By Demetris Tsakas
NEW YORK – Saint Demetrios School of Astoria has received a $1 million donation from the School Board President, Nikos Andriotis. The money will be spent solely on the renovation of the Elementary School of the Community, which is located on Archbishop Iakovos Street directly across from the Church of Saint Catherine and Saint George.
Andriotis spoke to the National Herald, pointing out that the renovation work has long been planned and on June 1 the renovation work will begin.
This renovation is long overdue for the three-story brick building four decades after it began operations as a school.
The building, as Andriotis pointed out, was a factory and was bought by the community in 1974 to meet the increased needs for classrooms due to the new wave of immigration that followed the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
Since the capabilities of that era were not large, they made the necessary arrangements and a cafeteria was created, a hall for events on the first floor, and six classrooms on the second and third floors.
Renovation will radically change the building, because eleven classrooms (twice the existing ones) will be created on the second and third floors, while on the first floor there will be a large multifunctional space that will cover all the needs of elementary school.
Andriotis pointed out that the annex of the school at St. Catherine and Saint George was the only building that had not been modernized and that, with its renovation, the community would have the most modern school facilities.
The doubling of the classrooms, as Andriotis noted, will enable the School to upgrade the quality of the education provided and attract more pupils.
Three hundred children from kindergarten through elementary school are attending the School Annex and they use the spaces on the ground floor of the Church of Saint Catherine and Saint George as well as the adjoining smaller building in which the kindergarten is housed.
Andriotis observed that the project will start on June 1 and during the last two weeks the classes will take place in the school complex of the high school and with the beginning of the new school year to commence the inauguration.
The decision to donate had been made long ago and Andriotis had already begun work with the architect and the contractor, but delayed the announcement until now.
The Superintendent of the school Dr. Anastasios Koularmanis, on Wednesday evening during the meeting of the School Board, announced the Andriotis’ donation, to the surprise and enthusiasm of the members of the Board.
The dean of St. Demetrios Cathedral, Fr. Nektarios Papazifiropoulos expressed his gratitude both for the donation of Nikos Andriotis, as well as for the donation of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, during the meeting and in a statement to the National Herald.
“Mr. Andriotis donation is historic and Resurrectional because it was announced after the Resurrection of the Lord and because it was in the context of the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the community and of the 40th anniversary of the operation of the annex of the St. Demetrios School. This donation will completely renovate the meaning of our school at Saint Catherine,” said Fr. Nektarios Papazifiropoulos.
He then praised Andriotis’ longtime commitment and many contributions to the community and the School of Saint Demetrios Astoria and said: “Nikos Andriotis has proved to be a man of works and works deserve more than words. On the other hand, it is no coincidence that the new donation of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation is in honor of the president of the School Committee Nikos Andriotis and our Superintendent Dr. Anastasios Koularmanis.”
“The donations of Mr. Andriotis and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation have caused enthusiasm and without the slightest exaggeration I can say that St. Demetrios of Astoria is experiencing a historical moment. These donations will enable us to meet the needs of the Greek-American community and the new immigrants from the homeland. I also believe that they will create the conditions to reunite with Astoria the Greeks who have moved to other areas of Long Island and the suburbs of New York over the last decades,” said Fr. Papazafiropoulos.
Andriotis’ donation is the largest individual donation of the second decade of the 21st century and the first of 2017 for the St. Demetrios High School of Astoria.
But the greatest benefactor of the high school is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, which has already contributed more than $2 million and which, as the National Herald reported is preparing to make an unprecedented donation for Greek education.
The new donation of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation is historical in the histrory of the community, in scope and size for Greek education, and recognizes the need to preserve the Greek language for the next generations and the important role played by St. Demetrios High School under the leadership of the school’s Superintendant Dr.Koularmanis, and of the school’s founder and School Board President, Nikos Andriotis.
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