Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Welcome to the ACS Athens Outcast, bringing you the heartbeat and pride of ACS Athens community.
In this week's episode, we bring together the warmth, wisdom and inspiring storytelling of our global alumni community.
Hosted by senior Margherita Brioni and Ms. Natalia Dadido of the Economics and Business faculty, the conversation opens with a heartfelt welcome to the Class of 2026, marking their first steps into a worldwide network of graduates who continue to give back generously to the school that shaped them.
What unfolds is a lively and deeply human dialogue, one that celebrates the power of connection across generations.
Across the table, alumni from graduating classes spanning three decades spare their personal stories of trans risk taking, self discovery and unexpected career turns. They speak openly about the enduring value of ACS Athens, a school that instills confidence, curiosity, global citizenship and the belief that learning never stops.
From reflections on the IB program and the teachers who left lasting impressions to humorous memories of first keyboarding classes that later became career defining, their stories highlight the shared foundation that unites all ACEs Athens graduates, no matter their path forward. Above all, the episode showcases the vibrant, supportive ecosystem that ACEs Athens alumni continue to build. These professionals, entrepreneurs, engineers, economists, coaches, doctors and creators chose to return not for recognition, but out of gratitude and a genuine desire to empower the next generation.
Their message to seniors is journey is yours to shape and wherever it takes, the ACS Athens community will be cheering you on with honesty, humor and the unmistakable spirit of collaboration that defines our school. This conversation is both a celebration of who we are and an invitation to step boldly into what comes next.
[00:02:32] Speaker B: Today, November 12th is a special day as we come together to welcome the ACS Athens Class of 2026 to the global alumn community. I would like to thank all the alumni guest speakers who are here with us today. I'm Margarita Voni, a senior of this year's graduating class of 2026 and would like to start with introducing our guest speakers. John Mariettis, who is a graduate of the class of 1991, who is a consultant Ilias Carapipedis, class of 1992, who is a coach and entrepreneur Dr. Peter Papayeriu, class of 1993, who is a doctor in entrepreneur Panos Karamezanis, class of 1993, engineer and entrepreneur John Karamanos, class of 1997, who is in shipping Nick Azudlas, class of 1997, who is an entrepreneur and Raneem Ghanom, class of 2021, who did MSc, Applied Economics, Banking and Financial Markets. Welcome everybody.
[00:03:29] Speaker C: Welcome.
[00:03:29] Speaker D: Welcome.
[00:03:30] Speaker C: Thank you for having Us.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: It's my pleasure.
So I would like to start off with asking, what do you miss most about being a senior? Mr. Papaya, you would like to start us off?
[00:03:42] Speaker C: What I miss most is having almost no responsibilities in life.
ACS is a nice community that's kind of sometimes secluded from the rest of the world.
We had it good. We had fun.
But sometimes, you know, going to university or after acs. The after acs, life is harder and you have to deal with it.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: Okay, anyone can chime in.
[00:04:10] Speaker D: Sure. I think everything comes with its time, right? So there's a time to leave, there's a time to stay.
Thirty years later, if you think, I wish I was back in high school, there's probably something wrong, to be honest. But we take away the good memories, we take away the foundations, and we move on with life and we build upon them. I don't think it's really something that I personally dwell on, like, do I miss something from ACS so many years later? But do I remember something from acs? Many things, yes. And that's a part of life that cannot be taken from you because it's part of your childhood and it's part of your, you know, your upbringing.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Okay, my next question is, what skills did you attain from ACS Athens that helped you in college?
[00:04:56] Speaker E: I mean, the skills.
I would personally talk a little bit about the ib. Okay. Because the IB is really, is a program that really puts you on the right path to university.
So therefore, the skills that you get by doing six different courses in higher on a subsidiary level provides a very, very good foundation in order for you to enter university level. And the change from high school to university is literally like just going from 12th grade to, let's say to 13th grade, let's put it like this. So for the people that are really pursuing ib, you're going to have very easy transit from one institution to the other. The other people that don't follow the ib, again, because of the national status of the school, again, it will be a very easy transition.
But I would say that if I would tell something to the younger, let's say generation, not the ones that are graduating, or let's say to the ninth grader, for example, is that they should go for it. And because the school provides you with a lot of opportunities and in this case, you can make use of it, and by doing that, you can gain a lot of skills that will be able to help you have like, immediate effect in, in the future, especially in university level.
[00:06:17] Speaker C: And it's, it's not only skills, it's also hobbies. So, you know, we get to play tennis here or, you know, football, soccer, whatever.
[00:06:26] Speaker F: It's.
[00:06:27] Speaker C: You also learn something athletic or chess or mathematics club, ecological club. You learn things that, you know, you might get to use in the future.
[00:06:36] Speaker E: Very correct. Yes. Elias, can. Can talk about this. This is actually what Peter said is very, very correct.
[00:06:41] Speaker G: But, Elias, actually, I. I learned soccer in a way, in the school, with the values of the school that. That made it a passion for me.
And I actually found my life mission through that, to change the way people look at sports.
So, yes, and traveling, which is very important.
I'm actually happy I'm coaching the varsity team here now. And it's such an amazing experience, traveling to play sports.
[00:07:06] Speaker D: It's ironic, but probably one of the most important skills and decisions I made, I guess, was to take the keyboarding class. Yeah, I agree.
[00:07:16] Speaker C: I concur.
I concur.
[00:07:18] Speaker D: You know, in 1991, we went to a world that changed very rapidly, and I. I went from not having a computer to having a computer in the dorm room. So if I was sitting there, you know, poking one key at a time, like the chickens poke on when. When you feed them, you know, wheat or something, that wouldn't have sustained anything. And there was probably no way in university to attain the assumed knowledge of typing. You could talk about anything else. But even to the day, I type because of that class that I decided to take, and it was an elective, too. That earns your bread and butter after that.
[00:07:57] Speaker F: Definitely. But I also see a lot of new things in acs that weren't around when we went, especially this podcast studio and some media rooms and whatnot. And I'm sure, actually the education has changed a lot in ACS since the time that we went.
[00:08:17] Speaker D: And.
[00:08:18] Speaker F: And you guys are very fortunate. And some of the seniors I've already met, I'm actually quite impressed how developed they are, how confident they are to speak to adults and how. I think they're actually even prepared to take the. The next step in their. In their lives, whether that's at university or when they start working.
You know, someone asked, one of the seniors had asked if university's important or if it's lost its value.
Of course, learning is important, whether you're in university or as. As we're continuing our lives today.
However, you know, we need to continue to be substantial at progressing ourselves and not taking things for granted. So, yeah, I'm. I'm very pleased to see how the kids in acs have changed A lot. And how capable they are already entering into the new chapter of their lives.
[00:09:21] Speaker D: And to add to that, who remembers talking about innovation, right, in technology?
Who remembers at this table, the SWEX project?
Maybe some of us did not actively engage in it, but when I was in elementary school, a wind generator showed up at the top of the annex.
And one of the rooms in that top floor where the math department was, was reserved as a control room for the electricity produced by that wind generator 45 years ago. And today we see wind generators on every mountain in Greece. So why was ACS so far ahead in terms of teaching that? Right. Who remembers that? Right.
[00:10:03] Speaker C: Yeah, but that's very forward thinking.
[00:10:05] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:10:06] Speaker C: You know, we're talking many years before it became ubiquitous. Yeah, ACS has changed, but the values and the commitment of the faculty remain even stronger nowadays. And another thing I really enjoy is that the academy, the academia, teaches the students not. Not to be just a student, but to be a global citizen. That problems and what you could attain at a global level, you see yourself as a global citizen. While back, maybe back then we thought of ourselves more. More inclusive, more. You know, maybe we got to go on a trip to Rome or Egypt to learn another culture, but now you guys literally have the globe at your fingertips, and it's accessible.
[00:10:49] Speaker D: Wow.
[00:10:50] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:10:51] Speaker H: My.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: My next question is more nostalgic, if you will.
What is something that you would do differently as a senior with all the lessons that you've learned throughout your life?
Like, do you have any advice for the graduating class?
[00:11:07] Speaker H: For me, as someone who recently graduated almost five years ago, I wouldn't say as much as you all have. You know, you have your experiences, and you can see that there's a big difference with how ACS was and how ACS is now. So the green room, for example, I still had it. It was here when I graduated. But I would say that as seniors, just work on yourself more and be prepared for the world. Because it's not just academia. It's more of what you bring to the table above and over what you learned in your education.
And of course, I'm saying this like I have no regrets, obviously. Like, I. I'm very grateful for where I am today. But for all the seniors now that are about to graduate, make sure that you put your 110 in everything that you do, especially in your IB exams, in your IES extended essay.
It is hard and it is. You will have a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of frustrating breakdowns. You just want to break your computer or whatever. But it really will all be worth it at the end. And as Mr.
John said, the transition from high school to university is literally just like you're just taking the next step. And that's especially if you work on yourself as much as possible. So again, if I were to give one big change for senior students, it's just make sure that you work with passion and that you work on yourself as much as possible.
[00:12:40] Speaker F: I mean, you know, the major difference between going from high school to university is that that structure of scheduling that is that that's taken out of the window. So now you're clearly the responsible party with your time, how you're going to devote your time, and whether you're going to go to your classes or not.
You know, some universities don't even, you know, mark for attendance.
Some, you know, leave it completely up to you to. It's your responsibility. No one's going to hold your hand from now on. Perhaps your parents are not going to be there to drive you to school or so, you know, you have to be determined and grow up rather quickly to embrace these responsibilities. But to be honest with you, I think most of you are going to enjoy them. I think that it's, it's exciting. It's a lot of fun to be on your own, to learn things that you're. You didn't know you were capable of doing, like the laundry or cooking a meal or whatever the case may be.
So, yeah, embrace the new change in your life.
[00:13:53] Speaker D: I guess I would add some practical points that I give to youngsters these days.
For several years now I've been saying this, but I'll put it on the podcast too. But you're about to make a big decision on what school you're going to go to and what you're going to study.
We said it in the forum earlier, but it's nowadays, especially in the United States, with the cost of, you know, college education being what it is, be very careful that you don't end up with severe burden of, of debt to the point where you owe an entire house before you even buy a house.
Be careful because just going to the most expensive college does not mean automatically that you're going to get the most prestigious salary.
And that's a reality.
So understand your financial situation. Understand that, think about it. And also, it's okay to study something that you like, but ask around to understand if it's going to provide the life that you like to live after college.
And if it doesn't, my recommendation is do a dual major, take an Extra year. Study what you like, but also pick something that's going to give you the affordability as a job. You don't have to love it, you just have to do it. Something that you can do. Because everyone has skills and sometimes work is work and life outside of work is life outside of work. So think about those things, those parameters. And it's okay to do a dual major so you have a balanced inner self.
[00:15:39] Speaker C: And also on top of that, not only to do a dual major, but maybe take a year off, maybe take one year and oh, I always want to be an artist. Go and work with an artist and just see if you like it. If you don't, do some career, if you don't, if you don't actually be there and mingle with the people that are involved, you don't know if you like it. You know, I don't know if I like tennis, if I've never played tennis before. Try it out once, you know, there's no, no harm.
[00:16:08] Speaker D: But if the one year becomes 2 and 3 and 4, then your income potential over time is severely degraded. So.
[00:16:16] Speaker C: Or maybe you start your own business.
[00:16:18] Speaker H: But I think instead of a year off, maybe like doing it in the, at the same time. Because if you lose a year, you lose the momentum of actually continuing. That's my, from my personal opinion at least. But I feel like you lose the momentum and the momentum is a very big component of whether or not you want to continue to pursue your education in the future.
[00:16:36] Speaker C: So then do a summer job while you're at university.
[00:16:39] Speaker H: Yeah. And at the same time, just don't, don't stop university to do something else. You can do it at the same time. There is time to do both at the end of the day.
[00:16:45] Speaker D: Correct. I did my master's while working in evening school. It took, you know, three plus years to get the mba, but I was doing it summer sessions and everything. That's absolutely true. Yeah, it's very. If you want to take that path, that's perfectly acceptable. You get the experience. It's very good. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:17:02] Speaker H: And I mean, just looking at students here, like when I was at acs, I did football and I did track and field and I had the IB program. So if you're able to do it in high school, what's not to say that you can also do it at a college, at a, at a PhD at a work level and everything. So there is time to do both.
[00:17:20] Speaker F: I also like to add, it's quite important because education is great, but when you start going into the work field.
Even with a degree you have no experience.
You're going to go to the workforce and you don't have experience. And how is a potential employer going to hire you without experience?
That's sometimes the disadvantages what universities provide and what kind of degree you're going to follow. So these things are actually quite important decisions you have to make and you know, be, think them thoroughly what, what degree you want to follow and be prepared to also learn things about the perspective industry you like to be in. You know, as I said before to the other kids, don't wait for someone to, to tell you, to teach you things about the industry you want to be in to learn about who the people are in the industry.
You know, many industries offer material to, to learn about, get acquainted with people in the industry, ask around, do interviews.
[00:18:30] Speaker D: Do.
[00:18:32] Speaker F: Internships, use your youth. Because you know, many times a lot of people you'd be surprised how the door might open if you knock on it.
And, and that is my advice as well is you know, learn, don't stop learning.
But you know, do a practical approach because sometimes you, you really need to have the skills already in place for you to be able to find a job.
[00:19:00] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:19:01] Speaker F: And that's the ultimate goal I would assume after attending university.
[00:19:06] Speaker D: And it's okay early in your career to change careers, it's okay to work in a field that you didn't study.
I did the same. But ultimately I think there's a natural gravitation for someone to work in a line of work that fits their personality. Otherwise you risk being very miserable.
So it doesn't matter what it is at the end of the day, but learn, learn, learn. And at some point as you learn about yourself too, you will gravitate and you will fit into the long term path that fits for you. You don't need that answer today.
[00:19:41] Speaker C: And there's no one path to get where you want to go.
[00:19:45] Speaker D: No.
[00:19:45] Speaker C: You know, you can change. You could start somewhere else and you know, as a hobby you do something and you're like, you know what, this is my career, this is what I want to do.
Maybe you want to say where you started and how you got.
[00:19:56] Speaker G: Yes, I studied shipping and there was a family business around this.
And when I came back from England, I started playing like semi professional league football and my coach really inspired me to, to follow this.
So my father never understood my decision, but I understood it so that what counts. It wasn't easy. I believe that, you know, doing something you love meant loving every day of it. And every part of it, which is not the case.
Even if you choose your passion and something you love, you will still have to do, you know, the dirty work. It's. That's.
That's what sometimes helps you become better.
And even when you get into an industry that you like, you will always learn things about you and you will get more focus about what precisely you want to do. Because I'm in the sports business, it's huge. There are many things I believed just having my own club and organizing tournaments was my thing. Then I started coaching, and then I understood coaching is my thing. And then understanding it wasn't coaching, it was what the values, what the life skills. You can go, you can, you can give the child, the kids through the game.
So the more you evolve, the more you understand what, what why you're doing it. I think one big question regarding anything is why to do it. Not what to do, not how to do it, but why. Your why is your motive to keep going and keep digging and to follow that.
[00:21:30] Speaker D: There's a transition in the corporate world in coaching.
And I use the example of, I believe it was the 2014 World cup game between Brazil and Germany.
And I asked, because we do coaching for teamwork and things like that.
And I ask why. Why in Brazil did Germany defeat Brazil with 7 to 1? I guess they were nice and let Brazil score one goal, I guess. But at the end of the day, the answer is simple. Both sides presented their best players. Yes. Their most expensive players. Yes.
But Brazil showed up with a team of individuals, a group of individuals, and Germany showed up with a team with all the meaning behind it. Teamwork. And, you know, and, and what we do in the corporate world for coaching, and we instill that because individualism destroys things and collectivism builds and teamwork like that.
One of the exercises that we do is I would say first thing in the morning, if we're a group working together, I would say, ilia, tell me what I did yesterday and what I'm supposed to do today.
And if you don't know the answer to that, again, we're not a team.
Because it's one thing to kick the ball down the field and say, I did my job. It's another thing to say, do you care where the ball went? Do you care who got it? Do you care what they did with it? Do you care that our ultimate objective is to score a goal? And we use those examples from soccer, from football in the corporate world.
[00:23:11] Speaker G: Yes, that's a great example. And besides teamwork, one great. Let's say, technical aspect, technical outcome of this is that, you know, many times we believe that in order to be great at something, you do something magical.
But it's not that. It's usually doing small, basic things every day consistently with your values, keeping the procedures.
And what happened technically that day is that the Brazilians, they didn't play defense.
[00:23:40] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:23:41] Speaker G: So the Germans just killed them because they didn't play defense.
[00:23:44] Speaker D: They were thinking that someone else was going to block the ball.
[00:23:47] Speaker F: Yes.
[00:23:47] Speaker G: Yes. So you need to. At the end of the day, the basics will keep you inside the game.
[00:23:51] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:23:53] Speaker G: If you have a bit of magic, then you can do the extraordinary.
[00:23:56] Speaker F: No, I really like what you said, Ilya, because I think it's important, especially as you said, you came from a shipping family and you decided to veer off and do something different.
And, you know, I'm sure many of the kids that attend this school are fortunate. They have the security of their parents behind them, and maybe that makes them a little bit lazy. Maybe that doesn't give them the drive to go push and to do things, because some of the people I met in my life who have achieved things came from. From hardship. So, you know, don't always rely on your parents or their success, and it'll never give you satisfaction either. You have to find it on your own. And I think that's what you did. And I'm actually very honorable about that. And I also like another analogy that the Greek soccer team in Euro in 2004 did the magical thing through teamwork, something they believe no one thought was possible.
And.
And it is possible.
It's all possible, no matter what. But if you're, you know, sitting around and not letting yourself believe in yourself or the things that you've already learned, nothing. Nothing will happen. So, yeah, thank you, Aaliyah, for that.
[00:25:19] Speaker H: And also adding to that, I had someone come to me after the panel discussion before.
Listen to your gut. Honestly, if you have a gut feeling about wanting to pursue something and people around you are telling you no, it's going to be too hard. No, you're not going to be able to do this. No, no, no. If you genuinely feel like you're confident enough and you have the skills, even if you don't have the skills now, but you know that you're going to be able to get the skills in the future to be able to pursue what you want to pursue because it is something that you're passionate about, then you should listen to your gut, as Mr. Elias did with his transition.
So regardless of what the environment is around you, or if your parents don't approve, or if this or if that. Just. If you feel like you want to pursue something, then you should pursue it.
[00:26:03] Speaker D: You'll never regret trying, but you're. You'll always regret not trying.
[00:26:07] Speaker C: But also you should believe in yourself. And even if you hear a thousand no's, it can't be possible. Maybe it actually can be possible because our friend over here brought the sun where sun exists.
[00:26:20] Speaker D: Yeah, like. Like they say the sauce sell ice to Eskimos. Well, I came around to selling sun to Greeks. People didn't believe that tanning. Tanning salon would ever work in Greece. And now, quite a few years later, 16 years later, we got nine shops around Athens and we supply the whole country with tanning blades. So it works. So as long as. As I believed it and I made it work and there was a niche for it. So sometimes even if everyone tells you it's not going to happen, it can't happen, believe me.
[00:26:55] Speaker C: And how many people told you, you're crazy, your idea is crazy, it's not going to happen.
[00:26:59] Speaker E: A lot.
[00:27:00] Speaker F: A lot. A lot of people.
[00:27:01] Speaker D: That's all I heard. The only person that really, really believed that, that when I gave him the idea, he was like, yeah, good try. It was my dad. Everyone else thought I was crazy. My mom thought I was crazy, everyone else thought I was crazy. But yeah, never ignore the person where everyone in the room says, that's a wall and that person says, it's a window. Never ignore that person.
[00:27:22] Speaker C: Never heard of that.
[00:27:23] Speaker D: Because I had, I had that classmate. I said it in the Forum in college. He was two years older than me. I'll say it again. He showed up in physics at the University of Pennsylvania, graduated two years after, but we were in the same classes. And that last year that I was there and he became a very famous guy and I didn't. And I didn't hang out with him because he was a little quirky and a little more, you know, rich than I was. But his name was Elon Musk.
[00:27:50] Speaker I: No.
[00:27:52] Speaker D: So, you know, just never ignore the guy that says it's a window.
[00:27:57] Speaker C: And you never know who you're going.
[00:27:58] Speaker F: To meet in life.
[00:27:59] Speaker D: Yeah, you never know.
[00:28:01] Speaker B: Okay, thank you so much for your wise words. I will definitely keep that in mind.
Now I want to give the floor to Ms. Natalia Vevu, who is an IB Business and Economics teacher in ACS Athens and is also a proud mother of an ACS alumni.
[00:28:19] Speaker I: Listening to the conversation, I just realized the role of risk and opportunity in your lives.
And I would love to ask, how about mistakes? Do you feel like in retrospect that looking back in your journey up to now, that mistakes ended up to something good or bad for you?
[00:28:43] Speaker D: I think there's a difference between mistakes and regrets, to be honest.
You can look back and say, I made a mistake with this or that, but do you regret doing something is the real question.
I don't have as many regrets, although someone might say that I'm crazy now because had I put the $1,000 at the opening of Amazon.com and waited today, it would be worth close to $2 million.
But I didn't put $1 in anything right, or Bitcoin or any of that stuff. You can say that those are mistakes or maybe not right? It doesn't, doesn't really matter.
Those are opportunities that you choose. You chose to ignore or didn't even see them as an opportunity at the time. So I sleep well at night knowing that based on the information I had, I made the best decision at that time for myself. And if you can live with that, you're not going to have anxiety over, well, what did I do here, what I do there? That's how I approach it.
And I don't have too many regrets. But again, you can make a long list of things that you can call mistakes.
[00:29:51] Speaker E: I think at some point, if you really want to consider whether what you did, something in life would be a mistake or whether it was a regret, you reach a point of thinking that to, to get an answer to that question, you probably have to live more than one life.
Okay? So for example, in my case, as I said, I'm a mechanical engineer, but I did a financing, sorry, a master's in shipping finance. In theory, I will be working in the finance industry. I ended up working in cable cars. So what would, what would it be better? Would it be better for me to pursue the career in finance or to do what I do right now in cable cars? I have no idea, to be honest. So, yes, if I had two lives, then probably at some point at the age of 25, 26, I would say, okay, I lived my life in the cable car business being an engineer. I'm going to live another life, okay, Trying to become a, let's say a finance, finance guy, okay? And then probably after, when I become 70 years old, if all goes well, I can compare one to one, but this doesn't happen. So therefore, at some point, as you, as you know, very correct said, you make some, some decision making based on the facts that you have at hand at that particular point of time. And you follow?
Yes. Okay. Sometimes you can think you could do a little bit better, but that's part of life, you know, Mistake is part of life. Mistake is part of business. Mistake is part of sports. There are world championship that have been lost. I mean, talk about Baggio. Everybody remembers him because he means, I mean, he's a great footballer. He missed one. One penalty shot. Does him. That's him. Make him a less of a.
No, no, he makes him a great.
[00:31:26] Speaker D: Player because, I mean, so in Colombia too. Remember him?
[00:31:30] Speaker E: Of course, yeah.
I mean, but that's a different.
[00:31:33] Speaker C: Different career. Career paths.
[00:31:36] Speaker E: So anyway, the thing is, in some cases you will never get the answer to whether something is a mistake or a regret. If, for example, in my case, I don't think I have done like, really big mistakes. Mistakes. Yes. Okay.
But you know, you, for example, being in the same classroom with Elon Musk and not, you know, getting to know him, you wouldn't. Because probably you wouldn't match as a character.
[00:31:59] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:32:00] Speaker E: Exactly. So you would say, what? I'm going to talk to this guy?
[00:32:02] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:32:03] Speaker E: You will never know who's going to be this guy in the future.
[00:32:05] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:32:06] Speaker E: You have no idea. And. But on the other hand, if you for some have some, some other reason, you had some, a lot of things in common with Elon, maybe you would end up being one of his best buddies, but you would have to have something with him.
[00:32:18] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:32:18] Speaker E: I mean, you wouldn't predict the future. You had to have something that would. You would fit to be with him. Otherwise it just wouldn't work out. So you cannot say about mistakes or regrets you take. You have a lot of path. There are millions of paths, actually. There are endless paths you can take in life. Everything you do every day. Okay. I mean, if you check this movie, Sliding Doors, you know, it's a train, it's a London Underground. And it shows how life would change if you actually managed to catch the sliding door and board this train. Or actually the doors close just before you board this train. And it shows this movie with Gwyneth Paltrow, two different lives. And what was the decisive factor? Whether for one second you go into this train or whether you go out of this train. I'm not saying that she's dying on the movie or whatever, nothing like that. But it shows two different lives. So everything we do today in our times gives us a different path.
Mistakes. I. I don't think so. You just have to move on. And at the end of the day, you know, you say, that's what I did. And I, I think I took the best decision that I could take based on the information that I had.
[00:33:21] Speaker C: And also maybe to the students, don't forget there's going to be another train coming if you miss that gate.
[00:33:27] Speaker H: Yeah.
[00:33:27] Speaker C: Don't, don't freak out.
[00:33:29] Speaker E: There's going to be another train.
[00:33:30] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. And no. And there was never any good outcome if someone drives only looking at the rear view mirror.
[00:33:43] Speaker H: You are listening to the owlcast, the official podcast of ACS Athens.
[00:33:56] Speaker E: But everything we say right now over here is part of our experience. Okay.
[00:33:59] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:34:00] Speaker E: Because everything looks a little bit too theoretical. You say, okay, everybody would probably say the same. Yeah, everybody's going to say the same because we all have, you know, we are like, some of us were 50 years old. So we have easily almost 35 years of experience going back from high school. Peter, you are. Dude, you're 50.
[00:34:15] Speaker C: I'm not 50. I'm 49.95. I was born December 5th in a couple of weeks, then we'll discuss it again.
[00:34:21] Speaker E: You're, as I say, you're 35.
Yeah.
[00:34:24] Speaker C: You are 35 plus VAT, 25 times two.
[00:34:28] Speaker E: So the thing is this at.
We say things that sound very theoretical, but they're practical. This is, this is the truth. I mean, we have been through this path, okay. And we had to take decision, I mean, on what we want to do.
We did. We do what we do. Okay. Some things are correct, some things are wrong. But, you know, we try to do the best that we can. We can do. That's the whole thing. And that's what you're going to face in your life.
[00:34:51] Speaker G: I think people will always do what the best we can do. At the moment, as a coach, you know, football game or basketball is mainly decided by mistakes.
But I think the fear of doing the wrong thing will cost you much, much more than actually doing the wrong thing.
[00:35:09] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:35:09] Speaker G: Because you lose the opportunity, you don't learn, and you have the mindset of, you know, staying back and fearing.
So I have, my example is in 2011, I decided to open up a business which was, you know, there was.
The terms were kind of risky and it went very, very, very bad.
But this led me to the biggest opportunity of my life, which was the offer I got after this. And now financially too, I'm doing better than in any time.
[00:35:41] Speaker E: So.
[00:35:44] Speaker G: Life has a magical way to lead you and it always supports and pays back.
[00:35:52] Speaker H: The boldness, like mistakes are redirecting. You to what the path you're actually supposed to be on.
[00:35:58] Speaker I: A lot of times in the classroom, we hear students that say, oh, miss, I have no idea. I need to now decide. My parents tell me this.
My friends tell me something else.
They feel burdened by having to make a decision for which they have no guarantee.
And they feel the fear of the unknown.
And they feel like this decision will shape what they're going to be in their lives.
So sometimes they pause and they just say, we're numb and we don't do anything.
So they don't even put the effort.
So they need somebody or they need you to tell them, do not stop, act and do not be afraid. That's why I wanted you to share this, so that they are not afraid to take action.
[00:36:59] Speaker F: Well, you know, the biggest mistake is trying to put a financial goal or thinking, you know, in terms of numbers or what, success, how to define success, even in school or whatever the case may be. Because, you know, we're always being graded, you know, we're always looking who's on the. Who's the richest person, who's the best athlete, who has the most trophies, and life isn't like that at all.
You know, sometimes. And clearly most of these people have to sacrifice things, whether they're sacrificing families or whatever the case may be. So not everyone has to be, you know, the greatest or, or the best. You know, life is a journey. We all are on it.
Try to be with people who are important to you, who encourage you, who are there for you, and everything else is sort of what. What come will be, you know, because your life can change in your 40s, it can change in your 50s.
You know, you can be the greatest student, the greatest athlete, and some tragic event occurs and things throw you a curveball, and now you have to reinvent yourself, do something else. So it's not, in my opinion, so important what, what comes next and not to be afraid. Just, you know, go for it and continue to not waste your time. That's. That's my advice for children, not to waste their time. Because, you know, what, what, what the seniors have that we don't have is. And they're actually much more wealthy than us because they have more time than us.
You know, statistically, obviously, we're, you know, towards the. The tail end of our lives.
We can only do so, so many things, and you guys are here and you can do so much more.
[00:38:57] Speaker D: We can't even do jumping jacks.
[00:39:00] Speaker F: So sorry about that.
[00:39:02] Speaker C: My time is definitely one thing that you cannot buy. The richest person, cannot buy more time. Time is definitely a finite whatever. But we hear you that the students are like deer in headlights and then they freeze.
But you should never just try something out like, oh, I like acting, but I'm too afraid to go do an audition. Maybe I'll fail. Just go do an audition. Who cares? You fail, you fail. Or try a little role, do something trying. And no one's gonna care if you fail or not.
[00:39:36] Speaker F: But.
[00:39:37] Speaker C: But we understand the pressure that the students are go. Going through because, oh, you have to finish this, you have to become that. You have to do that. Don't worry about it. Life, as everyone said here, is a journey and there's many different paths and you just don't know where you're gonna end up. Maybe you become prime minister of some.
[00:39:54] Speaker H: Country or also, I think it's important to change the perspective a little bit. Instead of saying fear of the unknown, you can take it as excitement for opportunity, because the unknown does have opportunity. It's just. It's up to you to decide whether you want to view it as, oh, this is something dark and scary, I don't know it, or oh, this is. I don't know what it is, but it could be something good for me. So it really does depend on the person how they decide to view that, whether it's an opportunity or a threat at the end of the day.
[00:40:21] Speaker D: And a few minutes ago, we heard Elias explain how he left the pressures of the family business and just didn't do it.
So in the worst case, if your parents are paying for your college and they're forcing you to learn something, negotiate with them. And what we said earlier, if you want to do a double major, one in what your parents are forcing you to do because they're paying the bills, and one in what you want to do, at some point, you'll have what you'll have both and, and you could walk away from whatever you feel is. Is not what you want to do four years from now. So what, you still have a lot of time. We've heard it many times at this table.
[00:41:02] Speaker G: And talking about parents, I said, you're only responsible for your feelings, not. Not your feelings. Parents, they're responsible for their feelings.
[00:41:12] Speaker I: That's very good advice.
One more thing that I would like to ask you now that you are accomplished in life, this is how this. The students saw you today. You were somewhere that they would like, would love to be in the future.
So what would make you hire somebody?
What would make you see a CV A resume and just say, this stands out.
This is what I would love to see. This is a reason for me to communicate with you and say I want to see you for an interview.
[00:41:53] Speaker D: I could start because I've been on many, I've conducted many interviews over the years. I've been on panels, interview panels for many companies.
It depends on the role, if it's entry level or a senior level role.
But we look for some traits in the character, the personality, how they will fit in with a group. We want to see if they're self starters, if again, if they're not afraid to.
We call it fail fast equals learn faster, right?
So in product development and software development, you want that mistake. You want to find the snake that's going to bite you early before it bites you later. So you want to fail. You want to see all those problems to get the bugs out of the system and get that product ready for market, right?
So you want to see people that are willing to work hard. That's the first thing you want to see people that are not so, I guess, hung up on themselves with ego to say, you know, I have this major, I have these grades and this and that.
I don't care right now. I need you to, you know, do this thing. And, and it's filing or it's, you know, looking through 600 pages of log files. It's very boring work and it's tedious. And the reason I need you to do it is because I'm paying you less than I'm paying my senior engineers that need to be developing a, a major program. So if you're, if you're humble enough to say that, especially at the beginning, I'm willing to work hard, I'm willing to do whatever they tell me and I'm going to be thankful for even having a job you're starting. Well, that's the attitude. Attitude. It's all about attitude. Because if you go in thinking that you know everything already or that you're smarter than everyone else, you're not going to last long.
That's, that's my advice.
[00:43:44] Speaker C: And you have to be aware that it's not necessarily the, the first job you get in a company or something, or an internship and you have to do, I don't know, paper filing or photocopies or, I don't know, some mediocre whatever, but it's the fact that you're going to intertwine and listen to conversations and be near the people that make decisions and you're going to be able to Hear them and discuss and, and just listen to how things are. And maybe somebody might turn around and say, hey, what do you think?
And just to be there near the room, you know, and, and, and apart from all the degrees and all the paper that you put on your wall that's going to cost money, it's also the person, the person has to fit in the group. It's your character, your morality, your ethics, your intellect, the way you network with people, the way you address people. You know, it's, it's also the, the soft skills that, you know, people look at. Yeah, everyone can go get a degree. You sit your ass down hard enough, you'll learn how to become a rocket scientist. But if you're, you're a person that drives everyone crazy when you're trying to solve a problem, I don't care if you're the smartest person, nobody's going to want to work with you.
[00:44:54] Speaker D: And I can say that after 30 years in the workforce, the current project I'm on now, the contract, the reason they're paying me and they're paying me well is because a lot of people that have big titles, vp, Director of this and that, they don't want to do the busy work. Okay, I'll do it for you. You pay me the same. And okay, I could do a lot of different things, of course, where they would need to hire 10 different people, but because I could do 10 different things, it's good that they can have it in one package. That's the experience part of it.
But I'm not doing something totally glamorous right now. But I don't care. They're paying me. That's what was needed now. That's what I'm doing now.
So that's the attitude you need to have.
[00:45:39] Speaker F: Ethics, I think, is something you don't really find in the workplace. And, you know, I'm sure in acs, the teachers, the faculty and staff try to teach these things. And, you know, when you enter the real world, those things don't really exist.
So you have to decide early on what kind of person, who you're going to be, where you're going to be ethical, where you're going to be trustworthy.
I mean, these are also things that might not pay dividends initially in your career, but they will later on in your career.
So I think that's very important to have as a trait and being resourceful, you know, being able to think outside of the box and, and believing in yourself that you can solve problems even at this young age. Because as I said, I met some of these seniors and I'm quite impressed with them, some of them. I think I could even hire them today to do a job.
I honestly, without actually going to do a college degree. If I could teach you easily to do the job, and you're more than capable even today to start doing it, because kids are more advanced than they were when we were growing up.
So, yeah, the thing that I think kids don't have is that they're intimidated by older people and they don't believe that they can do these things. But believe me, you can do these things.
[00:47:07] Speaker C: And that's why we created a global alumni network where the, the, the students can intertwine with our global alumni, which is around 6,000 people all over the world, all over any kind of industry.
And as my friend here said, he's willing to hire somebody, you know, and, and, and that's why you guys should get more.
[00:47:31] Speaker E: What?
[00:47:31] Speaker D: We're 80 years old.
[00:47:32] Speaker F: We're more than 6,000 people or more.
[00:47:36] Speaker C: Okay, Last memo I got, we were 6,000 or more. Fine.
Correct me, but the fact is that the students have a pool of people, international professionals in all sorts of industries and disciplines that they could take advantage of. And we're willing to help you, we're willing to give advice. And as we hear, like, we could even hire you to take your first steps and maybe even we could partner with you. Maybe somebody wants to start a company, you know that I want to do it, we'll do it together. You never know where things could turn out. So that's why. Please go on Global alumni and register. It's free.
[00:48:13] Speaker I: Now we're gonna switch to Ms. Maria Eliade, senior and senior class of 2026.
[00:48:23] Speaker H: Thank you, Ms. Dadido. I wanted to go back a little bit to the conversation of failure. I think a lot of the times younger kids, I've noticed, connect failure with embarrassment. And I wanted to see your opinion on that, because in my opinion, failure is not embarrassment. But a lot of the times we're scared to experiment and try new things because we think we're going to embarrass ourselves.
[00:48:49] Speaker D: We would never go to the moon. We would never be in orbit. We would never have technology if the inventors of the past were embarrassed every time they failed.
So I start with that comment.
And in the industry, we welcome failure as a learning opportunity. And failure is actually an investment.
Right? So.
Because if you learn from one mistake, you're never going to repeat it. There's a difference between making one mistake and then Making the same mistake a second time, if you move on and you don't do it again and you actually do something better as a result. And there are many cases where the failure produces an accidental discovery.
We can talk about penicillin, right? And other things that we. We know of even.
Who knows the story of Corning and Gorilla glass?
In the 1960s, they invented this phenomenal glass that couldn't break even with a hammer. It's great, but there was no practical use for it, and they buried that patent and everything. And suddenly now everyone has Gorilla Glass because it became very useful on your smartphone. So that 1960s patent, which was before its time, some people thought it was a failed investment because they couldn't market it. But now, guess what? Every cell phone has Gorilla Glass.
So you gotta take a step back and understand what the definition of failure really is.
I think failure is having a bad mindset.
That's what I call failure. Like, you can't defeat yourself. You got to step back and have a positive view on things and where each learning experience is going to take you next.
[00:50:42] Speaker H: And also something is embarrassing only if you make it embarrassing. Like maybe some people around you are going to, I don't know, talk about you, which is very unlikely if you fail. But it really is a mindset thing whether or not you want to see if your failure. Is it something to redirect you towards another goal, or is it something that I'm going to dread over and be embarrassed about? So it really is embarrassing only if you make it embarrassing.
[00:51:06] Speaker G: John talked about this before. Your results are one thing. Your value is a total different thing.
One of the best piece of advice I've heard is don't take anything personally. Don't take your success personally. Don't take your failure personally. It has nothing to do with your value. Okay, that's one of the. One of the best books I've read. It's called the Four Agreements.
So. And when we start relating our grades to our value, our money to our value, or our house to our value, then it's, It's. There's a lot of sickness around this. So that's what I can say.
[00:51:42] Speaker I: It's.
[00:51:42] Speaker D: It's.
[00:51:43] Speaker F: We were fortunate not to have Instagram, and you guys live in that generation of Instagram where you're portraying yourselves being perfect and perfection doesn't exist.
So you know that that's really somehow trying to get away from that. Because you know what? All right, sometimes things are embarrassing. That's. That's fine, you know, and sometimes people are Cruel. And that's. And that's fine. I mean, I. I know, you know, going to school sometimes can be frightening because of how you might think your peers might treat you. And, you know, the other things as well is, you know, we're all great people, but sometimes even at school, there's peer pressure.
Kids might be doing things they shouldn't be doing, get involved in things that they shouldn't be doing.
And that's something you need to recognize. You have to make sure you don't get involved with those things, because those are the mistakes that are going to take you down the wrong path.
And then you're going to need to make up that time.
And as we said, the most valuable thing here is time.
So don't make those mistakes because of your peers if they're doing them.
And you have to be sometimes brave enough to be embarrassed. It's okay to be embarrassed.
[00:53:05] Speaker H: Oscar is going to come for the last question.
[00:53:07] Speaker C: The closing question or the job?
[00:53:11] Speaker D: So I have one last question just to close the alumni insight. And the question was, would be why you guys decided to take the day off your busy schedules and come to spend your morning with my fellow classmates.
[00:53:21] Speaker C: Are we not getting paid for this?
[00:53:25] Speaker F: That's a nice question.
[00:53:28] Speaker C: I think we come and this is my fourth year, actually.
I should start getting paid, maybe talk to my agent.
I think, because all of us have. Is my opinion, because we have a connection with, with ACS that surpasses time, and we want to give back to our community. And the community is acs.
And yeah, we had fun. I had fun.
[00:53:58] Speaker E: It's pretty enjoyable, actually. You know, it doesn't. It's a. It's a change to the daily routine. It's good for us to convey some sort of information back to you guys where, you know, the next generation.
So it's. It's actually kind of fun. It's. It's. I'm pretty sure in, you know, a few years down the road, you will be quite willing to do the same thing.
[00:54:19] Speaker H: ACS is my home for 14 years. So that's a. I'm still 22, so that's still a huge chunk of my life. And for me, this feels like a home. It's not like I'm going out of my way to do something. It feels very natural for me to just take a part of this because it's. It's basically where I grew up and everything.
[00:54:35] Speaker G: So, yeah, I think it also has a sense of, let's say, responsibility. Not towards you guys only, but, you know, life has blessed us with so many things, and we. We have to share.
And there's nothing more beautiful than sharing. You can receive many, many things, but sharing is always with what, what fulfills you.
And because this part of my job, there's nothing more sacred in this world than young women or men dreams and hope. So we need to reach out and share our experiences.
[00:55:13] Speaker F: That's beautiful and very.
It's, first of all a pleasure to meet everybody here at this table. It's really an honor and Aaliyah, that you're also helping these children over here or young adults who are going to enter the world and begin their careers. And. Yeah, I mean, it's. It's really an honor. I'm glad Lydia invited me to come to my first one. I hope I'll come back again. I'll maybe be more prepared with some.
Some other things to show and tell. But, yeah, I. I think it's.
It's a responsibility as well to help the younger generation, you know, learn how to deal with the stresses and. And the fears of life.
[00:55:59] Speaker D: From my point of view, I think it's my first year here, but doing this. But I've been mentoring, you know, new individuals in the workforce for a long time.
And even before that, I guess, you know, people going to college that I've known, I've advised on things.
So to me, if, if you're willing to listen, I'm willing to speak. The day that people are not willing to listen, I'll go back to doing what I do right. So it's really a reverse question.
Is this valuable today? And if it is, I'll be back next year.
[00:56:37] Speaker C: And also, let's not forget to tap into this human resource, which is the alumni. Please register for the Alumni Global to get access to all the speakers here, plus another 8,000 now have we grown 8,000 more throughout the world and through many disciplines.
[00:56:57] Speaker D: You need some special music every time you do that.
[00:57:01] Speaker C: That's why, that's why you should pay me because I'm trying to advertise for you guys.
[00:57:07] Speaker D: We also thank you for. On behalf of ACS Athens Senior Class of 2026.
Also for me when I'm 2027, class, we all have insight of how life can, like, really change paths and what you do.
So thank you very much.
[00:57:23] Speaker E: It's our pleasure.
[00:57:24] Speaker G: Our pleasure.
[00:57:25] Speaker H: Thank you to you guys for coming and talking to us and giving us advice.
I think you made a bigger impact than what you think.
[00:57:32] Speaker F: That means a lot.
[00:57:34] Speaker E: Great to know.
[00:57:37] Speaker D: You are listening to.
[00:57:38] Speaker H: The Owlcast, the official podcast of ACS Athens. Make sure you subscribe to the Allcast on Google Podcasts, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. This has been a production of the ACS Athens Media Studio.
