Bike-A-Thon athlete Dimitris Politis (DEREE ’90), who helped raise over $20,000 (€15,000) for eight student scholarships (four at DEREE and four at PIERCE) cycling 800 kilometers in April last year, met with the scholarship recipients and members of the ACG community during a special event last month.

The scholarship recipients thanked Politis for his incredible feat, and also thanked all those donors, supporters and volunteers who made it all possible.

Politis, on his part, spoke of his inspiration “YOU” he told the students, noting that the trek will be a “life- lasting memory for me, my family but most importantly for my kids…a lovely memory with multi messages embedded for life upon them,” adding “I encourage all students, alumni and friends of The American College of Greece to think outside the box for new and creative ways to build a culture of philanthropy towards education in Greece in an effort to raise awareness of the opportunities and the funds to realize the full potential of the youth of Greece.”

The scholarship recipients were joined by DEREE President of Student Government Grigorios Vasileiou and the two 15-member student council of PIERCE (Gymnasium and Lyceum) who came together to thank Dimitris Politis at the celebratory event on February 10th at The American College of Greece.

“These events are emotional and inspirational,” says ACG’s Executive Director for Development Mary-Irene Triantafillou (DEREE ’89), noting “the dynamics that develop between the donor and the students are amazing and can last a lifetime.”

Also attending were PIERCE Principal Olga Julius, Dean of Students & Career Services ad interim Natassa Rangou, Kostas Koloveros, PIERCE PE Teacher & Lyceum Student Council Advisor, Kostas Abatzis, PIERCE Physics Teacher and Gymnasium Student Council Advisor, as well as Christina Chantzou, Executive Coordinator of Development & Alumni Services.

ACG congratulates Dimitris Politis for his extraordinary achievement, contribution and ethos, as well as the Bike-A-Thon volunteers, donors and supporters that made the dream of “giving education a spin” come true. Kudos to the eight Bike-A-Thon scholarship recipients:

PIERCE Students

Christodimos Papagiannis PIERCE C’ Middle School- Gymnaseum

Georgios Papagiannis – PIERCE A’ High School – Lyceum

Myrto Rozaki – PIERCE B’ Middle School – Gymnaseum

Nikoletta Tamvaka – PIERCE A’ High School-Lyceum

DEREE Students

Alkyoni Doulkeroglou

Dionysios Panagiotakopoulos

Alexander Sakellariou

Theodora Vardaki

For more information on Dimitris Politis’ inspirational Bike-A-Thon click here

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