The Hellenic-American Students’ Organization was formed by a group of UCLA students in the early eighties to create an environment where students of Greek descent can meet, pursue their common objectives, and serve their community.  A group of Greek students in UCLA had existed for many years before that, but had grown inactive and stagnant.  Laura Kanelopoulos and close friends of hers made a new start for the club; they re-registered it under the name Hellenic-American Students’ Association, with the help/mentorship of professor Sarah Morris, who has been an invaluable help and support for us since.  Since then the Greek club has been active as a forum for students of Greek descent to meet, interact, and stay in touch with community events both in UCLA and Los Angeles in general.  The original name was changed a few years later to Hellenic-American Students’ Organization, affectionately referred to by friends and members as HASO.

Events that have never been absent from the list of HASO activities are dance performances and bake sales.  They are an excellent way to increase the organization’s visibility - making HASO an educational force in the community - while at the same time making it easy to encounter and attract new members.  Whenever possible these activities also provided us with funding support.  Coupled with the dancing performances there has always been a dance group, which meets regularly (or semi-regularly, depending on what time period one considers) to practice and even learn new dances.  Sometime before 1993 HASO named its dance group “Ta Arkoudakia”, a name which disappeared for a long time but has resurfaced this year (2001).  There was even a blue colored T-shirt for the dance group, depicting little bears dancing to Greek songs and yelling “OPA”.

Bake sales provided students with a welcome brake in their routine; it was also an advertising event, since the flag was part of the setting.  It was through a bake sale that I personally first found out about the club.  If I remember correctly, a piece of baklava cost 50 cents in 1993 - today, 2001, we sell it for one dollar.

In the early years, HASO’s grandest and most fun activity by far centered around the annual Mardi Gras festival/celebration.  In UCLA’s intramural field a number of rides (5-10) were set up at the center, surrounded by game and food booths.  All proceeds benefited UNICAMP, a summer program for disadvantaged youth sponsored by UCLA.  HASO consequently never made a dime in the event, but it was always a very fun and pleasurable experience.  We made gyros, and we consistently netted more money for UNICAMP than any other food booth.  At times up to 25 people waited in line.  Needless to say, making gyro is a unique experience, especially in a Greek setting.  The boldest of the cooks loudly yelled out in Greek such remarks (often heard on the mainland) as “Ela o kalos o gyros”, “Na trwei h mana kai tou paidiou na mh dinei”, “Enas trwei duo paiqenoun”, etc.  Unfortunately, the Mardi Gras tradition abruptly ended around 1994.  HASO looked to other activities to fill the void.

HASO has always sought to be an active member of the wider Los Angeles community.  Success on this front has historically varied, but as will become clear shortly, we have been able to slowly develop a well-rooted contact and activity list through which to make a difference.

WorldFest was an annual week long UCLA event celebrating on-campus diversity.  WorldFest existed independent of Mardi Gras and was typically our second largest event in the early nineties.  We typically performed Greek dances in an open area, after several weeks or months of preparation.  Trying to improve our ties to the LA community, during the WorldFest celebrations in 1993 we invited the consul general of Greece in LA Mr. Tryfon Pareskeuopoulos to the event.  To support us he graciously donated $500 to the organization. 

Mr. Paraskeuopoulos was the beginning of an excellent relationship between HASO and the LA consulate.  On another occasion he invited us to his residence where among other things, he answered our questions on such issues as Greco-Turkish relations, the Cyprus problem, the course to the EU and the Macedonian issue.  When he left, the new consul Mr. Panagopoulos continued the enthusiastic support and collaboration with us.

One of the most important annual events HASO has been organizing since 1995 is the professor-student social.  The purpose is to bring together UCLA faculty, staff and students (graduate, undergraduate) from all UCLA departments so that they can meet.  Interdepartmental communication is rare, so this event serves to strengthen the Greek UCLA community by helping it realize and utilize its potential.  To that end, we also invite the consul general and other leaders of the Greek-American community.  It was in this event that Mr. Panagopoulos first met HASO, soon after arriving in Los Angeles.

An individual typically present in the professor-student socials has been Governor Michael Dukakis, who is teaching annually in UCLA. He has always been supportive as well, and has on many occasions accepted to speak to the club in order to give his opinion, share his experiences, and provide us with useful advice for the future.

One of the fundamental goals for HASO in the past five years has been the creation of a class on modern Greek language.  Despite our concerted efforts in the past to seek the help of several UCLA and community sources, we only able to have modern Greek taught in the summer.  Although a number of students took the course it did not become permanent.  We hope to in the future find an opportunity to help realize this fair need many of us have to be systematically taught the Greek language.

A very important contribution made by HASO to the community was the creation of two exhibits, the “Smyrna Exhibit” in 1997 and the “Cyprus Exhibit” in 1998, depicting the background, destruction and aftermath of the Turkish crimes against the Hellenic people of Asia Minor and Cyprus, respectively.  In each case a reception was held with numerous members of the Los Angeles community attending, and the exhibits were on display for a number of days.  We feel these exhibits had a strong impact on the viewer, based on comments and feedback we received.

We also instituted the Spirit of Pericles Award to honor individuals who have helped both us and the community in general.  In a reception in honor of the individuals, we have in the part presented the award to Dr. Mortimer Chambers, Mr. Aris Anagnos, and Dr. Sarah Morris.

About 4 years ago we also developed a website, beautifully created and maintained by Demosthenes Spiropoulos while he was in UCLA.

Finally, members have since the eighties participated in community events as a UCLA group by attending fundraisers or dinner dances, local Greek festivals, church services on Sundays, Holy Week or Christmas, academic lectures, etc.  In general, we are constantly trying to maximize and perfect the impact to our own selves and to the community as we struggle to balance our personal, academic and club related responsibilities.  In the future we’d like to accomplish the following important goals:

(i) develop a viable and systematic support network to accommodate and help new graduate students arriving from Greece in their first difficult month(s) in Los Angeles; this involves picking them up at the airport, helping them find an apartment, open a bank account, purchase basic items such as a bed, explain departmental and UCLA procedures, and if possible find a place for them to stay in the first days.

(ii) contribute and assist in any way possible to a decision by UCLA to teach modern Greek on campus.