Guiding and Supporting our Students

by the Office of Student Affairs

During the lockdown and the Virtual transition, the Office of Student Affairs continued to function and provide support for both of our students and faculty alike.

In particular, our weekly scheduled meetings for all Faculty and Staff with our school Psychologist Mr. Manos Kougioumtzoglou were a big success. Regularly scheduled meetings between students and counselors transitioned fully to the online platform, whether through our Counseling Moodle shell or through a Google Meets session. In the Middle School, we were also able to reinstitute an advisory session within the Middle School virtual schedule. In the Academy, the 4-year academic plans transitioned fully in an online setting, giving the counselors the opportunity to meet with each and every 9th grade student and their family. The use of Google Meets allows the E.S. counselor to stay connected with students in an effort to continue counseling sessions virtually.

The E.S. Counselor can provide live face-to-face brief counseling. In addition, the virtual counseling session allows for student weekly checkins. The Brief Counseling session is scheduled on a planned/agreed day and set time.

Some of the challenges experienced thus far have been:

Parents are needed to facilitate/initiate the virtual session as a result of the technical issues that may arise.

This sometimes adds another task/responsibility on the parent.

Finally, I’ve particularly enjoyed our daily student services check-ins with our counseling team. One can easily see the quality of service and guidance our students receive. As a member of this department, I appreciate the discussion/dialogue of the K-12 counseling initiatives that our team delivers. In addition, our plan to attend to our student services team’s well-being is an important initiative. I look forward to hearing how we can support each other as we experience these challenging times of social distancing.

Demetri Pelides, Elementary School Counselor

This past week and a half, the virtual journey for the MS counselor consisted of continuous virtual meetings with administration, teachers, and numerous parents. The students that were on my regularly scheduled week load resumed with weekly virtual sessions. Also started brainstorming on reinstating an advisory session in the middle school virtual schedule with fellow teachers and principal, and finalizing the course selections for the entire 5th grade, including a video presentation sent out to those families.

Stelios Kalogridakis, Middle School Counselor

With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic still raging around the globe, the ACS Athens is implementing work-from-home policies to help stem the spread of the virus and protect not only its faculty and staff but students, their families, and the entire community

Working from home might sound comfortable, but it is not an easy “working environment “ for me to adjust. Sometimes I miss the relationship I have developed with my colleagues and the students, a bond that has been a vital component of my daily routine for the past five years. However, I also see it as a challenge for myself as it requires me to be more disciplined and avoid distractions while I’m at home, to manage my time effectively, to take breaks when needed, to think outside the box, and be more creative! A highlight, all the Middle School Clubs were integrated in a website, for virtual meetings! https://sites.google.com/acs.gr/ middle-school-student-life/clubs-activities

Theodora Panteli, Student Life Officer

Delivering a synchronous session through the Big Blue Button for the first time was so exciting! Firstly, we set up agreements and then discussed the different types of financial aid offered in the USA and the UK. Students used the chat to respond to questions or to type their comments. Overall, a very positive educational experience! Completing students’ course selection through the Big Blue Button was a great experience! The students were ready and responsible during the Junior Advisory class; they asked important questions that reflected their genuine interest in the learning process. I really enjoyed today’s sessions!

Chara Kouppa, Advisory Specialist 11-12

It was a very unique and exciting experience! Students were very engaged and eager to ask questions and be involved in the process. Even though I had the “first time jitters”, this was a wonderful process! A big thank you to our students!

Ina Hatziagelides, Academy Guidance Specialist The virtual experience has thus far has been better than expected for us. It was exciting to learn how to use “google meets” and other online interactive platforms! I am glad that students can feel connected to us, although they are not near us. It was a great experience! It was so nice to be able to connect with our students, even though they are far away. I feel very grateful that we live in a time where we have the necessary tools to be able to educate despite the current circumstances. I think it is actually quite refreshing for both for the kids and for us to have some structure and goals during this time.

Helen Seretis, Academy Guidance Specialist

In this day and age, we rely on technology for so many things, so I anticipated the switch to online learning would be somewhat natural with some roadblocks. I was quickly proven correct in my prediction of roadblocks! I started off on the first day with the Big Blue Button, which stopped working and had to think on my feet to find a solution. My solution in the moment was to work with the students through google docs that they had already created, and I could speak with them all individually through chat boxes there. Because the instructions had already been given for this lesson, I could use the chat boxes as a way to guide each of them. This worked, but not because I found a perfect solution. It worked because the students were ready to listen to my next instruction, and they were engaged in the process. I was extremely impressed with how much they wanted to make this experience work and their willingness to make an effort to communicate with me. Looking forward, we are using Google Meet with limited roadblocks and strong participation!

Anna Fergione, Academy Advisory Specialist Grades 9-10