A group of 22 junior high-school students and three accompanying female staff members from Voula, south of Athens, have made a dream come true by visiting Australia.
The week-long visit began on March 12 and was made possible through an e-twinning relationship between Alphington Grammar School in Melbourne and the 1st Junior High School in Voula Athens via the program ‘Voula/Melbourne – Building Bridges across Continents’.
The Alphington students visited Athens and their sister school in September 2016.
In a packed program the Greek students made two-day trips – one along the Great Ocean Road, the other to Puffing Billy – and visited the Shrine of Remembrance, the Greek Memorial, the Lemnos Memorial, and the Immigration and Hellenic Museums.
The guests also received a warm welcome by the Greek Community of Melbourne.
President of the Community, Vasilis Papastergiadis, spoke to the visiting students about the services and activities of the Community and the importance it gives to education.
Papastegiadis also thanked all those who contributed to the visit, especially Christina Despoteris, whose initiative was to twin the two schools.
Principal of Voula Junior High School, Maria Kaskadami, said that the trip is a “journey of a lifetime” for the students.
“They had the opportunity to visit such a distant country and get to know a living part of Hellenism here,” she said.
“It is very important for us to know that here on the edge of the world there are Greeks who are willing to to host and show us their love,” she added.
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