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Greek School
The Start of the 2009 School Year
As we begin another year of Greek learning, we have a few staff changes to mention. Our new teaching staff is as follows: Denise Beauclair, Merope Athanasiou and AlexandraPassas-Sizemore. We are happy to announce that George Lountos has accepted the Pre-K teaching position. We are still in need of a few more substitutes. If you are interested, please see oneof the Board Members listed below.
On August 22nd, we finally finished work on the remaining classroom. This project, as you may remember,began last summer after we received numerous donations in memory of my father,Pantelis Sakellaris, whose dedication to our Orthodox faith and fostering of the Greek Language, prompted us to dedicate the rooms in his memory. I want to personally thank the Hammer and Manos families and Alexandra Passas-Sizemore in completing this project. The final work only took 3 hours so thegroup went out to lunch afterwards
Our Open Houses took place on August 23rdand the 30th. This wasa great opportunity to individually speak with teachers about the curriculum and programs the Greek School is sponsoring this year. Registration is still open to those who would like to enroll.
We’llhave an Agiasmos (blessing) on September 12th at 2:00 pm by Father Anastasios. The blessing of Greek School for the new school year is a wonderful way to start the year. Thank you, Father.
Upcoming Events:
Friday, September 11th – 5pm– 6:30 pm – Start of classes (tentative times)
Saturday, September 12th – Agiasmos
Saturday, September 13th –3pm – 5:00 pm – Start of Classes
NOTE: Adult Classes now meeting on Friday evenings!
Sunday, October 25 – OXI DayCelebration
For more information about classes orevents, please email us at greekschool@stspeterpaul.net.
GREEK SCHOOL BOARD:
Pauline Sakellaris-Jiffas, PTAPresident
Sue Manos, Vice President
Periandros Samothrakis, Treasurer
Erica Kavadias, Secretary
TEACHERS:
Denise Beauclair
Merope Athanasiou
Alexandra Passas-Sizemore
George Lountos
Dr. Vassiliki Aroniadou-Anderjaska - Substitute
For more information about classes or events, please emailus at greekschool@stspeterpaul.net.
Our Teachers
Dr. Meropi Athanasiou was born, raised,and educated in Greece. She received a BS in Chemistry from the University ofAthens, an MS in Biomedical Science from Hood College in Frederick, and a Ph.D.from the Pathophysiology Department of the Medical School of Athens. Before shecame to the United States, Meropi taught science-related courses in Highschools and the Medical School of the University of Crete. Meropi worked forover 10 years in the National Cancer Institute in Frederick studying the roleof transcription factors in tumorigenesis. She then taught Physical Science andBiology for 3 semesters in Mount Saint Mary’s University, in Emmitsburg.Currently, Meropi is working as a Biomedical Scientist for SAIC in support ofthe Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. She lives in Frederickwith her husband, Don Blair and her son Orestes who was a student/teacher inthe Greek school for three years before graduating from High School. Meropi hadhelped organized many Greek celebrations in our church, including OXI Day andIndependence Day over the last ten years; she has been a volunteer substituteteacher in our school since 2008.
Denise Beauclair was born in Frankfurt Germany. She spent most of her early childhood and adult years in Athens Greece. She graduated from American Community Schools of Athens Greece and completed her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Maryland. After working with children in a school she decided to pursue a teaching degree with the College of New Jersey and later continued on to complete her Masters in Early Childhood education. She has been teaching Kindergarten and Pre-k for the past 18 years and has taught reading and ESL as well. These past four years she has taught Greek at St. Peters and Paul’s as she would like to see the new generation keep in contact with their heritage and culture.
Dr. George Lountos was born and raised in Thomasville, GA. He earned both his bachelor of science and doctoral (Ph.D.) degrees in Chemistry from the Georgia
Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA. While an undergraduate student, he also participated in a study abroad program at Oxford University in the United
Kingdom during the summer of 1999. As a graduate student, he served as a teaching assistant where he taught analytical chemistry and received an Outstanding Teaching Award. Upon completion of graduate school, he moved to Frederick in 2006 and is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Cancer
Institute-Frederick where he conducts research in protein X-ray crystallography (the study of the three-dimensional atomic structures of biological
molecules) and is involved in designing and discovering new drugs for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases.
