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| 30 Nov 2025 | |
| Written by Hercules Lianos | |
| Greece | |
| Alumni News |
|
Summer was over, September had arrived and I was still reeling from the devastating news: the family would not be returning to New York. It was my first day at ACS and I was trying to orient myself to the new reality. Mr. Cabanis, my fifth grade teacher, kept me grounded and at ease. He wore a big smile and spoke with a Texan accent. To my wonder, he spoke Greek in a Texan accent, too. Across from me sat Demetri Mandarakas, fresh from New Jersey. We hit it off quick. Mr. Cabanis separated us, but by then, a lifelong friendship had already taken root. More friendships followed. I still have them. This is what seems to happen at ACS. They call New York the “melting pot”, or the “salad bowl”. And for good reason. There are over 150 ethnicities in the city. Conversely, 1980s Athens was about as homogenous as it got. |
With my coach, counselor and colleague, Mr. Pelidis |
Not ACS though. It’s there that I really experienced the co-existence of diverse cultures. Global conscious citizenship wasn’t taught, but learned experientially in its classrooms, libraries, gym, courts and fields. My world view broadened.
By the end of the school year, I was “home”.
Seven years later, I was declared an ACS graduate and off to the next proverbial chapter. I carried with me bonds of friendship, the memories of Humanities trips, after school detentions, soccer practices, and motivated by my teachers, a curious mind.
I returned to NY, then moved to DC and some years later returned to Greece. I worked at a foreign language institute, or frontistirio, a newspaper, a publishing house, did some photography and handled marketing.
Suffice to say, I was in flux. I suppose we always are. But I realized the jobs I did were to me, well, jobs I did. I needed them to be more. Reflecting on relevant life experiences, highlights filtered through. Namely, the rapport with students at the language institute, and that with my teachers at ACS. Inspired by both, it clicked: teaching. Teaching would give me that missing sense of purpose.
Having completed the necessary coursework, I reached out to ACS. The letter began: “Dear Ms. Jasonides…”
Much had changed in twenty-one years. The internet, laptops, smart-phones, Moodle, i2Flex, and Saravakos was long retired.
But much had not. Papandreou, Mitsotakis, and the integrity of education at ACS. And while faculty continuously wrestle with the opportunities and pitfalls of technological progress, the core values remain constant: thinking critically, creating boldly, questioning deeply, and growing holistically. Thoreau said, “it isn’t a question of what you are looking at, but what you see”. Thoreau said it, but Humanities class taught it.
It’s been eleven years since I wrote that letter. Today, carrying that same spirit forward, I ask my students the very question Mr. Medeiros would ask us: 'What do you see?'
And in their responses I see students encouraged to have open minds, imagination and a sense of purpose. Students like my daughter.
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