ACS Athens - American Community Schools

Chairman's Message

Dear ACS Athens Community Members and Friends:

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I would like to welcome you back to yet another fruitful and exciting academic year. Our new and continuing students have already settled in and have begun their journey of knowledge, through the support, guidance and mentoring of our dedicated ACS staff.

And the journey will only get better.

For seven years now, ACS Athens has been enjoying an increase in student enrollment and despite the difficult economic times currently in Greece, this year the number of applications received exceeded any other number in ACS Athens history. Our website’s average daily visits are 1084, with 278 unique users. In August 29, we had 2551 hits, with 433 unique users. As a result of the inflow of students, our second grade is now divided into three sections, rather than two and it now boasts equal sections with our first grade.

To cater for the increased number of students and to strengthen our efforts for further improving our curriculum, ACS has hired 16 new faculty members from the US and other countries, seven of which own a doctorate degree, as well as established (similar to university approach) the following three distinct Divisions:

Division of Science, Mathematics & Technology (Dr. Tsokos-Division Chair)
Division of Literature & Languages (Ms. Jasonides-Division Chair)
Division of Humanities & Art (Ms. Karvouniaris-Division Chair)

The Division Chairs are experts in their fields and will act as faculty leaders that will guide, mentor and assess the teaching and learning experience of both teacher and student.

ACS continues to offer effective and efficient service. Our students’ books have been delivered on time and handed to them during their first week of school and our new chemistry/biology lab is already in usage.

Similarly, ACS has strong universal principles and values and focuses on molding the student into a caring, open-minded, creative and decision-making individual. To aspire to our students’ creativity and talent, we would like to announce our agreement with AKTO art school that will give the opportunity to our students to take four (4) college art courses at AKTO premises. So far 12 students have submitted their application.

Also, we are very proud to announce that the ECIS (European Council of International Schools) has selected ACS Athens to organize and host the ECIS Annual Conference for Early Childhood (4-day) in Spring 2012, where more than 500 educators from European International Schools will participate and share their ideas and knowledge.

ACS continues to strive for excellence. Our mission is to motivate our students in becoming the best they can be, and so far our goal has been met. This year 47/90 students were awarded with the Presidential Award for receiving a GPA of 3.47/4 and were inducted into the National Honors Society. Our IB students also exceeded our expectations: 39/39 (all students who had applied) received their IB diplomas. The best score received was 44/45 and 15% of the students scored more than 40. No other Greek or international school in Athens can match these results. Finally, more than 40 ACS graduates from the class of 2010, and who are currently attending US universities received more than $500,000 scholarships.

Last, but not least, our children are happy to come to school! Providing a curriculum that is unique and a friendly environment for our children, requires a collective commitment from faculty, staff, administrators, parents and the Board of Trustees, all of whom I thank dearly for their dedication.

Sincerely Yours,

Constantine Stergides
Chairman - Board of Trustees