1953 -

Sophia Stamatopoulou was in the 1950s an educator, PE instructor at the All Girls School in Kalithea, Athens. She was an exceptional teacher who stood out for her encouragement and support of her students. As a well-known figure at the time, she is selected to direct Hellenic-American Institute branches in Paleo Faliro (originally inside the Vouzounara Gallery and, later on, on the corner of Iridos and Agiou Alexandrou street in a beautiful neo-classical villa now sadly demolished), in Pireaus (Sotiros Dios str.), Neos Kosmos/Agios Sostis (Baknana str.) and Kallithea (Harokopou str.). She herself, speaking both English and German, was an innovator and visionary in education.  In the classrooms young girls and boys sit side by side, learning English under the instruction of teachers from Greece, the UK and, mostly, the USA. Her presence is strong in all the schools she directs and her staff and students remember her as a true entrepreneur, a self-made businesswoman with an outstanding work ethic who stood out in a male-dominated world. Her charity work went hand in hand with her professional life, as she participated for decades, and at times presided over, the Social and Community Organization of Paleo Faliro. [pictures 2-5]

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