Dr. Stacey M Robertson, the newly ascended President of Widener University of Chester, Pennsylvania, is our guest on the last episode of the season. ACS Athens and Widener University's collaboration was established in 2019 under different leadership in both schools. Still, its value continues to be paramount to the scope and goals of both institutions. In November 2022, ACS Athens and Widener University renewed the partnership to include Engineering and AI. 

An accomplished leader with impressive experience in strategic planning, workplace practices that support and promote people from under-represented groups, and developing curriculum that prepares students for success in the global workspace, Robertson came to Widener in 2022 from SUNY Geneseo, where she was provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, and a professor of history.

With Dr. Robertson today, we discuss:

Welcome to the second part of the Owlcast episode on the Class of 2023!

Class of 2023 is the first group of students that began their high school journey during the first COVID lockdown in the 2019-2020 academic year. All of them must still remember their first online classes in 9th grade, and I am sure that the experience will also be with them throughout their lives. However, all of the students of the Class of 2023 we are talking with today feel that this experience was another life lesson: resiliency, understanding, self-reflection, and supporting each other. The graduates of 2023 are becoming the latest addition to the long and diverse body of the ACS Athens Global alumni, who prepare for their academic career in higher education, their business and entrepreneurial ventures, their trip to the world, and wherever this road leads them. The Owlcast welcomes two groups of graduates who talk about the realization that high school is over and the anticipation of what lies ahead.

Class of 2023 is the first group of students that began their high school journey during the first COVID lockdown in the 2019-2020 academic year. All of them must still remember their first online classes in 9th grade, and I am sure that the experience will also be with them throughout their lives. However, all of the students of the Class of 2023 we are talking with today, feel that this experience was another life lesson: resiliency, understanding, self-reflection, and supporting each other. The graduates of 2023 are becoming the latest addition to the long and diverse body of the ACS Athens Global alumni, who prepare for their academic career in higher education, their business and entrepreneurial ventures, their trip to the world, wherever this road leads them. The Owlcast welcomes two groups of graduates who talk about the realisation that high school is over and the anticipation of what lies ahead.

When founded in 1984, TED (“Technology, Entertainment, and Design”) brought together a few hundred people in a single annual conference in California. Today, TED is not just an organizer of private conferences; it’s a global phenomenon with multi-million dollars in revenues.

From Ideas Worth Sharing, the motto of TED, came TED-Ed, a global network of over 650,000 teachers. TED-Ed has grown from an idea worth spreading into an award-winning education platform that serves millions of teachers and students worldwide every week.

Many schools worldwide, including ACS Athens, organise and inspire student participation in TED-Ed activities and competitions. ACS Athens has for many years encouraged innovation through personal inspiration and achievement. Students have chosen subjects that excite and inspire them, and this year was no different.

Today we have two of the students of this year’s TED-Ed club, who participated in presentations in Perugia, Italy, along with their advisors, Christina Rocha and Stavi Dimas. Today's discussion brings up the topics of their diverse talks, which explored AI in one presentation and Folk Music in the other, along with why they chose the topic that speaks to their passion.

With our TED-Ed'ers today, we discuss:

2023 will probably be the year when the impact of AI in everyday life really hit a milestone. The Large Language or Language Predictive Models such as ChatGPT took everyone by storm, with progress and updates happening at a breakneck speed. In the future, the effect of AI will definitely mark 2023 as a keystone year.

Last year, we had our first opportunity to discuss with our guest today the impact of AI and science on education. Today, Dr Antonis Karampelas, Science and Technology faculty at ACS Athens, talks more in-depth about this topic, and we attempt to answer more profound questions. And the timeliness of this discussion is very telling of the speed at which things change. We had this talk earlier in 2023, and it became inevitable that we realise today how things have changed since that discussion.

Today, with Dr Karampelas, we discuss:

Much of today's school practices originate in the Victorian era classroom, and many of the mentalities are deeply ingrained in many schools of the Western world. Mentalities include memorization and recitation, rigid curriculum, standardization, and limited access to accommodations for learning or other differences. These mentalities can make innovation very hard to foster and implement, while switching to new models is particularly cumbersome.

On March 2023, ACS Athens hosted the International Conference on Inclusion organized by the Educational Collaborative for International Schools. One of the keynotes at the conference was Daniel Sobel, the founder and lead consultant for Inclusion Expert - a training and support company working in education. With a background in educational psychology, psychotherapy and as an assistant headteacher, he has experience across the whole spectrum of inclusion. His presentation at the Theater of ACS Athens touched many sensitive chords as he talked to peer educators as much about the topic of his expertise as also about his own experience through the education system.

With Daniel Sobel today, we discuss:

On March 9, 2023, an expert panel discussion was hosted by ACS Athens, co-organized by AmCham Greece and moderated by Apostolos Magkiriadis, Journalist/Anchor of Greek National TV ERT. The title of the event was AI is Here; Where are We? More than 300 participants registered to attend this unique event at the Theater of ACS Athens. The keynote speakers and expert members of 2 panels addressed pivotal questions like: How education can respond by aligning human and artificial intelligence; How important it is to explore the unquestionably positive impact of AI on our lives in an ethical and regulated manner; and What are the skills required for success in the future

The first-panel discussion delved into the skills needed in an AI-driven professional environment from various perspectives. Today in the Owlcast, we are talking to Alkistis Kyriakopoulou, a panelist representing the shipping industry. A young and driven engineer with a degree from the University of Cambridge, Alkistis is the Chief of Staff at Deep Sea Technologies, a leading AI company in Shipping. Her unique perspective at the panel discussion last March, along with her expertise in AI tools, brought many interesting points to the forefront. With Alkistis Kyriakopoulou today we discuss:

Part of the ACS Athens experience is to draw from the life story of our community members, who offer their mentorship, advice and knowledge to our students as they imagine, plan and begin their academic and professional future and ultimately career.

 Parents have always been a tremendous pool of talent and knowledge, as they come from all walks of life, nationalities and career paths. Today's Parent edition of the Owlcast hosts one of our parents, Constantin Tzembelicos, an engaged and creative entrepreneur in several industry sectors, including the aviation industry, finance, retail fashion, beverage, and real estate. He is running several start-up companies of his own but continues to be in executive positions within his decades-long career in the aviation industry. Mr Tzembelicos graduated as a Mechanical Engineer in Toronto, Canada, and applied his technical engineering skills as an aerodynamicist, stress engineer, and structural repair engineer before moving into the airline industry. Constantin is now the founder of several new startup companies in fashion accessories and jewellery designing, and beverage manufacturing, and most recently he heads a startup incubator. He also maintains organic roles in firms related to investment advisory, aerospace representation and business aviation consultancy.

With Constantin Tzembelicos, today we discuss:

All about opportunities - a point of view coming from an entrepreneur

Managing the project by seeking the talent instead of being the talent

The art of empowering the members of your team and the dangers of micromanaging

The boring and the exciting things that make you find your passion

Learning how to learn at the university

Seeking knowledge by doing the hard staff 

Education as an experience that offers a toolkit for life

The inflection point of the AI emergence

Appetite to learn, an important asset in the job marketplace

The need for talented people willing to unlearn and be trained -- and,

The Elysian project - A business incubator with a flair to innovate inspire and create

Welcome to the 2nd part of our discussion with the student delegates of the MUN teams of ACS Athens.

Multiple participations to MUN competitions offer unique experiences to the students, some of which are exposed to the issues of discussion and debate for the first time. As they all agree, participation in the MUN teams is a valuable experience as it provides an opportunity to develop essential skills such as public speaking, critical thinking, research, and negotiation. By researching and debating complex global issues, students can gain a deeper understanding of the world around them and become more informed and engaged global citizens.

The group's advisor in this episode is Angela Chamosfakidi, Social Studies Faculty in the Academy. So let's see what the second group of students have to say about:

The Model United Nations (MUN) is an educational simulation that allows students to learn about international relations, diplomacy, and the United Nations (UN) by role-playing as delegates to the UN. In a MUN, students research and debate current global issues and attempt to find solutions acceptable to the countries they represent.

ACS Athens encourages students to participate in  MUN teams who participate in competitions around the country and the world. Admittedly by students and faculty advisors, it is a valuable experience as it provides an opportunity to develop important skills such as public speaking, critical thinking, research, and negotiation. By researching and debating complex global issues, students can gain a deeper understanding of the world around them and become more informed and engaged global citizens. Confidence, leadership skills, and new friendships are the main benefits. Of course, it's a great addition to a college application, as it demonstrates a student's interest in global issues and their ability to engage in meaningful debate and discussion.

So what is the common link between Kazakhstan, Angola, Amnesty International,  Sudan and Mauritius? In this first episode of a 2-part series on MUN, we are talking to 4 academy students and their advisor, Academy Vice Principal Evelyn Pittas, about their participation in MUN.

Let's see what the students had to say about: