Break out the Baklava: New Student Organization Celebrates Greek Culture
By Olivia Bee ’10
News Reporter
Founded by two of the proudest Greeks on campus –Chris Bakes ’10 and Katerina Gogos ’10- the Choate Hellenic Association is one of the newest clubs on campus devoted to exposing the Greek culture to all who are interested.
“With such a diverse community at Choate, Katerina and I decided that this would be a fun, engaging and productive way to contribute to the cultural community at Choate. We both come from Greek families and wanted to share the traditions, culture, and history of our heritage,” said Bakes, co-president and co-founder of the club.
Motivated by their passion for Greek culture, Gogos and Bakes began formulating ideas for the club “sometime in early November.” Bakes noted, “A "Greek club" was more of a vague idea at first. We pursued it, and Choate Hellenic Association is the result of that.”
The atmosphere of the first meeting was relaxed and enjoyable. Every week the meeting will have a different theme (i.e. pop culture, food, traditions, etc.) and a few Greek words will be taught that relate to the theme. Bakes described the meeting held on Monday, January 21: “The latest [theme] was music. Katerina and I shared some history of Greek music, famous Greek songs, as well as Greek rock and rap.”
Both Chris and Katerina want the members to decide how the club will operate and what the activities will be. Everyone had different ideas to share and expressed their opinions readily. Many decisions were made at the first meeting and the members are looking forward to trips to local Greek festivals, a SAC dance, a Greek movie marathon, and even a trip to the Greek district of New York City.
Bakes commented, “In our mission statement, we say that we ‘aim to provide the Choate community with a perspective of Greek past, modern and future life.’” The club is open to anyone who wants to join, and with the upcoming activities and club meetings, the club hopes to fulfill this goal.
