dogs. After the handover, Athena was ready for her new home!