“The Ministry of Education supports sponsorships which are manifestly even more effective when they relate to Education and Culture”
“The Ministry of Education supports sponsorships which are manifestly even more effective when they relate to Education and Culture”
“The Ministry of Education supports sponsorships which are manifestly even more effective when they relate to Education and Culture” pointed out Marietta Giannakou, Minister of Education at an award-ceremony organized yesterday (November 18, 2004) on the initiative of EFG Eurobank Ergasias for third-grade lyceum students from Northern, Central and Southern Attica schools, who excelled and obtained the highest access grades in the Panhellenic Admission Examinations held in June 2004.
The Minister of Education congratulated EUROBANK for this initiative involving more than 230.000 third-grade lyceum students throughout the country and stressed that the EUROBANK program, which was set in motion last year and continues its course, has a clearly defined goal: to reward emulation among students.
EUROBANK’s Managing Director, Nicholas Nanopoulos referred to the bank’s philosophy regarding the Group’s social presence and stressed that ‘in an era that gives rise to threateningly dead-end controversies, nihillistic approaches and circumstancial aspirations”, we need encouragement and support for every single one of our effort which is propelled by time-withstanding and highly prized values’.
Yesterday’s ceremony was the first of the two events scheduled to take place in the Greek capital due to the large number of students to be awarded. The next event, which will host third-grade lyceum students from schools of Western Attica and Piraeus, will be held on Thursday November 25, 2004.
The program titled «The Great Moment for Education», initiated by EUROBANK last year, reinforces the already significant sponsoring presence of the Group not only in the field of education but also in that of culture and sports. The program’s objective is to support and encourage the young generation in its effort to acquire more knowledge, to attain higher goals and at the same time to enhance the presence of EUROBANK in the country’s social life. In the framework of this program, EUROBANK awards every year lyceum graduates, one from each of the 1300, public or private schools throughout Greece, who have excelled and obtained the higher grade in the Panhellenic Admission Examinations. The award conferred to each student is accompanied by an amount of €1000.
Members of the Greek Parliament, representatives and individuals having an outstanding presence in the country’s social and economic life attended the event, coordinated by journalist Ellie Stai.
In her brief salutatory address, Minister of National Education and Religion Marietta Giannakou expressed her satisfaction for this EUROBANK initiative implemented for a second time in a row with a specific goal: to reward students with an outstanding performance, to say «bravo» to all those who were admitted in universities, through the institution of sponsorships which has proven to be particularly effective, especially when it furthers education and culture.
Mrs. Giannakou stated that the Ministry of Education and the government attribute special importance to education and culture. “The human capital is the most essential, most interesting part for us, and we should jointly invest in it on a long-term basis. Greece’s education system must provide equal opportunities for high performance to all young individuals and to ensure greater support to those who need our solidarity. In a process of competition, the attainment of outstanding performance in a fair, clear way has always been a huge bet, and for this reason alone we need to say a big “bravo” to the students, but also to EUROBANK which materialized this initiative», she pointed out.
In a short speech, EUROBANK’s Managing Director Nicholas Nanopoulos described the philosophy of Eurobank regarding the Group’s social presence through sponsoring projects in education, culture and sports.
Referring to the program titled «The Great Moment for Education», the Bank’s CEO pointed out that it is evolving into a living and successful institution for which EUROBANK wishes to constitute a solid, timeless bridge of communication with the broader society and in particular with young individuals. Through this project, a powerful financial organisation such as EUROBANK establishes a solid, mutual and creative relationship with society, thus, refunding a part of the profits that its business activities have yielded.
“Our objective is to encourage the effort of young people to learn and become educated, since this is the safest way for their personnal and professional growth, and at the same time to lay emphasis on the importance of certain timeless values that we believe should lie behind each individual and collective effort for development, progress and prosperity. Such values are meritocracy at all levels and functions of society, consistency, healthy ambition, noble emulation, pursuit of challenge and success», Mr. Nanopoulos stressed.
At yesterday’s event, 235 lyceum students from corresponding schools of Northern, Central and Southern Attica received awards.
The awardees, members of the academic community from now onwards, referred to the arduous effort they made over the past year to attain their goal, something which is their biggest reward.
“All the sacrifices for the Medical School were woth it”, said Constantina Costaki, underscoring her family’s support in her effort.
“The award is certainly a great satisfaction, but what really mattered to me was to fulfil my dream, that is, to be admitted in the Law School of Athens. It was a difficult year, but achieving my goal was the most significant thing”, said Gerasimos Kounadis.
“Planning and studying on a regular basis played a major role in materializing my goal which was to be admitted in the faculty I had chosen”, said Katerina Antoniou, today student of the Civil Engineering Department of the Metsovio National Technical University of Athens.