When Students Return as Engineers: A Circle of Learning and Giving Back

In Xanthi, a city in Thrace in northeastern Greece, children are no less curious or capable than those living in the country's largest urban centres. Yet they often have fewer opportunities to participate in advanced STEM learning.

This was one of the challenges that inspired STEAMing the Future, a free and inclusive initiative developed by the Anna Papageorgiou STEM Center at Anatolia College in Thessaloniki, Greece. The programme aims to make meaningful, hands-on STEAM education accessible to students from all backgrounds, placing particular emphasis on public-school students and communities where comparable opportunities are limited.

Xanthi reflected exactly the need the initiative sought to address: talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. Through a partnership with Xanthi TechLab, students were able to explore programming, artificial intelligence, robotics, automation, the Internet of Things and 3D design in an engaging and supportive environment.

However, one of the programme's most meaningful developments was not connected to a particular technology.

It came when former STEM students returned as young engineers.

Seven young engineers became actively involved in co-developing and delivering the programme's regional activities. Some had first encountered STEM through earlier student programmes at the Anna Papageorgiou STEM Center. Years later, they returned—not as participants, but as professionals, mentors and co-creators.

They brought technical expertise and fresh ideas, as well as an understanding of what makes learning exciting and relevant for young people. They enriched the educational material, transformed complex concepts into engaging challenges and worked alongside the students as they experimented, collaborated and searched for solutions.

They were not distant experts standing at the front of a classroom. They answered questions, encouraged students when their first ideas did not work and demonstrated that engineering grows through curiosity, creativity and persistence.

For the teachers who had known some of them as students, seeing them return in this new role was a powerful reminder that the impact of education does not end when a lesson, workshop or school year is completed. It may become visible years later—in the confidence students develop, in the paths they choose and in their decision to use what they have learned to create opportunities for others.

Their involvement created a circle of learning and giving back. The young engineers gained meaningful professional experience and employment, while younger students met relatable role models who helped them see that a future in science and engineering could also belong to them.

With support from the Bodossaki Foundation, STEAMing the Future combined regional face-to-face workshops with online learning, extending participation to students across Greece, including islands, rural areas and communities with limited access to advanced STEM programmes. The John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation supported the expansion of the initiative through educational experiences specifically designed for elementary school students.

Through a combination of face-to-face workshops in Northern Greece and online programmes reaching students across the country, STEAMing the Future has engaged 1,679 students and 133 educators. Between 2022 and 2025, 94% of participating students came from public schools, reflecting the initiative's commitment to inclusive access. The smaller, in-person workshops offered hands-on learning and close interaction with instructors, while the online cycles enabled students from 19 different regions of Greece to participate. An online community of more than 500 members helped students and educators remain connected, collaborate and exchange knowledge beyond the workshops.

Numbers help illustrate the programme's reach, but they cannot fully capture its impact.

Sometimes impact begins when a teacher helps a student think, “Perhaps I could do this too.” Sometimes it becomes visible years later, when that student returns as an engineer and helps another child imagine a future that once seemed beyond reach.

This is why #TeachersMatter: the influence of education can travel through people, grow over time and continue from one generation of learners to the next.