“Honouring Hellenic Heritage: Greek National Day at GCM”

The  celebrations for Greek National Day at the GCMs Melbourne campus on Saturday were bright and strongly Hellenic.  Children from prep through to VCE, moved the 200-person crowd with speeches, monologues, theatre and dances.  Our teachers led by Maria Bakalidou choreographed  a terrific program.

Through the invitation of the Victorian Hellenic Police Association, Inspector Andrew Markakis, we also had the presence of members of the Hellenic Police Athletic Association who were in Melbourne for the 25 March Parade to take place adjacent to the Shrine. The Hellenic Police Athletic Association was founded to inspire its members to pursue community athletic programs within Greece and throughout Europe.

In thanking the Hellenic Police Athletic Assoc, Bill Papastergiadis along with Anthea Sidiropoulos and Dr Demetriou, noted that the symbol of their Association being the discus thrower (Discobolos) was also the defining feature of the façade of our 15 storey Cultural Centre.  Bill said “Discobolos celebrates the skill of athletes and the spirit that is exhibited in games. The GCM understands that many of its members pursue excellence in sport and that the GCM to stay relevant needs to meet this changing environment. Hence, the GCM expanded its outreach into our community by initiating Men’s and Women’s Football Cups emphasising that sport along with our rich cultural and educational programs unite us all”

Mr Papastergiadis also referenced his chance meeting with the President of the Hellenic Athletic Association last year in Athens, George Tzatzakis.  “I met George and instantly formed a strong bond.  His commitment to using sport to bring people together was clear.”

In the course of the performance, our students moved us with a number of  songs. Whilst our students sang “The Marbled King”, Dimitris Avanidis, one of the members from Greece turned to Bill Papastergiadis and said, “I am deeply moved by this as my young daughter will be performing this song tomorrow in Athens as part of her school’s Greek National Day event”.

George Tzatzakis in his brief address said “our Association is honoured to be invited by the Victorian Hellenic Police Association to participate in the event of the Greek National Day.  Since arriving we have felt the warmth and love from all of the Greeks here.  I am in awe of the work by the Greek Community of Melbourne in building its 15 storey Cultural Centre.  This is a beacon for all of us and we are proud to see it in person.  The students of the GCMs school are our  true stars as we know many of them are third generation Greek Australians, yet with the help of their teachers they are keeping alive the language and the Hellenic spirit.  The quality of the  performance today by the children was beyond our  expectation”.

Inspector Andrew Markakis of Victoria Police  said “it’s a great honour to host our colleagues from the Hellenic Athletic Police Assoc who will also participate in theNational Day Parade.  Our hearts are filled with pride that they made the trip to Melbourne”

Also, from Greece came Ioannis Drakopoulos, Apostolos Soulos and Constantinos Zakestidis.