Metropolis of Boston Scholarship Opportunity
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD APPLICATION | CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SCHOLARSHIP GUIDELINES
Brookline, MA, May 4, 2021 - The Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston is pleased to announce the launch of the Saint George’s Hellenic Benefit Society of Tsamantas Scholarship Fund, which in its first year will award two scholarships for Greek-American college and graduate school students for the upcoming 2021-2022 academic year.
The first scholarship award is named after Stavros Bellos, one of the Epirote village of Tsamantas’ native sons and the village’s greatest benefactor, who bequeathed a very generous sum to the St. George’s Society. This sum, together with other Society funds, have endowed a perpetual scholarship fund administered under the auspices of the Metropolis of Boston, continuing the long and fruitful leadership of His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios in New England. The second scholarship is in memory of Arthur Athanasiou, a former 61 year member of the St. George’s Society who also served several tenures as President of the Society, and was the driving force in its revitalization during the last 20 years. The “Stavros Bellos Scholarship” will provide a $7,500 award and the “Arthur Athanasiou Scholarship” a $5,000 award. The deadline to apply for both scholarships is June 1, 2021.
Tsamantas, a once-thriving mountainous village of more than 1,500 inhabitants located in Epirus, Greece, today has a population of fewer than twenty residents. A large chain migration of young men from the village ventured to Worcester at the turn of the 20th century to forge a new life for their families. In 1908, some forty of these pioneers established one of the first Greek-American fraternal organizations in the United States – The St. George Hellenic Benefit Society of Tsamantas, and thereby helped build the long-thriving Greek Orthodox community in Worcester, MA. Current Scholarship Committee Member and former St. George’s Society VP Nick Athanasiou stated: “The Society was founded to help, support and benefit the village and people of Tsamantas. The new Scholarship Fund continues this storied tradition by aiding deserving Greek-American students in achieving their academic ambitions while also commemorating our ancestral village, our venerable Society and its many founders and benefactors for generations to come.”
Scholarship recipients will be announced on June 13, 2021 at the 35th annual Greek Orthodox Metropolis Awards Dinner.
