On 26 May 2025 the Victorian branch of the National Union of Greek Australian Students (NUGAS) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) to elect a new committee.
The meeting was attended by members of affiliate club committees, alumni and much Greek youth looking to become more involved in the community.
The meeting began with an overview of the last year’s achievements from affiliate club presidents from various universities, as well as addresses from the outgoing executive committee.
The committee reflected on a year of successful events and initiatives. From flagship events such as the boat cruise and the annual NUGAS ball to smaller scale cultural events such as lectures, dance workshops and the fortnightly NUGAS kafenio catch ups.
Along with collaborations with community groups like the Five Loaves initiative, visits to aged care centres or volunteering for the Hellenic Medical Society of Australia’s Careers Day, it was inspiring to see so much cultural engagement and community building events from the Greek youth of Melbourne.
Following on from the addresses from club presidents and the previous executive committee, the outgoing committee was disbanded and the 2025/2026 committee was elected:
- Alexander Gerasimidis (LUGS – Latrobe University)
- Argyro Pollakis (SHS – Swinburne University)
- Dion Dellas (Independent)
- Eleni Ota (Independent)
- Jacqueline Jeruzalski (MunGA – Melbourne University)
- Magdalini Savvopouloulos (LUGS – Latrobe University)
- Menelaos Kalliakoudis (MHSS – Monash University)
- Michael Vellianis (VUGS – Victoria University)
- Nicholas Koumides (MHSS – Monash University)
- Nikitas Koukounaras (SHS – Swinburne University)
- Sophia Melemenis (VUGS – Victoria University)
- Spiros Zervos (RUSH – RMIT University)
- Steve Zervas (SHS – Swinburne University)
The executive committee was elected as follows:
- Co-Presidents – Jamie Gallos (MunGA – Melbourne University) & Demi Bourdopoulos (MHSS –Monash University)
- Secretary – Panos Stamatopoulos (RUSH – RMIT University)
- Treasurer – Angelica Spiliopoulos-Angsiting (LUGS – Latrobe University)
- Marketing Officer – Kosta Siolis (RUSH – RMIT University)
- Social-Cultural Officer – Yiannis Lekkas (VUGS – Victoria University)
- Education Officer – Martha Stamatopoulos (MunGA – Melbourne University)
President Mr Gallos had the following to say with regards to his vision for the next year of NUGAS.
“Our goal here during this term is to do a few of things; First to establish a sense of community and really promote a sense of fostering interpersonal relationships within the Greek spheres. What this looks like is building on our smaller events like our fortnightly kafeneion,” Mr Gallos said.
“We also plan on bringing in some more cultural elements into our flagship events such as our upcoming NUGAS BALL. This will largely take the form of demotic style music/rebetika, basically music forms from our culture that are easily implemented into events that we would traditionally host.
“In doing these things we hope to bring a bit of soul with us into not just ‘events’ but broadly, with our interactions with the community. We’re all about ‘Greekness’ and we’re all about youth – but it extends beyond that. Bringing community together generally, making people connect and making a difference in representing our people takes some time, effort and certainly some grace.
“I am confident with this year’s committee’s ability to accomplish these things and foster something substantial within our local and broader communities.”
The newly elected committee now looks ahead to a promising year of growth, connection, and cultural pride as they continue to represent and uplift Greek Australian youth across Victoria.
