News and Events

Pictured above are the ten Hellenic College students and their advisors who are visiting and working at the Hogar Rafael Ayau orphanage in Guatemala City, Guatemala. They are participating in the "Real Break" program which sends Orthodox college students during their spring break to work with Orthodox people in need in different parts of the world. The orphanage is under the auspices of the Antiochian Orthodox Church in Guatemala. They will return to the college on Saturday.

Top row, L-R,Nicholas Savas, Fr. Peter Chamberis, advisor, John Dalber, Michael Gregoriades, Sebastian Mot, Seraphim Ramos and Alexia Chamberis, advisor.

The ten Hellenic College students staying at the Hogar Rafael Ayau orphanage in Guatemala City, Guatemala, have sent back a report about their visit. The five men and 5 women have been busy every day, all day, working on various projects around the orphanage, as well as interacting with the children and attending services in the chapel. Leading this group is Fr. Peter Chamberis, Chaplain at Hellenic College and Holy Cross, and his daughter, Alexia Chamberis. Following is the report received from Nicholas Savas, one of the students, on behalf of the ten.

"We landed here in Guatemala very late Saturday night, so we did not have the opportunity to meet many kids. Most of them were in bed already.

A Conference on Orthodoxy and Higher Education will be held at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary from June 9 to June 11.

Several Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology students are on the way to Kenya to visit Orthodox there during spring break, following in the footsteps of four HCHC students who visited Kenya on a mission trip last year. They are Hellenic College junior Alexandria Ritsi and freshman Alexis Campbell and School of Theology juniors Stephanos Ritsi and John Uhl, and freshman Thomas Manuel. Genevieve Uhl and Sam Williams are also on the trip. The group is being led by Bishop Savas of Troas, head of the Department of Church and Society at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and Father Martin Ritsi from St. Augustine, Florida.

Dr. Aristotle Michopoulos, Chair of the Greek Studies Program at Hellenic College, recently attended the first organizational meeting of the "Paideia Omogenon" at the University of Crete in Rethymnon.

The mission of the Program is to produce and disseminate books, videos and other educational materials for the children of the Greek Diaspora and to organize educational seminars and teacher training programs inside and outside of Greece. This work has already been started. The program is funded by the European Union and the Greek government.

Dr. Michopoulos had previously served as the program's Scientific Coordinator in the United States.

Each year, the Orthodox Christian Fellowship sponsors a program called "Real Break" for Orthodox college students. The program sends students from various schools to different parts of the world to work with Orthodox people in need. The name of the program points out that what the students do is a "real" committment, a "real" use of Spring break, an expression of Orthodox philanthropy, instead of just going to a warm and sunny locale.

This Saturday, March 19, ten Hellenic College students will depart for Guatemala where they will spend a week living and working at an Orthodox orphanage in Guatemala City. The orphanage, Hogar Rafael Ayau, is under the auspices of the Antiochian Orthodox Church of Guatemala and is staffed by Orthodox nuns. There are approximately 100 orphans there.