Efstratios Megkes is a graduate of the Department of Pastoral & Social Theology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2005) and a graduate of Byzantine Music (1999), with studies in Education and the Teaching of Traditional Percussion (1996-1999). Since 2000, he has worked intensively as a musician in hospitality venues, participated in several concerts, and worked as an educator, teaching traditional percussion to children, teenagers, and adults. He currently lives in the city of Volos and works in a children’s home that cares for looked after children who have been removed from their biological families, utilizing the knowledge provided by the Department of Pastoral & Social Theology and the skills he has developed.
Efstratios Megkes has also been actively involved, on an amateur level, in Acting as a member of the experimental theater group of Nea Ionia, Volos since 2012. As part of his interest in Acting, he has participated in 18 performances aimed at young children, teenagers, and adults.
His studies in Social Sciences and Pedagogy, along with his intensive engagement in the arts of music and theater, motivate him to envision a better future and work toward that direction.
Marios Kotetsis was born in Athens in 1982. From a young age, he got involved in music and sports. At the age of 18, he moved to Heraklion, Crete, to study Social Work. Throughout his professional journey, he worked in various fields, from serving to telephone surveys, searching for his path. After several years of professional exploration, he realized—what he probably always knew—that his true calling was working with people and engaging with vulnerable groups. For several years, he worked with refugee populations, providing meaningful support and dedication to those in need, always in collaboration with the community in a creative and supportive manner. Gradually, he realized that he wanted to live closer to nature, utilizing its potential toward a more sustainable lifestyle. This decision led him to the conclusion to change his life, choosing to leave Athens and become more actively involved in pedagogy. Today, he lives in Volos and tries to combine these interests, along with his love for music and hiking, working as an educator and promoting a more functional and sustainable living model.
Maria worked with the Muslim Minority in Thrace, Greece, managing an experimental social service aimed at supporting and empowering children in their reintegration into the educational system. In the Education of Muslim Children’s Program, funded by the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, she worked as a social pedagogue, facilitating interactions between minority children and children from the broader community. Maria founded the first Social Pedagogy Center for children, teenagers, and adults in Greece, in the city of Komotini, designing and implementing innovative programs for children, adults, and primary and secondary schools. At the same time, she worked as a supervisor in the Preschool Education Department at Democritus University of Thrace.
Maria took courses in silversmithing and ceramics at Stafford College in the United Kingdom and applied the newly acquired skills in her work at child protection facilities with adolescents displaying challenging behavior. Since 2016, Maria returned to Greece and worked with refugees, focusing on working with children and youth education. She was the project manager for the first housing program for young refugees on behalf of a Non-Governmental Organization. She also worked as a private adult educator, offering experiential seminars on Resilience, Time Management, and the Practical Implementation of Social Pedagogy in Child Protection. Recently, she has been working as a social worker in primary education schools.
Her family is a strong motivation for her. She is capable of adapting her skills to the needs of a project and instilling her passion through interaction with the people around her.
Michalis Stylas was born in Volos, with roots from Epirus. Sports was one of his great passions, and as a student, he played at a semi-professional level in football teams in Thessaloniki.
He studied in the Department of Social Theology at the Faculty of Theology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and was a member of the theatrical group Θ.Ο.Φ.Ε. Thessaloniki and a founding member of the Vlach Students' Association of Thessaloniki. He is a graduate of the Byzantine Music School of the Holy Metropolis of Demetrius and Almyros.
His calling and love for children, from the very beginning of his entrepreneurial career, have kept him close to children ever since.
He served for 15 years as a catechist of the Metropolis of Demetriados and Almiros, while also being president for many years of the cultural associations of “Sesklo and Lamia Dimini” and the “Sesklo mountaineering group”. He is a founding member of the global host organization of Vlach cultural associations. He was the secretary of the wrestling academy “Olympic Champion Volos” and the founder of the wrestling association “Sosthenes Sesklo”. He served for five years as a local counsellor in the community of Sesklo. He co-run the family business "Glykó Stylas", as an entrepreneur for 15 years. He later pursued a career in Animal Husbandry with the goal of preserving indigenous breeds. He worked as a gardener for a model company in organic olive cultivation based in Volos. For three years, he provided his services in a children’s home for looked after children of a major Child Protection organization, initially as a maintenance worker and later as a pedagogue (---words deleted).
He is a member of the religious-philological association "The Three Hierarchs" in Volos.
His love for children and nature eventually led him to his true calling.
Vasileios Tiliakos is a social worker and social pedagogue with twenty years of experience in the field. He has worked in Community Social Work and with children and families in multicultural environments. In his early career in Greece, he worked in experimental university social services at Democritus University of Thrace, in mental health residential care, and in programs aimed at empowering minorities.
Since 2013, he has worked as a social pedagogue in county councils of the United Kingdom, training social workers on the connection between Social Work and Social Pedagogy, and implementing Social Pedagogy practices in child protection residential care and in adoption and fostering services. At the same time, he offered his services in the field of Fostering as a member of a committee for selecting foster parents in the private sector and served as a trainer for organizations and institutions at Jacaranda Recruitment and Development, one of the three organizations that formed the Social Pedagogy Consortium for the application of this discipline in the UK. He was also one of the founding members of the Social Pedagogy Professional Association in the United Kingdom.
He returned to Greece in 2016 and became the director of humanitarian actions in Northern Greece, as well as the director of Child Protection in Greece for an international NGO. Since 2018, he has worked in Greece and abroad as a trainer and consultant on Social Pedagogy, conducting staff supervision and training professionals in humanitarian organizations, child protection programs, and international companies.
He participates in the Interdepartmental Master Program "Social Neuroscience, Social Pedagogy, and Education" at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, where he conducts experiential seminars on Resilience, Reflective Practice, and the Implementation and Development of Social Pedagogical Programs in challenging conditions. In August 2023, he moved to Volos in an effort to combine his love for nature with his work in the community.
