As seen in ...                                                                       February 6, 2002
   

  BOUND FOR GREECE:  John Krisak, left, and Steve Katsipodas are preparing to open a private
  school in grece in July that offers Ontario hgh school credits.  Both are teachers at Central
  secondary school in London.
 
London teachers exporting education
BY NORMAN DE BONO
Free Press Business Reporter

   The foundation for the first private Canadian high school in Greece has been set in London.
   Two central secondary school teachers are making the leap from educator to entrepreneur, opening the Canadian Lyceum of Greece, a private school in Crete that will offer Ontario high school credits.
  "I really believe in international education," says Steve Katsipodas, director of schools for the Lyceum.
  "I believe students from all over the world should learn about different cultures and we are building a school which is second to none," he said.
   Having attended high school in Greece before his parents immigrated here from Athens, Katsipodas found the Ontario high school system superior to what he experienced in Europe.
   "I was very impressed with the schools here.  They inspired me and I want to bring that inspiration back to Greece."
   Arriving in Canada, Katsipodas flourished with the feedback and discussion in Ontario high schools and believes the same system will work at his school, opening in July.
 

    "We are offering a school with an enriched curriculum. We have hired only Ontario teachers for the school.  I want a school that touches every person," he said.
   John Krisak, director of programs for the Lyceum, teaches English at Central and has 30 years' teaching experience.
  "We hope to make a profit, but it is more than a business.  We want to export education to Greece," he said.
   There are 25,000 Canadians living in Greece and about 400 come to Canada each year for school, meaning there's a market for the business, he said.
   The partners got a business loan from TD Canada Trust to open the school.
   "They gave us the amount just on the strength of our business plan," said Krisak, who isn't Greek, but his wife is, and they want their children to have a Greek influence.
   "We want to extend what public education can do.  Students can see the Acropolis in Athens or the Palace of King Minos in Crete.  They can experience archaeology and history firsthand."
   Several private schools from Britain and the U.S. are in Athens.  The school hopes to enrol the children of Greeks 		living here who want them to learn about Greek culture and language.
   Katsipodas also hopes North Americans and Europeans living in Greece will want a Canadian education experience for their children.
   The summer school will operate only in July, offering one Ontario credit that could be applied to a diploma here.  In two years, Katsipodas hopes to offer a year-round school in Athens.
  "There is a big demand in Greece for this because they want to study in a foreign school.  They want to be competitive with the rest of Europe since they are in the European market now."
  Tuition is $4,300 including accommodation and meals.  Students will live on site.  Teachers will live in a separate hotel.
   The school offers a varied curriculum of visual arts, painting, ceramics, history, math, drama, music and Greek and English language studies.
   Katsipodas, 40, teaches business, computer studies, science and math at Central and will keep his full-time teaching job in London for now, administering the operation and then traveling to the school each summer.
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