A world class archer, a scholarship recipient to Panathinaikos, a jiujitsu champ and a Greek teen parliamentarian are just some of the areas where students of a Greek background have excelled at South Oakleigh Secondary College in 2012.
Newly arrived migrants from Greece, Daphne Trepca and her brother Nick have displayed that with some Greek hard work their efforts well and truly have paid off. This year, Daphne was invited to Athens to take part in the Government of Teenagers after she won first prize in an essay competition for the content and analysis of her essay ‘Human Rights in Today’s Society’.
The competition, run by the Education Department of Greece, saw her take part in Greek parliament and voice her opinion. Her brother Nick has excelled in the sports arena as a Brazilian jiujitsu champion. He won first place in Australia in the 16-17 year old category in this sport. “You don’t know what you can achieve unless you try,” said the teenager. “No matter what obstacles you face in life no matter what comes your way as long as you put in the hard work and the effort you don’t know what you can achieve unless you go down that path.”
Greek teacher Sophie Stamatelatos says the students who have recently arrived from Greece are “very resilient”. “They are trying to fit into a new country and culture and the beauty of our school is we have about 10 teachers of Greek background but even with the teachers of non-Greek background we are trying to make a real awareness for them for the students.” “They are dealing with a lot the Greek students but they are coping so well.” Penny Vissariou is ranked first in Victoria, second in Australia and eighth in the world for archery in her division.
The year 10 student decided to take up a less conventional sport. “I went into the traditional sports like cycling and swimming and then I was involved in the scouts and from there I thought why don’t I break out of the traditional moulds and start something new,” she said of her archery career. Oakleigh Cannon’s young gun Zac Prokopiou spent the early part of 2012 in Thessaloniki after scoring a scholarship with champion Greek club Panathinaikos. At the tender age of 13, the young soccer star is showing real potential of being an international superstar.
“South Oakleigh Secondary College values the success of students in all areas. Recently, one of our Year 12’s won the highest award, a gold medal for the University of New South Wales English Writing Competition. Her success is just as valued as those succeeding in the Sports and Arts arena,” said Ms Stamatelatos.
“Our Greek students have shown that they excel in a variety of areas and we want to support all our students achieve their dreams. A strong emphasis will be placed on encouraging our recent arrivals from Greece.” And it’s not just the students excelling, the School Principal Debbie Locco and Assistant Principal, Helen Koziaris have organized a charity event where food hampers will be delivered to the Greek Church – The Three Hierarchs in Clayton just in time for Christmas.
