International Olympic Day at Deree College in Greece
On June 19th, the B-in-EU program in collaboration with Sports Management society of Deree College, celebrate the International Olympic Day, discussing the about the refugees’ crisis in the context of Ref: EU Muslim minorities and refugee crisis in Europe program. The conference was open to the public and approximately 35 people were in attendance.
Dr. Stella Leivadi, Assistant Professor and Sports Management program coordinator and Dr. Anna Visvizi, Associate Professor of International Business program and B-in-EU program coordinator were on hand to open the conference. The graduate to be Despina Kontogianni from International Business program describes the outcomes of Ref: EU Muslim minorities and refugee crisis in Europe workshop which took place in Warsaw School of Economics, Poland and the experience of being B-in-EU ambassador.
The keynote speakers Dr. Sebastian Kaiser-Jovy, Heilbronn FH: Presentation of SPM academic program.
Mrs. Katerina Salta, Hestia FC: Sport as a tool for integration and social inclusion of refugees. Hestia FC is the first refugee and migrant women football team in Greece. A program of the International Olympic Truce Center.
During the day, two players from Hestia FC team describe how football helps them to be integrated easier to our society and the obstacles that players faced with Asylum reword and other bureaucratic issues. In addition, players’ state haw importantly is for them being part of Hestia family and how strong they feel.
Hestia FC participated along with other 24 teams in the European GGWCup and won the trophy in Copenhagen in May. Mrs. Salta mentions that refugee and migrant players could not travel to Copenhagen due to lack of the necessary travel documents and be replaced by volunteers who are supporting their efforts. In addition, Mrs. Salta states how impressive the support from the players’ family was, considering the different cultural backgrounds.
Heilbronn students present the Poros Triathlon project and Deree students Business-EU projects.
In addition, an off-campus activity took place, Kallimarmaron tour, and interaction between refugee women athletes and students and Acropolis museum tour.
Concluding, our event was mentioned in the news media. A significant Greek newspaper interested and contributed to our event.