With great success and deep emotional intensity, the 32nd Graduation Ceremony of the 12th-grade students of Mandoulides Schools took place on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, at the High School premises.
The evening featured musical performances, video presentations of the students’ school journey, honorary awards, and above all, heartfelt words filled with gratitude, vision, and hope.
The keynote speaker was distinguished alumnus Vangelis Taratoris, Class of 2010, Vice President of Fixed Income Trading at Two Sigma, a hedge fund in New York. Speaking in a direct and meaningful way, he delivered a message of life and responsibility to the new graduates.
Mr. Taratoris, calling the invitation an “honor” and reminiscing emotionally about his school years, advised graduates to pursue goals that hold personal meaning:
“Success isn’t doing what others expect of you. It’s achieving what you define as important,” he emphasized.
With humor and sincerity, he urged students to avoid paths that inevitably lead to unhappiness – unreliability, envy, ignorance, and evasion of responsibility – and instead to follow their own path grounded in knowledge, discipline, and personal integrity:
“Choose goals that matter to you, not to others. And remember, you cannot achieve great things without effort, but also without love for what you do,” he characteristically said.
In her traditional farewell address, the President of Mandoulides Schools, Mrs. Aikaterini Mandoulides, encouraged the graduates to aim high and draw inspiration from the vision of the school’s founder, Evangelos Mandoulides:
“Your school and your family have given you roots and wings. Roots, to know where you belong. Wings, to fly far; freely and responsibly,” she noted.
The General Director and High School Principal, Dr. Aspa Chasioti, who also curated the event, welcomed the attendees and addressed the graduates with inspiring words. She warmly thanked the parents for their trust and collaboration:
“We, your teachers, wish you, if we may recall the poet, for the years to come: Find time for your dreams, because they will pull you to the stars. Find time to love and be loved, for that is the privilege of the gods. Find time to look around you, because the day is too short to be selfish. Find time to laugh. Find time to remain a child, so you may feel truly human. Fear nothing! Dream boldly and stand firmly. With values, guided by humanity and dreams.”
The Evangelos Mandoulides Award was presented by Christos-Apostolos Mandoulides, professor in the Department of Mathematics at RISE University in Houston, Texas, to student Dimitris Toulis, in recognition of his integrity and outstanding achievements at both national and international levels.
The farewell address on behalf of the graduates was delivered by student Alexandros Kaimakis.
The welcoming remarks were made by Class of ’25 graduates Promitheas–Panagiotis Nikou and Anthia Pilianidou. The event presentation was undertaken by Athanasia Vrettou, Lamprini Ganatsa, Stavros Karasmanis, Alexandros Komnianidis, Eleni Konstantinidou, and Varvara Papadopoulou.
The graduates were officially welcomed into the Alumni Association of Mandoulides Schools with a warm greeting from the Association’s Vice President, Mr. Stylianos Koulaxis, Class of 2015.
The ceremony included awards for distinguished graduates and the screening of two touching videos: One dedicated to the founder, Evangelos Mandoulides, and another capturing moments from the school life of this year’s graduates, from their very first day of school to graduation.
No graduation ceremony would be complete without music and dance. The musical ensemble “Ihochromata” provided an artistic backdrop to the event, and a dance performance starring the graduates themselves was also presented.
Among those in attendance were Thessaloniki MP Mr. Dimitris Kouvelas, Mr. Yiannis Papageorgiou (Coordinator of the Prime Minister’s Office in Macedonia), Ms. Olia Vasilaki (representative of the Governor of Central Macedonia), local government officials, parents, relatives, friends of the graduates, and educators.
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