Got Greek?

National Study Launched

Who will be the next George Stephanopoulos or Arianna Huffington? Where is the next Olympia Snowe or Jamie Dimon going to come from? With names that sometimes aren’t recognizably Greek — such as Tina Fey or Pete Peterson — how will the next generation of Greeks in America be able to connect with others like them? What opportunities and challenges will they face? How can their heritage be of help in their lives and careers?

No one knows the answers to these questions yet, say Leon Stavrou, the executive director of the Next Generation Initiative. What’s worse, no one is even asking questions like these. That’s why the Initiative has taken the lead to remedy this situation with the launching of its new Next Generation National Research Study, focused on learning more about the needs and interests of the next generation of Greeks in America.

The goal of the study “is to really listen to the next generation, and hear from them directly about their concerns and interests… No one else is really focused on listening to this generation, even though they represent the future of our community.”

The first of its kind in the Greek American community, the launch of the study was funded with a significant grant from the Zapis Charitable Foundation, as well as additional funding from the Maliotis Charitable Foundation and others.

The goal of the study, according to Stavrou, “is to really listen to the next generation, and hear from them directly about their concerns and interests.”

“No one else is really focused on listening to this generation, even though they represent the future of our community.”

A national platform for the Next Generation to speak out

Employing a novel combination of interviews, oral histories, and academically-supervised surveys, as well as the medium of the internet and web-based forums, blogs and polls, the Initiative is working with a network of Hellenic and Greek American student groups on over 45 campuses throughout the country to reach thousands of students of Greek heritage across the United States.

The leaders and funders of the Initiative are hoping that this new study will include as many students on campus as possible, so that, in Stavrou’s words, “no student is left behind.”

“More than anything, we need to hear from them about their needs and interests.”

According to Stavrou, there really is no data or information out there about just how many students with Greek heritage there are in the United States. That’s why part of the study’s goal is to conduct a census of Greek American and Greek-born students on campus.

“We already have found more than 5,000 students through our programs, but we don’t really know how many more there are out there. Some say more than 10,000. Others say more than 15 or 20,000. But whatever the number is,” says Stavrou, “we need to know what percentage of students out there we are reaching, so we can improve our efforts. Because our mission is to reach all these students and help them however we can.”

“More than anything, though,” says Stavrou, “we need to hear from them about their needs and interests.”

The next generation tells its own story

To give students a chance to speak their own minds, the Initiative has begun work on an interactive website as a companion to the study, called the “Next Generation Speaks Out.” As a platform for students to speak out beyond the strict parameters of the study, Next Gen Speaks Out will make it possible for next generation students to ask their own questions, add their own views and offer their own response to the survey results as they are compiled — and later, add their own oral histories to the project’s archives.

Through its work to help Greek American students from across the country win internships and fellowships, and meet with leaders through its innovative Master Class program, Stavrou says that the Initiative has learned that in many ways, the next generation is proud of its heritage, and is interested in keeping its connection with that heritage. It just has its own ideas about how it wants to connect.

“Each generation is different from the one that came before it. It comes in all shapes and sizes, in ways that an earlier generation might have trouble recognizing.”

This is a fact which may be difficult for older generations to recognize. “Let’s face it,” says Stavrou, “Each generation is different from the one that came before it. It comes in all shapes and sizes, in ways that an earlier generation might have trouble recognizing.”

Stavrou points to the growing numbers of young men and women whose grandparents and great-grandparents came from Greece, but who don’t have the same ties — much less surnames — that were common decades ago.

Growing up in an era marked by the achievements of women with names like Snowe, Huffington, Cruz and Aniston, and men with names like Peterson, Sampras, Sarbanes and Dimon, Stavrou says the generation that’s on the way up now is very different from the ones before. “They’re not only facing different challenges; the young women and men of today also have new opportunities earlier generations didn’t even dream of.”

Not surprising, then, that this generation is intent on forging its own path — and making its own connections with its peers and its heritage.

According to Stavrou, the Next Generation Initiative was founded to help this generation blaze its own trails, and carve out a bright, new future for the Greek American heritage, through the Initiative’s internship, fellowship and leadership programs.

Right now, though, the Initiative is hoping that its national research study, along with the Next Gen Speaks Out project, will serve to help the next generation start that process — beginning with getting a better picture of itself, and the future it is forging.

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About the survey

Over the past year, we’ve been listening to students from one end of the country to the other... From Greek-American and Greek-Greek, to Greek- Irish, Greek-Iranian and even Greek-Chinese — they all say they’ve “got Greek.” Your voice belongs in this conversation. That’s why we’re inviting you to take the Got Greek? survey... [read more]
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The Got Greek? National Student Survey is the first national online survey of American university students of Greek ancestry where you can share your views and opinions about your background and how it relates to everything from food and music, to family, friends and dating. You can sign up here to take the Got Greek? online student survey. Participation in the Next Generation Initiative’s national student survey is open to every student of Greek heritage who is a student at a college or university in the United States. Whether you are 1/16th or 100% Greek, this study is about you. So, whether you’re first-, second-, third-, fourth- or even fifth-generation — or if your last name is more like Fey than Stephanopoulos — as long as you are an undergraduate and graduate student of Hellenic heritage studying at a university in the United States — we want to hear how you feel about being (even a little bit) Greek.

THANK YOU!

The Next Generation National Student Research Study would not be possible without the continuing support of the Zapis Charitable Foundation, and the additional support of the Maliotis Charitable Foundation and others — along with the participation of the more than 50 Hellenic Student Associations and their leaders who have helped make this a truly national study. The Research Study would not exist without the vision and dedication of its creator and director, Stephanie Marudas, who has guided the Study from the outset, and marshaled the efforts of an outstanding team — including the Study’s lead academic advisor Queens College Professor Nicos Alexiou, Queens College graduate Mary Diaz, Queens College student Olivia Tousius, Northwestern Students Katerina Alexopoulos and Tania Karas, University of Pennsylvania graduate Chris Zervoudis, and the contributions of our advisors from around the country, including Professors James Dimitriou of the University of Southern California, Alexander Kitroeff of Haverford College, and Yiorgos Anagnostou of Ohio State University. Thanks to all of you!

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The Next Generation National Student Research Study is a project of the Next Generation Initiative, an independent, non-profit educational foundation serving the students of the Greek American community.