Athens College

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Athens College (Κολλέγιο Αθηνών) is a co-educational private independent school in Psychiko, Greece, a suburb of Athens, part of the Hellenic-American Educational Foundation (Ελληνοαμερικανικό Εκπαιδευτικό Ίδρυμα). It was established in 1925 to bring the best of both Greek and American educational systems to Greece. The school's founders and big donors were Emmanuel Benakis, namesake of the Benaki Museum of Athens, and Stephanos Delta. Instruction is in both Greek and English.

Its 3,000 students are divided among two elementary schools, one middle school, and one upper school. Its adult education program enrolls another 2,000 students.

Approximately 95% of its graduates go on to university, half abroad. Athens College is well known for sending its students to top universities. For example, the graduating class of 2006 includes students who were accepted to Harvard (1), McGill (2), Yale (1), Princeton (2), Caltech (1), MIT(1), Cambridge (3), Oxford (4), Cornell (4), UPenn (1), Stanford (1), Brown (2), Dartmouth (1), Columbia (4), Imperial College (6), King's College (1) and UCL (4). Its International Baccalaureate program is considered of very high quality (more than one in seven students received a grade of 40 or higher). Its Greek educational teaching program, which most students of the school follow, is reputed to be the best in Greece, as many of its students enter into the best universities of Greece and some receive honors for exemplary exam performances.

Athens College is well-known for its annual school fair (Panigiri) which raises money in the tens of thousands for philanthropic purposes and attracts people from all around Athens and other schools. Besides this, Athens College has a Forensics Club, a Model United Nations Club and a Drama Club.

Its Forensics Club is currently fairly successful after a few lean years, winning both the Panhellenic Forensics Association Cup and the Panhellenic Debating Cup in 2006 and sending 2 of their debaters to the 5-member Greek National debate team for the World Schools Debating Championship. Also, Athens has a great tradition in mathematical competitions, both national and international. Its students are prepared in the school's Mathematic Club. School representatives every year win in the national competitions, participate in the national team and win prizes in Mathematical Olympiads. Also notable are the school's distinctions in competitions such as AMC 8, AMC 10 and AIME. The Drama Club has begun a tradition the last years by earning prizes, distinctions and awards every single year in national and regional tournaments. Also notable is the Model United Nations Club action which every year participate with great success in conferences such as THIMUN, SAIMUN, BERMUN and DSAMUN at the prestigious German School of Athens.

Athens College's library is one of the biggest school libraries in the whole of Europe and the first in Greece to have all its books electronically searchable and catalogued.

The sporting facilities of Athens College include a gym, a football pitch, seven outdoor basketball courts, three outdoor tennis courts, an outdoor swimming pool, a gravel football pitch, and an indoor sports centre with facilities for squash, table tennis, gymnastics, volleyball, martial arts, and other events. The school's varsity teams are well-known in Greece for their continuing success in basketball, volleyball and track & field.

Athens College is incorporated both in Greece and in New York State and is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization. Furthermore, very important for the school's spirit and an indication of its special role is the scholarship programme which gives the opportunity to students from all the social and economical classes to study there.

[edit] Notable Alumni

• Michael Dertouzos, (1954) late director of the M.I.T. Laboratory for Computer Science, and chairman of the Athens College Board of Trustees.
• Nikiforos Diamandouros (1961) academic, and since 2003 the European Ombudsman.
• Nikos Dimou, (1954) writer and broadcaster
• Apostolos Doxiadis, (1972) writer.
• Stavros S. Niarchos, (1928) Greek shipping magnate
• Andreas Papandreou, (1938) economist and politician; served three times as Prime Minister of Greece.
• George Papandreou (1971) politician and Foreign Minister of Greece from 1999 to 2004; became leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement in 2004. Voted President of Socialist International on January 2006.

[edit] External links

• Athens College web site (in Greek)
• American site
• Homer W. Davis, The story of Athens College: The first thirty-five years, 1925-1960, ISBN 960-85002-1-4. Davis was its first president.
• Δημήτρη Καραμάνου, Κολλέγιον Αθηνών, 1925-2000: Σταθμοί και Ορόσημα.