Innovation

ANNA PAPAGEORGIOU STEM CENTER

The newly completed Anna Papageorgiou STEM Building, a dazzling 950 square-meter building, is 100% energy self-sustaining with zero emissions, American green technology, photovoltaic cells and a geothermal heating and cooling system. Our STEM center is a physical example of Anatolia’s STEM curriculum content - a ‘living laboratory’ in which students not only learn but experience the principles and methodologies they are studying.

This new building features laboratory facilities for Physics, Chemistry and Biology classes, in addition to a multipurpose classroom fully equipped for students and teachers to explore the most modern developments in this rapidly changing world. Our plan is for the Center’s facilities to be used by all Anatolia’s students and the participants of CTY Greece programs.

The Center can host events and classes that are open to the broader community, making it an important resource for science education in the Northern Greece region and beyond. Funded by a generous donation from the Papageorgiou Foundation and supplemental funds from the USAID/ASHA program, the new STEM building was also supported by contributions from the Trustees of Anatolia College, Anatolia College alumni, parents, and a host of other private and corporate donors.

On Monday, September 28, 2020, Anatolia College hosted Michael Kratsios, Chief Technology Officer of the United States and Deputy Assistant to the President at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Mr. Kratsios visited Thessaloniki as a senior member of the American delegation that traveled to the city for the signing of the U.S.-Greece Science and Technology Agreement. The U.S. Chief Technology Officer was given a tour of the newly constructed Anna Papageorgiou STEM Center where he watched impressive experiments conducted by Anatolia High School students, and viewed projects prepared by Anatolia College teams for STEM Competitions including STEM STAR Greece, F1 in Schools and CanSat in Greece. Accompanying Mr. Kratsios was the U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey R. Pyatt, and Greek Deputy Minister of Development and Investments, Christos Dimas who stated that “Anatolia College is a shining example for all schools, either private or public.”

The newly arrived US General Consul in Thessaloniki Elizabeth K. Lee visited the Anatolia College campus, in September 2020, where she was informed about the fascinating history of the institution. During a tour led by President of Anatolia College Dr. Panos Vlahos, Ms Lee visited the many structures funded by the USAID/ASHA such as the Anna Papageorgiou STEM Center. Ms Lee described Anatolia as “a beacon of American culture and education in northern Greece” and part of the city’s future.

Elizabeth Lee’s visit

The patriarch of the Papageorgiou Foundation, Nikos Papageorgiou, accompanied by its Representative, Zoe Psarra Papageorgiou, visited on 23 October 2020, the newly built Anna Papageorgiou STEM Center at Anatolia College. As they toured the wonderful laboratories and multipurpose classrooms, they expressed their admiration for this state-of-theart building as an important accessible recourse for science education not only for Anatolia College students, but also for students and faculty from the wider community including public schools and universities.

United States Ambassador Geoffrey R. Pyatt visited Anatolia College in July 2020. Accompanied by the former US General Consul Gregory Pfleger Jr., Ambassador Pyatt took an extensive tour of the new Anna Papageorgiou STEM Center, where he remarked on Anatolia College’s important role in shaping the future of Greece and described Anatolia College as “one of the real treasures of the U.S.-Greece relationship over the years.”

U.S. Ambassador Pyatt’s visit to Anatolia College

ENTREPRENEURSHIP HUB

The Entrepreneurship Hub continued its role in promoting modern business practices and innovative entrepreneurship throughout the 2019-2020 year:

September 2019

A two-day bootcamp in Prespes, (with the collaboration of the Society for the Protection of Prespa, funded by Stavros Niarchos foundation).

November 2019

The five-day startup workshop “Greenhouse” in Alexandroupolis and Didymoteicho (in collaboration with the Democritus University of Thrace, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Evros, and the Municipality of Didymoteicho).

March - July 2020

The 7th Annual John & Mary Pappajohn Business Competition began with 135 participants and continued to its final phase in July 2020, with five winning teams receiving financial awards and mentoring support for their ventures.

Fall 2019 & Spring 2020

Two VentureGarden programs had a total of 77 participants, out of 310 applicants. VentureGarden’s training and mentoring program for new entrepreneurs has been running since 2014 with the support of The Hellenic Initiative. Since its inception, 514 teams have participated and 65 new businesses have been established, raising capital of €1.5 million, and creating more than 150 new jobs.

MIDDLE YEARS PROGRAM

Taking a page from the global WFH (Work from Home) philosophy, our IB Middle Years Program students (7th-9th grade) focused their volunteer actions during the lockdown period on issues like recycling, the UN Sustainable Development goals, creation, and dissemination of “positivity messages” and entertainment for grade-schoolers and Senior Citizens, along with thankyou messages to healthcare workers and law enforcement.

LIFELONG LEARNING CENTER

In its second year of operation, the Lifelong Learning Center at ACT - American College of Thessaloniki now has nine programs, 185 participants and 345 hours of instruction. In addition to its repeat programs including “Management Mindset,” “Business Strategy: Competition Demystified” and a Diploma in Digital and Social Media Marketing, the Center has launched three new programs, “Hospitality & Human Resource Management,” “Sea Tourism: The Yachting Business” and “Conflict Resolution & Negotiation.”

In the period October 2019 - March 2020, 35 companies funded their employees’ professional skill development, an acknowledgement of the quality training programs and services offered by the Lifelong Learning Center.

Positioning itself as the go-to learning Hub for professionals who wish to advance or seek opportunities for self-improvement, the Center will continue enhancing the breadth of its offerings built on its market synergies and adapt the delivery of its content to include online programs. More information about the Center is found at: www.act.edu/lifelonglearning.

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT

Over the past year, Anatolia College made great efforts to support our teachers, providing access to training and tools and encouraging faculty development at every level of the institution.

Our Elementary school faculty attended several programs during the school year and beyond, including participating in the E-Gift platform for teaching talented youth, and several seminars: “Autism & Education: good practices & parallel support,” and “Effective Spelling methods” (prior to COVID), and during the pandemic: “Helping Students Learn to Ask,” and “Ensuring Success for All” (online). During the Summer, 12 teachers from AES and 9 from Pinewood took the Developing Strategies for Online Teaching and Learning offered through the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Earlier in the year (January 2020), the Anatolia College administration piloted a six-month corporate subscription to Linkedin Learning, providing unlimited access to 15,000 courses and tutorials to all faculty and staff. This resource was especially useful once the pandemic began to require new teaching methods. In September 2020, Anatolia College organized an internal workshop for 100 of our teachers, to share best practices and exchange views about the variety of digital tools they had adopted to facilitate online learning during last Spring’s lockdown. The timing was arranged so that the best of these tools could be more widely used in the current school year, which has so far been a hybrid of in-person and internet-based lessons.