WASHINGTON, DC, November 10, 2014 — Greek-American students from over half of the states across the US, from ages 8 through 18, participated in the Washington OXI Day Foundation’s First Annual Philotimo Scholarship Essay Competition.  The Foundation presented scholarships from $2,000 to $500 to the five winners out of the pool of over 100 participants.

This scholarship competition is part of the Foundation’s goal of instilling in young Americans, particularly Greek-Americans, an understanding of and appreciation for what has been done and what is being done by extraordinary people like those honored by the Foundation.

Students were asked to watch the philotimo video “The Greek Secret” – which the Washington OXI Day Foundation sent to the over 500 Greek Orthodox Churches across the country and also made available online – and then describe “philotimo”: what does it mean to you? What are some extraordinary examples of philotimo that you have seen?  What are the things you can do in your daily life to exhibit philotimo?  How can philotimo improve your life?

The first place winners of a $2,000 scholarship – sisters, Aristaia and Daria Pappas, 7th and 12th graders in La Habra, California – were announced at the Fourth Annual OXI Day Foundation Gala in Washington, DC on October 23, 2014 at the US Institute of Peace.  Trustee of the Nicholas J. and Anna K. Bouras Foundation, the Honorable Judge B. Theodore Bozonelis, accepted the award that night on the girls’ behalf, as they were unable to attend.

To see a video of this announcement from the October 23 gala, click here

The Pappas sisters wrote in their winning essay:

“We are not Greek by blood…but we are Greek by philotimo.  For reasons that were unclear to us, we were placed into an orphanage for most of our lives in Russia.  The orphanage was scarce of any emotion.  No hugs when you felt lonely, a bath once a week and we wore the same clothes for the whole week. For Christmas there were no gifts, but Daria remembers wishing for a toothbrush one year. It never arrived…

Then one day, philotimo came into our lives. When Aristaia was 3 ½ and Daria just under 10, we left the only country we had known.  Our new parents told us that we must learn about this new word `philotimo.’  Our parents have most inspired us. They came into our lives when we were lost and alone. They bestowed upon us all the things that meant the most to them: their culture; their traditions; their morals, and their values, their philotimo…Now we know the meaning of the word philotimo and we can feel it too!”

Arisstaia and Daria Pappas / Judge B. Theodore Bozonelis receives the scholarship from Oxi Day Foundation President Andy Manatos

 

The other winners, and excerpts from their essays are below:

Second place: Chrisiana Konugres-Semandiris, 17 years old in Seattle, Washington

“Her name was Sofia. My task was to make this the best week of her life; she deserved it. She was no ordinary camper at no ordinary camp. The .1% difference in her gene sequence to every other human being on Earth resulted in complete vision loss and a leukemia diagnosis…Interacting with Sofia was the first time I had experienced the true meaning of philotimo. She did not let challenges defeat her. Instead, they empowered her.. She always looked out for others. On the final day of camp, I explained philotimo to her…and how I believed that philotimo and selflessness were synonyms….Experiencing the presence of Sofia, or rather the presence of philotimo, helped me realize that it as the most important term one could understand and attempt to fulfill.”
Third place: Irene Fanourakis, 7th grader in Brooklyn, New York:

“My pappou makes sure that he drills into our heads how proud we should be of our Greek heritage…there is one word that he seems to use a lot—philotimo…all of us can learn a lesson from the Greeks. Instead of wishing for things we don’t have, we can exhibit philotimo by helping those in need….the Greeks have philotimo in their blood. As Greek-Americans, we should not forget that it is in our blood too. I am grateful to my pappou for never letting me forget that.” 
Fourth place: Konstantinos Kasamias

“As I stood there setting up the table for Chess Club, I noticed a shy classmate named Josh standing by himself. He was known as an outcast in high school and was often times misunderstood by others around. I asked him to a quick match… a few people walked past our table and began to mimic Josh.. .this  attitude deeply bothered me. I believed that Josh in that instance deserved the same respect as anyone else. To me that incident entails the idea of philotimo…It is a reflection of the way of life where a person feels the necessity to represent themselves as best they can through their relationship with others.”
Fifth place: Alexandra Cordoba, 6th grader in Jacksonville, Florida

“Philotimo is a demonstration of love…it is a life changing word for all different races and religions, because if people would start thinking of others, before themselves, we would increase understanding, communication, and tolerance…one of my role models who always showed philotimo was an immigrant from Lebanon..she realized that the most important things in life are not things that can be bought, for they can quickly be taken away from us….The real way (she) showed philotimo was by her giving nature…and volunteering of her time.”