On Thursday, May 12, the Languages and Cultures Student Prize-giving Ceremony took place at the Arts Precinct Function Centre of Macquarie University.
Jorden Pavlovski, student of Modern Greek Intermediate, and Nikolas Karakasis, student of Modern Greek Advanced, were the recipients of the AHEPA NSW Prizes ($500 each), which were kindly contributed by the AHEPA NSW.
Constantinos Yiannakodimos, Head of the Public Diplomacy Office of Greece in Sydney, representing the Consul General of Greece in Sydney, Christos Karras; Bill Skandalakis, President of AHEPA NSW; and Theophilus Premetis, President of Macquarie Greek Studies Foundation attended the event. Dr Jane Hanley, Discipline Chair of Languages and Cultures at Macquarie University was the emcee.
Student, Nikolas Karakasis, said: “I have had a very pleasant experience studying Modern Greek at Macquarie University as it has allowed me to expand and maintain not only my knowledge of the language itself but also the culture.”
“On receiving this award, I would like to thank Dr. Patricia Koromvokis and all other the teachers of Modern Greek that have assisted her over the years since without them, all the other Greek Australians and Philhellenes and myself would not have had this great opportunity to learn and study Greek,” Mr Karakasis added.
Jorden Pavlovski said: “Out of all the challenges which I have faced in my studies so far, learning to read, write and converse in Greek has been one of the most engaging and rewarding.”
“Over the past two years of study I have learned far more than I anticipated, not only about the Greek language, but about Greek culture and about my own capabilities as a student,” Mr Pavlovski said.
“Being the top achiever in my last semester of Modern Greek Studies is simply the result of me learning from my mistakes each semester and studying harder the next semester. Overall I am grateful for all I have learned and proud of what I have achieved in such a short time.”
Dr Patricia Koromvokis expressed how proud she feels when she sees her students accelerating in the Greek language-learning journey.
The two students, Jorden and Nikolas, clearly prove that, having or not having Greek background, what matters most is the thirst for knowledge. Jorden tackled all the grammatical challenges of Modern Greek language with a positive attitude and the high quality of his submitted work never ceased. Nikolas always performed with confidence and pride of his Greek background.
Dr Patricia Koromvokis expressed her sincere gratitude to the AHEPA NSW for the prizes and for the on-going support towards the Program of Modern Greek Studies of Macquarie University.
