60^th Anniversary Celebration

This very special year marks the 60^th in Pinewood – The American International School of Thessaloniki’s history. To commemorate this significant milestone, a weekend of celebrations was held June 18  - 20, 2010, which featured six decades worth of laughter, familiar faces and, most importantly, treasured memories. Perhaps even above a noted international institution of academic excellence, Pinewood is a community of alumni, academics, parents, former students, and faculty members bound by a shared history of outstanding education, unparalleled diversity and unwavering school spirit. Nowhere was this spirit more alive than in the culmination of the festivities – the Gala Dinner Dance, which was held on Saturday, June 19 in the Grand Ballroom of the Hotel Nikopolis.

After a warm welcome from our Director, Dr. Peter Nanos, and an introduction from event organizer Ms. Youli Andrianopoulou, the evening kicked off with a few words from Mrs. Paulina Nicopoulos, the President of the Pinewood School Board, and Mr. Thomas Zaralides, the Acting President of the Pinewood School Alumni Association. Mr. Nikolaos Pentzos, President of the Federation of Industries of Northern Greece and a proud Pinewood parent, served as Guest Speaker for the evening and shared with the audience the most glowing of words about the superior quality of the school’s academic programs and the high caliber of the teaching staff. The evening continued with a Special Guest of Honor Recognition of Mr. Peter Baiter, who served as the very fondly remembered Director of Pinewood from 1982 – 2004. The plaque was presented by Ms. Ismene Ioannidou, one of the founders of the school and a treasured former Pinewood teacher, and the school’s current Director, Dr. Peter Nanos.

                              Pinewood Alumni                   Ms. Ismene Ioannidou and Mr. Peter Baiter

                        Mr. Nikolaos Pentzos                                      Ms. Youli Andrianopoulou, Mr. Panagiotis

                                                                                                                     Psomiades, Mrs. Georgia Karagianni

              Pinewood Alumni and Faculty                                   U.S. Consul General Catherine Kay

                                                                                                                                          and Mr. John Kay

The Pinewood 60^th Anniversary Celebration was made possible through the generous support of our cherished sponsors.

              Mr. Dimitri Contominas                                       B. Fessas S.A.

The graduation ceremony for Pinewood's Class of 2010 was held on June 16 with a large audience of parents, friends, faculty members

and other guests in attendance on the school's campus.

Graduating Seniors Trevor Salkimis and Anestis Luarasis provided the Salutatory and Valedictory addresses, respectively, while U.S. Consul

General Catherine Kay gave a well-received and inspiring commencement address.  Ms. Hanne Voukalis, our retiring art teacher, presented

the various senior awards, and the diplomas were conferred by Dr. Peter Nanos, Director, and Mrs. Paulina Nicopoulos, School Board Presi-

dent.

A reception followed thereafter in celebration of the significant milestone achieved by Pinewood's Class of 2010!

In our 8^th grade English class, we were required to write short stories that our teacher later printed as a booklet called English 8 Short Story Writing Project.  The students worked hard to come up with these stories and to meet the deadlines our teacher set as we worked on the different sections of our stories. Our stories represented a variety of genres such as adventure, fantasy and mystery. Depending on the genre of the story, our teacher assigned us to different teams. These teams formed the basis of a Writers Workshop, in which we discussed our stories and then used the suggestions from our team members to improve our stories. During the Spring, the 8^th grade class completed their elaborate short stories which show a lot of imagination.  Fortunately, all these stories have been collected together in a booklet, and a copy of this booklet can be found in our school library.

- Anneta Lalova, Eighth Grade Class Officer, 2009-2010

The aim of the course is to provide an understanding of the most serious global issues that remain unsolved or of novel issues that have emerged after the formation of the global village. The complexity of these issues and the interdisciplinary nature were examined thoroughly while reasons why the current international system has not been able to successfully deal with them were discussed.  New ideas regarding global problem solving were proposed while creative teaching methods that rely on substantial student participation (seminars, presentations, debates and various innovative activities) were utilized.

Congratulations to Ms. Georgia Paliouris, course instructor, and her students on their successful first year of Global Issues!