Earlier this month members of the Greek Community of Melbourne and NUGAS Victoria met to exchange ideas about their visions and opportunities for collaboration.

The aim was to build on the already strong long-term relationship between the two organisations, which share meeting spaces in the Greek Centre on Lonsdale Street, Melbourne.

Current president of NUGAS Victoria Denise Serdenes, along with vice-president Eleni Nzifas discussed their deep passion for their heritage, building lasting connections within the community, and bridging the gap across multiple generations in an inclusive and constructive manner.

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“Myself along with Vice-President Eleni Nzifas feel very strongly about ensuring that NUGAS’ reach extends beyond the University sphere and that NUGAS continues to strongly contribute to the Greek community and its continuity,” Ms Serdenes said.

Through their deep involvement in the Melbourne University Greek Association (MUnGA), the young women bring a thorough understanding of the challenges Greek-Australian youth face today, including the diversification and evolution of identity and attitudes towards collective organisation.

President of the Greek Community of Melbourne Bill Papastergiadis is optimistic for the future of community leadership and hopes that extra support will elevate the quality of events and connections NUGAS provides their members.

“We can offer them secretarial support and general administrative support because they are students. They don’t have significant funding and that’s something where we can provide them with assistance. We do currently house them in our building, they use it once a month for meetings but we want to take it to that extra level to provide them additional support,” he said.

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Greek Center director Jorge Menidis also offered to assist with the modification of NUGAS Victoria’s online administrative platforms and processes.

Furthermore the two organisations discussed opportunities to establish new connections in Greece to develop and facilitate exchange programs such as the NUGAS Greece Tour and other educational travel opportunities.

Greek Community of Melbourne board members Tass Sgardelis and Georgina Pattas who also joined the meeting are continuing to liaise and support this important and effective relationship between the two organisations.

The two lasting and thriving organisations with vast and active representation across Melbourne want to ensure there is some continuity between university students and our the board to drive social, cultural and educational progress within the Greek-Australian community.