2014-03-16: St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival

Post date: Jan 25, 2015 3:25:29 AM

The first half of March was devoted to getting ready for our Parish St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival that was held on Sunday, March 16th. Each year the Oratorical Festival provides a great opportunity for our students to learn and speak about our Orthodox Faith. The topics for grades 7th through 12th grade were selected from a list provided by the Archdiocese. Topics for the younger grades (Preschool to 6th grade) were provided by the teachers. In addition, students in the Junior Division (7th through 9th grade) and the Senior Division (10th to 12th grade) had the unique opportunity to give a speech to their fellow students and to a panel of three judges who scored the speeches for content and delivery.

We would like to congratulate the students who stepped up and gave speeches at our Oratorical Festival and to recognize them in speaking order, below.

All speakers received Honorable Mention.

Runners-up are shown with (*). Finalists are shown with (**)

6th Grade: Speakers: Anastasia Papageorgiou, Sam Radwanski, Stephanie Cotitsas. Paper: Emily Karamihas.

Junior Division: Sophia Gibson, Alexandra Chalogianis, Niko Hays, Chrysanthe Patselas*, Marina Govatsos, Athina Res**, Gregorios Papaefthymiou, William Kiningham*, Emily Roopas, Gabriel Necula. Paper: Christopher Hays, Leah Abdallah.

Senior Division: Angelos Bairactaris, Frank Bairactaris, Juliana Patselas, Grant Vlahopoulos*, Anastasia Gibson, Athena Chapekis**, Jackie Stokes*, Socrates Papageorgiou, Stephen Philippou.

Congratulations to all students and to their parents and teachers for the hard work they put into the Oratorical Festival. They did a fantastic job and they are all winners!

We would also like to thank the judges for sharing their time and talents to make the Oratorical Festival possible: Professor George Vlachos, Coordinating Judge. Professor of Economics at the University of Michigan Dearborn, parishioner at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Ann Arbor and returning judge for our Festival. Anastasia Magoulias, daughter of Fr. Magoulias in Modesto, California and newly joined into Fr. Nick's family through his brother Damian. Ms. Magoulias is a graduate of San Louis Obispo in biochemistry, and has participated in and helped with many Oratorical Festivals. She attends St. Johns in Sterling Heights. Anna Pogoncheff is a graduate of the University of Michigan Dental School. She attended our church for many years while in school, and came to help with our Oratorical Festival from Holy Trinity in Lansing.

Many thanks also to all adult parishioners who provided their support: Artemis Alex, Pam Petropoulos, Stacey Garris, Mary Hays, Sophia Radwanski-Grias, Jennifer Patselas, Deno Prokos, Nick Chapekis, Jr., Theresa Chapekis, Tony Michalopoulos, Michael Kapetan, Katherine Phan and Photios Ioannou. Special thanks to Dr. Vicki Kiningham who once again organized every aspect of our parish Oratorical Festival. And many thanks to Reverand Father Nick Kotsis for his unwavering support of the Festival and its importance in the Church School Program.

We would also like to remember our late parishioner Mara Krause and her loving support of the Oratorical Festival through her work in the Parish Bookstore. May her memory be eternal.