By Hadley Jackson | Communications and Fundraising Officer
It’s been a busy time for the Better Days team. Since our last update at the end of March, we’ve successfully transformed an empty space in the centre of Athens into the new Gekko educational centre! We mean it when we say that we could not have done it without you.
The spring was devoted to three main aspects of the design and development of the Gekko project: space creation, curriculum design, and community outreach. We put great care into designing Gekko because space creation is at the core of our mission. We are extremely proud to welcome students to a space that promotes healing, learning, and growth. We welcomed two fabulous full-time teachers to our team, and one amazing volunteer teacher, who worked together to design a slate of summer courses encompassing the needs and goals of our target population. At the end of June, we were delighted to welcome our first students to Gekko for courses focused on language proficiency and IT literacy. Our teachers are also providing individual lessons for students whose learning goals are more suited to one-on-one teaching. Summer session will continue until mid-August, and we are eager to offer full-scale programming come September.
Our new Gekko students are already excelling in their courses. Niki Panteliou, the Gekko Academic Coordinator, has been impressed by the students in the Conversational Greek course. Niki says, ‘The students are committed. They have been coming to every class for three weeks, they arrive on time, and they don’t miss any classes. This can be rare. As a teacher, I feel appreciated and proud.’
As the summer progresses, we are inspired by every new student who comes through our doors. Your contributions enable us to greet new students in our beautiful new space and ask each of them, ‘What are your goals and how can we help you achieve them?’ Thanks to you, Gekko will be a safe and supportive refuge from the daily challenges that our students face.
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