by Julia Tokatlidou

SOCIAL awareness

The Mindset And Commitment To Create Innovative Programs The Youth-To-Youth Educational And Social Integration Program; From Refugee Camp To College Scholarship

by Julia Tokatlidou, Dean of Academics

ACommencement ceremony is always a sentimental celebration both for students and parents. It marks success, pride, and the anticipation of a better future. The 2022 commencement ceremony at ACS Athens was exceptionally moving for our community as it celebrated among its 112 graduates four unique students. Four children who traveled thousands of miles without their parents to escape war, persecution, and poverty to seek refuge in western countries. Today, Amie, Chanel, Irsa, and Tayebe, all students of our Youthto-Youth Educational and Social Integration Program, are proud graduates of ACS Athens. In addition to their astounding success, these four Youth-to-Youth Program ACS Athens graduates have also been accepted to colleges on scholarships: two to The American College of Greece, one to Southeastern University in Athens, and one to Bethany College in Kansas, USA.

Could they have ever imagined that despite the many challenges and risks, their boat journey to Greece would bring them to such a high-caliber and reputable international school as ACS Athens and a full scholarship to an American university? Undoubtedly, their journey through ACS Athens was beyond even the most optimistic expectations they could have had for their lives in their new country.

How did this all come to be, one might ask? Could other individuals and organizations follow the lessons from this success story to provide meaningful opportunities to more underprivileged children? What is the necessary mindset and skill that individuals and organizations must possess to build inclusive educational programs?

Luckily, these students were placed under the care of The HOME Project, a newly established non-governmental organization. I say luck because of the mindset and holistic care approach the organization adopted from the onset. They changed the narrative of relief organizations. Instead of building shelters for “refugee unaccompanied minors,” they built homes for children.

This approach promoted the development of trusting relationships with the children, which facilitated further socioemotional support and identified the importance of education in the social integration of the children.

When the HOME Project sought collaborations with educational institutions in Athens, ACS Athens was willing and ready to act; thus, the partnership began in December 2016.

With its great tradition of involving its students in community service projects and its commitment to serving humanity, ACS Athens had the ideal mindset required for undertaking the project. Combining our community’s exceptional talent and professional skills, ACS Athens and The HOME Project Organization launched the Youth-to-Youth Educational and Social Integration Program on February 8, 2017.

Approximately 60 faculty members and an equal number of students volunteered to participate in the program, indicative of our community’s mindset in taking action to improve people’s lives.

When designing the parttime (Saturday) Youth-to- Youth program, our main objective was to create a program that would be meaningful both to our students and the children from The HOME Project. Thus, we chose the student-to-student instructional approach. This instructional approach greatly facilitated the educational and social integration objectives for both groups of students. Furthermore, the curriculum design based on the needs of the Youth-toYouth students and with a built-in adaptive curriculum progression helped steepen the learning curve for all participants.

This rapid growth of student learning and socioemotional development increased the program’s value for all.

In turn, this was acknowledged and appreciated by kind sponsors such as the IKEA Foundation and The Shapiro Foundation. The latter provided scholarships to 18 students to attend ACS Athens. Thus, in 2018, ACS Athens developed a highly inclusive learning program, the Full-time Youth-toYouth Program.

The design of the full-time Youth-to-Youth focused on addressing curriculum differentiation and adaptive progression to facilitate their gradual inclusion into ACS Athens courses. The student-to-student teaching model was used when possible and social integration was encouraged through participation in sports and student clubs. With intensive English language courses, an emphasis on learning skills development, and motivational support by the school and the HOME Project professionals during the first two years, the Youth-to-Youth students were fully integrated into the ACS Athens courses by the third year of their studies. At this point, it is worth noting that this was a formidable task for these children, our heroes. Nevertheless, they overcame obstacles, fears, and uncertainty, and with their teachers, counselors, friends, and the ACS Athens family’s support, they accomplished their dreams.

Thus, what are the lessons learned from the sustainability and expansion of this program during these last five years? First, the program’s success lies in the meaningful and synchronized collaboration of all parties involved. For our program, this collaboration involved The HOME Project Organization, The Shapiro Foundation, and ACS Athens. The continuous communication among the three organizations regarding the well-being and education of the children was fundamental in overcoming challenges and motivating students to work hard to achieve their academic dreams.

Second, the mindset and commitment of ACS Athens to actively engage its community to create innovative programs to promote wellness for those in need were equally fundamental for the program’s success. Active engagement ensures that the impact of the social interest of the community goes beyond awareness and active participation to the creation of new knowledge.

Third, the professional expertise and skill of ACS Athens educators, combined with their high empathy and caring approach, brought to the forefront the capability of educators to think outside of the box to create meaningful educational and social programs.

Lastly, the ACS Athens parent community’s continuous engagement and support allowed the growth and expansion of the program to reach the magnificent outcomes we all witnessed during the 2022 commencement ceremony.

The words one of our Youthto-Youth graduates wrote to her teachers on the first day of college serve as the best reflection on the impact of the program:

“Hello to my dearest teachers,

I hope you all had a wonderful summer and have a perfect school year. Today the direction of my class was different than last year, which was strange for me. My first day at college was unforgettable. I got into college. I got lost, but I could find my class as well as I was on time. Don’t worry, my kind teachers. I met my classmates and the teacher. You cannot imagine how happy I was. My dream came true, and it was unbelievable for me. All the time, I was telling myself that I would be a psychologist in the future. As you know, I didn’t talk much in class because I felt shy to speak up; however, I spoke, answered, and introduced myself to my class, and I had confidence.

Well, I don’t know how but it happened. I wrote all these to you, my best teachers, and I want to say it’s because you and your help pushed me to be active. It worked. I cannot find any words to say and be enough for whatever you have done for me, but I can say thanks to all of you from the bottom of my heart. I will try very hard to be successful. I hope you never give up on the students like me. I know it is hard, but we need such help to show ourselves and the world that we can be successful like other people.”

As ACS Athens, our promise to children in need is to continue empowering individuals to become architects of their own learning to thrive as conscious global citizens and improve life and living on the planet.