Today's student edition, we host Adrianos Botsios, an Academy student of ACS Athens who interviewed Jan Kleijssen, Chair of the Information Society and Action against Crime • COMMITTEE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE of the COUNCIL OF EUROPE.

Jan has been Chair of the Council of Europe’s Disciplinary Board since 2015 and acts as the Council of Europe Internet Governance Coordinator since 2018.

Onalytica, a marketing software platform, in July 2019 included Jan among the Top 100 influencers on the regulation of new technologies.

Let's listen to what Adrianos Botsios and Jan Kleijssen talk about:

Welcome to another episode of the Owlcast - Alumni Edition. Today with us is Odysseas Digbassanis, Class of 2019. Odysseas with studies in History, Politics and Economics at Warwick University in the UK, was recently appointed as the Secretary for External Affairs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. He tends to downplay his role, but it’s not every day a 21-year-old person gets this post, even on a volunteer basis. With Odysseas Digbassanis today we discuss:

In the first season of the Owlcast, we talked with more than 40 individuals from the school community, teachers, alums, visitors, and of course students, discussing what makes life at ACS Athens exciting, rewarding, and most of all, memorable. Our “unofficial” motto is “never a dull day.” This was reflected in all our episodes, which are accessible through all the major podcast platforms and under the News and Productions section of our website. Last year, we discovered that everyone in our community has a lot to say, what inspires them and what they aspire to do in the year and years to come.

In the new season of the Owlcast, we will bring to you more faculty and student stories from the Life @ ACS Athens, but also stories from Colleges visiting our campus every year, parent stories, and much more!

We kick off this year’s Owlcast with the President of ACS Athens, Dr. Peggy Pelonis, who steers the school through the post-COVID era, that is full of the teachings of online learning, community building and meaningful engagement benefitting everyone  

With Dr. Pelonis, we discuss:

The one with Daphne and Yi-Rui

The Graduating Class of 2022 is by now a part of the ACS Athens annals, an integral page of the school's 77 year-long proud history in American and international education. Each year, students and their teachers, parents and extended family, along with the entire community of ACS Athens celebrate not just the completion of a circle that for some is as long as 14 years, for others maybe one or two years, but also to signify the landmark in the life of so many adolescents breaking through to adulthood as they enter college life, and are able for the first time to provide advice to their younger peers, as until today they were on the receiving end of that advice.

In a 3-part series about the Class of 2022, we are talking to 7 unique individuals, 7 graduates with remarkably different backgrounds, different school experiences and plans for the future. Unique personalities and approaches to life are evident through this candid, unscripted discussion.

In part 1 of the series, here's Daphne and Yi-Rui, who joined the school at different ages and with different expectations.

The one with Emilynn and Ali

The Graduating Class of 2022 is by now a part of the ACS Athens annals, an integral page of the school's 77 year-long proud history in American and international education. Each year, students and their teachers, parents and extended family, along with the entire community of ACS Athens celebrate not just the completion of a circle that for some is as long as 14 years, for others maybe one or two years, but also to signify the landmark in the life of so many adolescents breaking through to adulthood as they enter college life, and are able for the first time to provide advice to their younger peers, as until today they were on the receiving end of that advice.

In a 3-part series about the Class of 2022, we are talking to 7 unique individuals, 7 graduates with remarkably different backgrounds, different school experiences and plans for the future. Unique personalities and approaches to life are evident through this candid, unscripted discussion.

This is the 2nd part of a 3-part series about the Class of 2022, as we are talking to 7 recent graduates of ACS Athens, who through their different backgrounds, and experiences reveal their unique perspective to their life as they join the Alumni community of the school.

In part 2 of the series, we welcome Emilynn and Ali.

The one with Ann-Marie, Tomasso and William

The Graduating Class of 2022 is by now a part of the ACS Athens annals, an integral page of the school's 77 year-long proud history in American and international education. Each year, students and their teachers, parents and extended family, along with the entire community of ACS Athens celebrate not just the completion of a circle that for some is as long as 14 years, for others maybe one or two years, but also to signify the landmark in the life of so many adolescents breaking through to adulthood as they enter college life, and are able for the first time to provide advice to their younger peers, as until today they were on the receiving end of that advice.

In a 3-part series about the Class of 2022, we are talking to 7 unique individuals, 7 graduates with remarkably different backgrounds, different school experiences and plans for the future. Unique personalities and approaches to life are evident through this candid, unscripted discussion.

This is the 3rd and final part of our series on the Class of 2022, as we are talking to 7 recent graduates of ACS Athens. All graduates represent the power of ethnic and cultural diversity that is evident throughout the school, and how, through their different backgrounds, and experiences, these ACS Athens graduates have developed a a unique perspective and way of thinking as the move towards College life.  

In part 3 of the series, we have with us Ann-Marie, Tomasso and William

With the overabundance of information available at our fingertips, or through our Augmented Reality glasses or via the Metaverse, it's becoming more and more critical that we know what information is knowledge and what knowledge can be useful and for what purpose. Students of international schools, are being asked to make this distinction. How do we know that we know? What do we know? What is the extent of our knowledge? How are we to decide, in any particular case, whether we know? and, What are the criteria of knowing? These are some of the questions that are at the heart of the Theory of Knowledge course.

TOK students of the International Baccalaureate Diploma program must consider them and attempt to answer through their work. These are questions that philosophers are pondering for centuries, with every era giving different answers. We are talking about higher level thinking. And what a better way to learn than to understand and create knowledge from thinking about what is knowledge.

IB students of ACS Athens gathered this year to present their TOK question and their findings at their annual exhibition of Theory of Knowledge that was held at the Theatre lobby. We were there to see and hear from some of them.

It’s not every day that artists exhibit their art to the public. Sometimes artists go through their entire life before they get the inner strength to expose their work to the critique of others. The fact that a 16-year-old student artist gets this opportunity, is by itself remarkable.

11th grader James Lane is our guest today.

With James today we discuss:

The end of another Academic Year is very close, but this year it has a special meaning for everyone. After 2 years in the Covid pandemic, with its lockdowns, restrictions and virtual classes, the 2021-22 was the first academic year that resembled to a normal school experience. As the Class of 2022 is getting ready to bid farewell to the school, the Academy Principal is preparing to offer his own reflection. David Nelson has been the Principal of the Academy since 2019, but has been an educator at ACS Athens for 22 years.

Today with Mr. Nelson we discuss:

AND

An international school is defined mainly by the internationally minded curriculum, following the principles of international education but also by fostering a globally minded mentality in its student body and the entire community. Students by definition are international coming from different ethnicities, and nations, bringing a wealth of experiences and mindsets, looking to integrate but also to stand out. When the entire community is made of similarly international background, then you have the ultimate combination. 

Our guest today is as international as someone can get. A Greek Cypriot, Sophia Stella Soseilos was born in Germany, lived in Cyprus, studied in South Africa and moved to Greece in 1995. Sophia has a passion for teaching Art, inspiring creativity and using design thinking in her education space. 


With Sophia Soseilos today we discuss: