It’s been 35 years since the school community of St John’s made its first timid foray into the educational world in Victoria. And the history of this school is undeniably intertwined with the history of the Greek community of Melbourne. It embodies, in a sense, all the positive achievements, but also the difficult path that occasionally sowed discord within our community.

However, the defining factor of the history of St John’s Greek Orthodox College – the first bilingual school in Melbourne born as St John’s North Carlton – is not the stormy periods that this school went through; it is the contribution this school community made not only in the Greek community and its thousands of students, but the Australian community as a whole. Because the school community of St John’s has worked tirelessly to maintain the Greek language and culture in the lives of young people of our community, and is certainly considered as one of the cornerstones of Greek education in Melbourne.

The 35th birthday of this school community offers an opportunity “to take stock and strategically plan the future of the school” says lawyer, board member and one of many former students of St John’s College, Bill Giavris. He adds, though, that it is an excellent opportunity to honour the unsung heroes of this school, hence the introduction of the ‘Santo Costanzo Inaugural Annual Memorial Oration’, in memory of one such hero, Santo Costanzo. The inaugrual lecture will be delivered by an outstanding personality in the legal sphere of Australia, the distinguished barrister Julian Burnside AO QC.

Julian Burnside, a human rights and refugee advocate, was elected and named an Australian National Living Treasure in 2004 and this Monday he will speak at St John’s College on the topic ‘Human Rights in Australia: Is this really who we are?’.

Santo Costanzo was a well known figure to the school community. He taught International Politics, Legal Studies and Maths at St John’s Greek Orthodox College for more than 25 years; from the school’s early beginning in Carlton, right through to the school’s relocation in 1983 to its current site in Preston. He passed away in 2009 at the age of 50, but he left an indelible mark on the lives of the thousands of students that he taught which “will live with them forever”, Giavris says.

Santo Costanzo had the opportunity to take the position of principal but his devotion to his students and his passion for teaching stopped him from accepting this administrative role.

“He was an amazing teacher, a living treasure for the school and the thousands of students who have graduated from it. His humanity and spirit was lived and enjoyed by all his students and was particularly popular amongst all of us. He was of Italian descent but this never stopped him loving the school with a great passion,” Giavris tells Neos Kosmos.

“He studied law and could well have followed that professional avenue in his life but teaching won him over. In my case, and I know this applies to many students of St John’s, he had a tremendous influence in my life. Perhaps one of the reasons I agreed today to join the board is because of Mr Costanzo. I remember we finished school on Fridays and then he would take us out for a coffee, engaging in amazing conversation about our subjects or our lives. Sadly he passed away too young, a great shock for all of us.”
The community wanted to honour him, explains Giavris, by establishing the ‘Santo Costanzo Inaugural Annual Memorial Oration’ because “teachers like Mr Costanzo should never be forgotten”.
“We are honoured that Julian Burnside agreed to give the first lecture of this series. He is a speaker worth listen ing to and it is a unique opportunity for us to have him. We also believe that this issue is a very important issue in today’s Australian society. This lecture is open for everyone to attend and be informed as a citizen. Burnside raises a number of questions that should make us think and they are not only relevant to our way of life and perceptions in Australia but on global scale. We did not want to touch upon cultural issues in this lecture. We wanted to open the critical thought horizons of St John’s students and all those who will attend,” says Giavris.

A major role in choosing this particular topic and speaker to open this series was played by his eminence Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis, one of the two co-chairs of the board who, as Bill says, “has a very progressive view and believes in broadening the horizons of the students and engaging them with issues relating not only to our community, but also the general Australian community”.
Not long ago there was a change of guard on the board of the school that operates under the direction of the two co-chairs Bishop Ezekiel of Dervis and Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis.

Stavroula Zoumboulis, Research Fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research, Chris Koniditsiotis, Chief Executive Officer at Transport Certification Australia, Chris Batzios, Executive Director and Partner at ResCom, George Souris, President of Sales and Export at Cygnett Pty Ltd, Kerrie Neophytou, teacher, Andreas Georgiou, businessman and Bill Giavris are the members of the new board, who within the first 8 months of their tenure managed already to put together a five year strategic plan which will ensure an even brighter than the past, future for St John’s College.

“The new plan is in its implementation phase,” says Giavris, adding that in 2014 the college made significant investments in school academic staffing.

“We appointed five new teaching staff and Mrs Denise Summers as the new vice principal. Mrs Summers previously held leadership positions at Melbourne Girls Grammar and Mentone Grammar,” says Bill. In the meantime, significant capital improvement works are to start very soon. The construction of new science laboratories is one of those infrastructure investments that will start within 2014, while the tools will not be left unused next year, as it will be the one in which St John College will be adding an Early Learning Centre to its facilities and services. This all has been made possible under the stewardship of the school’s principal Dr Harry Ladopoulos.

“It is the first bilingual school and we are doing all we can, stepping on the milestones that this college achieved through its 35 years of existence, to better its future,” says Giavris, adding that the commitment of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, under whose auspices the school operates, was and still remains strong.

The Santo Costanzo Inaugural Annual Memorial Oration will feature speaker Julian Burnside AO QC presenting the topic ‘Human Rights in Australia: Is this really who we are?’ and will be held on Monday 31 March, at 7.00 pm at St John’s College Preston – Blanch Street entrance (off Bell Street). The lecture is open to all.